Minister for Education, Valentine Uwamariya, revealed the recruitment of more than 40,000 new teachers, highlighting the ministry’s commitment to strengthening the education sector and promoting quality education, especially in foundational learning. The development was disclosed on July 6 during the kick-off of Rwanda’s Fourth National Foundational Learning Symposium. The two-day meeting is taking place at the Kigali Convention Center and is held under the theme “Accelerate Forward in Developing Foundational Literacy and Numeracy”. ALSO READ: New programme to improve foundational learning skills in lower primary education “Alongside this hiring initiative, the ministry is actively engaged in providing comprehensive support to these educators, with a specific focus on enhancing their pedagogical skills, English language proficiency, and digital literacy. “Furthermore, the ministry is dedicated to ensuring that all teachers receive the necessary training and certification to excel in their profession,” she said. Uwamariya highlighted several initiatives undertaken in Rwanda to enhance foundational learning, in addition to increasing the number of teachers. These efforts encompass strengthening teacher capacity, providing textbooks, conducting learning assessments, offering remedial education, and fostering parent and community engagement to support children’s learning in a single room. Moving forward, she emphasised the importance of learning from the scalable best practices that have been piloted in the country. Additionally, she highlighted the need to explore effective regional and global models that can be adapted to Rwanda’s specific context, in order to enhance our service delivery structure. On the other hand, the Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education, Gaspard Twagirayezu, presented the Foundation Learning Policy strategy, highlighting its various priority areas and emphasising its ongoing implementation in collaboration with education partners. He emphasised that the strategy is being developed and refined as it is implemented. ALSO READ: Rwanda, World Bank ink $129m education deal Tihtina Gebre, Senior Economist of World Bank Rwanda, said the bank has made a significant commitment of $340 million to the education sector. This will be utilised for various purposes such as improving the quality of education, constructing classrooms, and providing training for teachers, among other initiatives. Gebre emphasised the intention to not just sustain, but further enhance this partnership. They expressed willingness to strengthen both their engagement in financing and technical assistance, with the aim of accelerating progress and achieving this crucial objective.
