English Anyone?
on Annemiek Miller (Rwanda), 03/Feb/2010 19:08, 34 days ago
February 2, 2010I will try and shed some light onthe confusion in Education. As I understand it, The Minister of Education declared English the compulsory language of instruction in December, 2008 with immediate implementation for the school year 2009. Up until that time, schools were permitted to teach in English but almost all taught using French. This past school year, 2009,all secondary schools were supposed to teach in English as were the P4-6 classes. Teachers did not speak adequate English and students were equally lost.Last November, state-exams were written in English by P6, Sec 3 and Sec 6 nation-wide, for the very first time. The results of these exams came out just as I arrived in Rwanda on Jan 17. Surprisingly, the results were pretty good. In the holidays (July 2009, November, December 2009 and Jan 2010 there have been trainings in English for teachers. MINEDUC had created some diagnostic tests to see which teachers needed these trainings. Apparently there were regions that had gotten hold of the tests with candidates getting perfect. As a result all teachers were trained. This took longer than expected so schools opened today Feb.2 instead of Jan.11And what is the state of English in the schools?Teachers are speaking some English but the average Primary school child you meet on the road will greet with good morning and what is your name and not much more.The students in my college, who have all completed the High school programme in French, are very limited in their English. At the College the language of instruction is English and these students are being trained to teach Maths and Sciences in the first three years of Secondary using English. So far I have noticed that in meetings with students much Kinyarwanda is spoken to make sure everyone understands all that is being said.English is everywhere but in some ways nowhere. It will take more than a few years to adjust to this radical change.Kavumu College of Education is my new place of work.I have a lovely house almost at the top of a steep hill running up about 200m from the main highway. My neighbour is Moira from Ireland. She has been a great answerer of my many questions. We are getting along well and will probably share the cooking. Moira teaches English at this college. Yes the language of instruction is English.