Kigali- 30th June 2019 – When the Teaching Assistant came to my school, I did not know anything about the Teaching Assistantships Project. I did not know how to help and work with the Teaching Assistant. This training has helped me to clearly know the objectives of this project and my role towards achieving these objectives. As a teacher, I have known how to be a role model to Teaching Assistants and nurture their passion for taking up the teaching professions as their future careers.
Umugwaneza Marie Chantal, a senior two Geography and Biology teacher at Groupe Scolaire Gasange, is describing her first encounter with Teaching Assistants at her school. All the way from Gatsibo district in the Eastern province of Rwanda, Marie Chantal is together with 74 other teachers from 15 districts all over Rwanda, where the Teaching Assistantships Project is being piloted. The teachers are attending an orientation training to the project, with an aim to mobilise their support for project activities.
The Teaching Assistantships project is funded by Mastercard Foundation under its Leaders in Teaching (LIT) initiative in Rwanda. This pilot project is aimed at engaging a total of one hundred and fifty bright girls in their transitional year to tertiary education, as Teaching Assistants, supporting the learning of mathematics and science for six months, at seventy-five schools in fifteen districts in Rwanda. The project is part of Mastercard Foundation’s commitment to supporting livelihoods and opportunities for young people in Africa, particularly women, to secure dignified and fulfilling work by 2030. Particularly, under the “Recruit” pillar of the LIT initiative, Mastercard Foundation is supporting skill-nurturing, to attract passionate, young women with an interest in education to join the teaching profession. This complements ambitions of the Ministry of Education in Rwanda, to nurture a teaching force, particularly for Science, Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM), during the current Education Sector Strategic Plan period of 2018/19- 2014/25. This Mastercard Foundation- Inspire Educate and Empower Rwanda (IEE)- Implemented project intends to inspire the Teaching Assistants to take up teaching careers or consider education as area of further academic study.
IEE and Mastercard Foundation appreciate teachers as indispensable stakeholders in the teaching and learning process, since they are the ones who deliver the curriculum. Head Teachers and Directors of Studies of from the seventy-five schools have also been introduced to the project, in appreciation of their pivotal role to implementation of the project, since they facilitate all activities that take place in schools, including creating positive instructional environments for teachers through mentorship and coaching opportunities. That is why an essential part of the Teaching Assistantships project launch phase was to bring together a range of stakeholders from seventy-five selected pilot schools to project introduction workshops such as this one. At this workshop, teachers were introduced to project content, around English language for teaching, planning for teaching and teaching methodology, study strategies and personal development, gender awareness and gender responsive pedagogy, and inclusive education. Using activity-based strategies, teachers interacted around the themes of role modelling, and school-based support for Teaching Assistantships.
All the seventy-five host teachers were trained on contextualization for the Teaching Assistantship Project, Education Sector Strategic Plan strategic priorities, Teaching Assistantships Project outcomes and outputs, implications for competency-based curriculum implementation, introduction to Teaching Assistantship Project training material: English Language for Teaching, Planning for Teaching and Teaching Methodology, Study Strategies and Personal Development, Gender awareness and gender responsive pedagogy and Inclusive Education. The main objective of the workshop was to introduce teachers to the Teaching Assistantships Project, so that they support the Teaching Assistantships at their respective schools.
The Teaching Assistantships Project terms Umugwaneza Marie Chantal and other teachers as “Host Teachers” since they are the teachers appointed to technically host the as Teaching Assistants. In collaboration with Teaching Assistantship Mentors, who are Mastercard Foundation-supported mentors for the Teaching Assistants, teachers support the Teaching Assistants with opportunities to prepare and teach lessons in science and mathematics subjects in accordance with the school time table. At Groupe Scolaire Gasange, Marie Chantal hosts Nyirakamana Delphine, one of the Teaching Assistants. Marie Chantal facilitates Delphine with opportunities to prepare lessons together and Delphine is given opportunities to teach biology in the senior two class.
I want to thank you for the support you are giving to the girls. I can assure you that you are supporting your own children- sons and daughters. We are not here to stay, we are growing old and these are the people to replace us in this profession. Please go back to your schools and be good ambassadors of this project for the benefit of Rwandan children. The future of Rwanda depends on us teachers, because we have a very important opportunity of complementing government and Rwandan communities’ efforts in raising Rwandan children- said Emmanuel Murenzi, IEE Country Director in his closing remarks on the last day of the workshop.
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