Let’s be honest, we have all—at some point— sat through a boring class session in our academic journey. The examples are many, ranging from biology and agriculture to literature and history, depending on an individual. It is not surprising that learners find many school activities unexciting and I must say that at my former school, cultural sessions pretty much topped the list of many classmates. Culture on its own is a very broad topic—you have customs, ideas, social behaviour, to mention but a few, of a particular society. Most of the schools in Rwanda—secondary to be more specific—under the influence of the Ministry of Education, have introduced many programmes with the aim of shedding light on the culture of the nation and giving youngsters the much needed information about their tradition. “Itorero” (a cultural school where Rwandans learn language, patriotism, social relations, sports, dancing, songs and defence) is one such programme. Such classes should be well-attended, however, because of the way they are presented to students, they are considered boring. First, technology should be embraced in the teaching of these different activities. It is safe to say that most learners are fascinated by technology, and so this should be used to make lessons more interesting. Also, there is a need to create a competitive environment for students, an example would be having an “amaraba” dance competition after class, then award who dances best. This keeps students eager to learn. Interactive classes are a better learning environment. “I used to find myself falling asleep,” says Tristan Enrique Muvunyi, a student. Going by this comment, students were not actively involved, they were just ‘followers’ without actually contributing anything. When a class is interactive, students get to share their own opinions. Culture should not be boring. Very many aspire to be influential people in society, however, this requires knowledge of one’s country and culture. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
