EASTERN PROVINCE

RWAMAGANA — The Mayor of Rwamagana district, Valens Ntezirembo, has appealed to teachers to be role models to the Rwandan society.

"Be role models of society so that every body admires your work and advocate for national development," Mayor Ntezirembo said.

He made the appeal while officiating at the closing ceremony of teachers’ solidarity training at ASPEJ Muhazi in Rwamagana last Friday.

A total of 1,192 secondary and primary school teachers completed the solidarity training in Rwamagana. At least 850 of them were primary school teachers.

The two-week training that was concluded last week countrywide aimed at bringing teachers together to share experience and ideas and to learn problem solving techniques. In Rwamagana the teachers were camping at three sites of St. Kizito Secondary School in Musha, St. Aloys in Kigabiro sector and at ASPEJ Muhazi in Muhazi sector.

Mayor Ntezirembo hailed the teachers for perseverance and for the discipline exhibited throughout the training. He also thanked them for having formed a cultural education (Itorero) christened Inkeramihigo za Rwamagana.

Alphonsine Murekatete, the Vice Mayor in charge of Social Affairs also expressed appreciation and urged teachers to restore their credibility in society as Itorero.

She said the training they underwent should enable them to restore the teachers’ credibility which has been waning slowly.

"I request you to maintain the credibility of a teacher. You can’t restore the credibility when you are not role models," Murekatete told the teachers.

She reminded them of the request of the State Minister for Education, Theoneste Mutsindashyaka to always be smart and to maintain sanitation at schools. Murekatete urged teachers to wear teaching gowns that can prevent them from chalk dust while teaching.

Speaking on behalf of the teachers, Saverina Uwimana, the headmistress of Espoir Primary School said that the lessons learnt during the three weeks would be of use in the teachers’ daily lives. She observed that teachers had quite often been left behind on government programmes, yet they are among those who frequently interact with parents and children who need to know more about such programmes.

She said teachers would play an important role in development through teacher-parent-pupil interactions.

Meanwhile, during the training teachers in Rwamagana managed to contribute over Frw3m to help vulnerable teachers and genocide survivors in the district. The teachers at ASPEJ Muhazi managed to buy items worth Frw500, 000 for 10 vulnerable people in Muhazi. They handed to each family items that included one mattress, one blanket, 25kilograms of rice, 10 Kgs of beans, seven pieces of soap, and one bucket. Other items included spoons, two forks, one jerycan and Frw2,000.

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