USAID donates tablets to the best performing P1-P3 Kinyarwanda teachers
Kigali –On October 21, USAID Soma Umenye handed over 90 tablets to the Rwanda Education Board (REB) to be awarded to high-performing P1, P2 and P3 Kinyarwanda teachers in each district of Rwanda as part of the continued celebration of International Teacher’s Day.
USAID recognizes early grade teachers as the pillar of Rwanda’s education system, and enables them to embrace the new technologies and resources needed for successful remote learning and monitoring activities.
USAID believes that when teachers are well prepared, resourced, and motivated, all students, regardless of gender, disability or social-economic circumstance are better able to learn.
“REB is grateful for USAID’s support and collaboration to strengthen the capacity of the education system in Rwanda to provide high-quality, evidence-based reading instruction throughout the country”, the Director General of REB, Dr. Ndayambaje Irénée, said while receiving the tablets.
“The tablets add more value by supporting teachers to engage in continuous professional development, as well as support remote learning for the moment and for when schools are reopened”, he added.
Bill Hansen, the USAID Rwanda Deputy Mission Director, appreciated the critical role of lower primary school teachers.
“These teachers are our heroes, because they set children up for success in school by teaching them how to read”, he said.
He also emphasized the role of parents who have been supporting their children’s learning during COVID-19 pandemic: “We know that parents are their children’s first and greatest teachers. Parents always have a critical role to make time for their children to read at least 15 minutes a day, and to follow up with the school about their children’s progress.
Parents’ role as educators has become even more pronounced during the period of school closure and this will have to continue when schools are reopened.”
USAID Soma Umenye has supported REB to develop and distribute over 3.5 million textbooks and supplementary readers to P1 to P3 classrooms, to train over 10,000 teachers, and to implement effective assessment to achieve this essential goal of improved reading.
The USAID Soma Umenye activity has the goal to improve the reading performance of at least one million students, in every public and government-aided primary school in Rwanda.
During the period of school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, USAID Soma Umenye has supported REB by producing P1-P3 Kinyarwanda radio lessons and digital literacy materials that can be accessed online, including 54 Andika Rwanda titles being translated in sign language.
