The government is putting together a detailed plan that will see an increment in the number of children who attend pre-school improve from the current meagre 24 per cent, the Director General in the Ministry of Education, Rose Baguma has said. Shedding light on what will be included in the country’s national education policy, Baguma said that the government is seeking to review the policy to realign the education system with its new targets, new vision and goals as a country. “We have vision 2030, vision 2050, the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) and other education commitments whether regional, continental or global including the Sustainable Development Goals. This policy review is necessary,” she said. The new policy will be based on inclusivity, teacher motivation and development and promotion of the right skills among others. Value of pre-school Baguma pointed out that the new policy will seek to have preschool programs ready and functional. “Currently, the Ministry of Education is working with home-based and community Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres and nursery schools to ensure that all the children are able to attend. But all efforts are being put into improving on access and quality,” she said. Besides providing a valuable foundation that the children will need as they advance with their education, Baguma said that it cuts down on the number of children who start primary school at a late age and others who repeat and drop out. “Not being able to attend preschool destabilises our system but if they are able to attend the school readiness program and then join primary school at the right age, they can finish the cycle at the expected age and time,” she said. She called on the parents to actively participate- since learning begins from home. “Without their role and commitment to send children to school in a timely manner and follow up to ensure that they are learning, it will complicate issues further,” she said. Increasing teachers The number of teachers in pre-primary schools who are on government payroll was set to be increased from the current 33 to 613 in this past fiscal year. According to figures from the 2019 Education Statistical Year Book, in 2019, there were 3,401 nursery schools (with 282,400 pupils) in Rwanda of which 508 were public, 1,555 government aided, and 1,338 were private While addressing journalists recently, the Minister of education Valentine Uwamariya said that 107 teachers have already been placed in government nursery schools, 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 salaries 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 a 10-fold increase,” she said. Meanwhile, pre-primary education attendance was at 20 per cent in 2018.
