Why Rwanda is the preferred destination
Oct 12, 2010
AS policy, Rwanda’s education ministry urgently needs Ugandan teacher trainers. The tutors, according to sources in the office of the director for primary and secondary education, are required to partially fill the manpower gap in the country’s education sector.
By Doreen Murungi and
Arthur Baguma
AS policy, Rwanda’s education ministry urgently needs Ugandan teacher trainers. The tutors, according to sources in the office of the director for primary and secondary education, are required to partially fill the manpower gap in the country’s education sector. Rwanda’s 10 teacher training colleges needed at least 50 Anglophone tutors at the beginning of the academic year. The teachers would either be exempted from paying for work permits or have the employer meet the cost for work permits as a way of remunerating them.
Last year, the Rwanda ministry of education retired a total of 1,363 teachers who had reached retirement age and could not cope with the intensive training conducted to embrace English as the new language of instruction. All the laid off teachers aged between 55 and 65 were teaching in primary schools.
At the start of 2009, responding to a government directive, French was replaced by English as the language of instruction, leading to intensive training to prepare the teachers to give lessons in English. Already finding qualified teachers is a nightmare. Out of 4,597 teachers in secondary schools (including technical and professional level), the Rwanda ministry of education reports that only 8.3% have a bachelor’s degree with an education component, whereas 28.4% have either a higher education degree but without teacher’s training, or a secondary diploma. Then there is the question of keeping them happy.
A teacher’s salary depends on his qualifications; the net salary of an A2 teacher is Frw27,012, (about sh100,000) an A1 teacher gets Frw89,000 (about sh356,000) while a full bachelor degree holder with education training earns Frw113,000 (sh452,000).
Rwanda’s teachers are not well paid and many in the state sector have just seen their working day doubled with the introduction of a double shift, where they teach one class in the morning and another in the afternoon. However, despite this, Ugandan teachers still find it a better place to work than Uganda.
Arthur Baguma
AS policy, Rwanda’s education ministry urgently needs Ugandan teacher trainers. The tutors, according to sources in the office of the director for primary and secondary education, are required to partially fill the manpower gap in the country’s education sector. Rwanda’s 10 teacher training colleges needed at least 50 Anglophone tutors at the beginning of the academic year. The teachers would either be exempted from paying for work permits or have the employer meet the cost for work permits as a way of remunerating them.
Last year, the Rwanda ministry of education retired a total of 1,363 teachers who had reached retirement age and could not cope with the intensive training conducted to embrace English as the new language of instruction. All the laid off teachers aged between 55 and 65 were teaching in primary schools.
At the start of 2009, responding to a government directive, French was replaced by English as the language of instruction, leading to intensive training to prepare the teachers to give lessons in English. Already finding qualified teachers is a nightmare. Out of 4,597 teachers in secondary schools (including technical and professional level), the Rwanda ministry of education reports that only 8.3% have a bachelor’s degree with an education component, whereas 28.4% have either a higher education degree but without teacher’s training, or a secondary diploma. Then there is the question of keeping them happy.
A teacher’s salary depends on his qualifications; the net salary of an A2 teacher is Frw27,012, (about sh100,000) an A1 teacher gets Frw89,000 (about sh356,000) while a full bachelor degree holder with education training earns Frw113,000 (sh452,000).
Rwanda’s teachers are not well paid and many in the state sector have just seen their working day doubled with the introduction of a double shift, where they teach one class in the morning and another in the afternoon. However, despite this, Ugandan teachers still find it a better place to work than Uganda.