The number of teachers in pre-primary schools who are on government payroll is set to be increased from the current 33 to 613 in this fiscal year, according to the ministry of education.

The Minister of Education, Valentine Uwamariya, made the disclosure on Monday, November 16, during a press conference on teachers’ placement.

The minister also used the press conference to provide an update on the school reopening amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2019, there were 3,401 nursery schools in Rwanda of which 508 were public, 1,555 Government aided schools, and 1,338 private ones, according to figures from the 2019 Education Statistical Year Book by the Ministry of Education.

There were over 282,400 pupils in nursery schools in 2019, including over 41,600 in public, 125,600 in Government aided, and 115,120 in private schools.

The minister said that 107 teachers have already been placed, while the remaining ones are expected to be placed by the end of the financial year.

However, the ministry officials did not immediately provide the budget implications of this move.

"The government has been paying salary for 33 teachers only. Moving from 33 teachers to over 500, we have not yet reached the level we want…but, that is good progress because it means an increase of 10-fold,” Minister Uwamariya said.

The move comes after Members of Parliament have, on multiple occasions, expressed concern over teachers in nursery schools who are not yet on government payroll.

MPs said that lack of permanent teachers was likely to impair the quality of pre-primary education in situations where parents cannot afford costly private schools.

Yet, they argued, pre-primary is the basis for other education levels.

For nursery teachers to get paid, parents had to make contributions and The New Times understands that in some cases, there are those who have been getting as little as Rwf10,000 per month.

"It is parents who have been making contributions to provide financial support to the teacher. But, we are happy that the nursery teachers are included in the public structure,” the Minister said.

But, it voiced concern that it could not achieve that as a result of lack of means.

Meanwhile, about pre-primary education in Rwanda was about 20 per cent in 2018, and the Government targets to increase the rate to 45 per cent by 2024.