Education
Realising the Promise of Learning
Chaste Niwe
My clearest memory of Maman Bitsinda , my first-grade teacher , is the way she teased any pupil who wet their pants . She would lean down to closely check the extent of the damage ( it usually ranged from splashy to hopeless ), and would casually mention your father ’ s name and tell you how you are a chip off the old block . Her dedication to our learning and education transcended the profession . Even five years after leaving her grade , she would check in on pupils who had passed through her class before the National exams . She knew well that most of her former students wouldn ’ t make it to high school , but she hoped that one or two would . The primary-to-secondary transition rate at my school was around 2 out of a class of 45 . Nationally , in 2007 when I finished my sixth grade , this rate was around 55 %. It stood at 73 % in 2018 . This improvement was a result of a creative expansion of our education system through the Nine-Year Basic Education programme and more vocational offerings in Technical and Vocational Education and Training ( TVET ) schools . However , there remain persisting issues relating to the competing goals of education — and it appears that a possible solution might reside , not at the centre , but on the peripheries of our current education system .
Every year , we get a few opportunities to ( re- ) evaluate our learning system . We put on our experts ’ hats and diagnose so many social ills , including those in the education sector . Most of us agree that the quality of education in Rwanda remains under par — the ironic jokes about Ireme ry ’ uburezi , which bear witness to this , abound . The ills are many : a perennial lack of funds , a nebulous system of intended outcomes , inadequate teacher training , pedagogies that change too fast or too slowly , either too much or too little political content , underpaid professionals , a mismatch between school curriculum and the expectations of the job market , unclear linguistic guidance - the list is long . If our national discourse on education has always been heated , it is because education is , after all , a conduit to many social and individual benefits .
Suggested solutions have been as versatile as the ills they seek to heal . Some have argued for a system more attuned to the needs of the market . A few weeks ago , during the Prime Minister ’ s Report on the state of vocational training to both chambers of Parliament , an Honourable Member suggested that all 12YBE schools should become TVET to produce the skills our economy needs , adding that
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