Feed A Hungry Mind

Very Warm Greetings,

I hope this letter finds you well. 

Since my last letter, Rwanda has found itself suffering from the ‘third wave’ of the coronavirus in East Africa. However, our work in primary schools has been able to continue more or less as normal.

Rwanda primary schools are changing from two sessions a day (double shift) to single session teaching, so that all pupils can spend the whole day at school. Not only is there to be single-shift teaching, but the academic year is changing from a calendar year to a September-July year. The transition is difficult, and it seems that Lower Primary (Primary 1 to 3) will complete their year on 17^thSeptember, while Upper Primary (Primary 4 to 6) will complete their year on 9^thJuly.

With single-shift teaching, the re-opening of schools saw extra classrooms in some schools and also many new schools opening for the first time. In the two sectors in Gasabo District where we operate there were six schools. Now there are seven new schools!

Many teachers in the original six schools have been allocated to the new schools, and all head teachers in the new schools have been appointed from staff in those original six schools. So, all thirteen schools in the two sectors have staff with experience of our English programme using the  New Original Englilsh Course (NOEC) books.

We have had requests from all seven new schools for our NOEC programme to be brought to their schools. This is not possible with our present resources, but we have started working in one new school, Muhazi Primary School. Some of the new schools are, in fact, still sorting themselves out with desks for pupils and classroom windows and so our inability to work in those schools is not a pressing issue yet. 

In Muhazi Primary School, teacher Claudine who has been using the NOEC books for many years, is now mentoring the new English teacher of Primary 2, Anasthasie in how to use the NOEC books. Anasthasie is a teacher of mathematics to Primary 3 and 4, but is now ‘in love with the NOEC methodology’ and is enjoying teaching English.

Teacher Jean-Claude who used to teach English to Primary 1 with our NOEC materials, is now in a new school teaching English to Primary 6 and tells us that he still uses the NOEC methodology. The teachers who have used the NOEC resources have all demonstrably improved in their use of English. The head teachers are enthusiastic about the use of the NOEC and are pleasantly surprised by the superior capacity in English speaking that Lower Primary pupils learning from the NOEC books have over Upper Primary pupils.

The introduction of teaching all subjects through the medium of English from the very first year, Primary 1, is, to say the least, a challenge. It seems that the education officials, especially those at the Rwanda Education Board (REB), might be realizing the extent of the problem.

Emmy Nyirigiri, the Chair of our trustees in Rwanda (where we operate as Support to Primary Education Rwanda), was going to meet the Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education, Mr Gaspard Twagirayezu, on Friday 30^thApril. Unfortunately, there was a sudden Cabinet Meeting called and the meeting was cancelled. With the workload of both the Minister and Emmy the meeting has yet to be rearranged.

However, Damian, who used to work as a head of department at REB, met the Head of Languages there, Mr Gatera, who is an old colleague. Mr Gatera is familiar with and appreciative of the work of Support to Primary Education Rwanda. After discussing with him again the merits of the use of the NOEC books, Mr Gatera is in favour of the use of the NOEC materials for all Lower Primary. To that end he would like us to meet the new Director General of REB with him in attendance. That meeting is being arranged, and Damian, Ivan and I have been working on a presentation to be made to the Director General. Ideally we would like the officials to come to see the use of the NOEC materials in the classrooms and to talk to the teachers, but perhaps that can happen after the meeting. 

Just as I wrote the above we got news of a new lockdown in Rwanda which comes into effect on 1^st July. All schools and offices are to close until further notice along with other restrictions. So, we will now have to wait for any meeting with REB, and the pupils’ learning will be disrupted yet again. This is a great shame, and I can only hope it will be short-lived. 

Meanwhile, Dilly who heads our work in Tanzania, received a message out of the blue from Jackson Minja. Jackson was taught English by various of our ‘gap year’ volunteers from 2000 to 2006. He was then sponsored by the charity through secondary school and vocational training school. He wrote to thank Dilly for ‘accepting me as your child and you processed every cent to make sure my school fees were paid on time. Thank you Sir. They say it’s better late than never, I’ve never forgotten this. I am so happy to let you know that that short, tiny boy has grown and blessed with a Bachelor Degree of Science in Applied Zoology from the University of Dar es Salaam. Not only that but I am now employed by the Ministry of Natural Resources (Tanzania Forest Service Agency) since 2017.’ Jackson has agreed to my quoting from his messages and sent me some photographs so that I could choose one for this letter. Jackson particularly wanted to thank the ‘gap year’ volunteer who taught him English in his last year of primary school, and he ended one message, ‘You all are the reasons I am here today. Wish you the long and happy life’. 

Whilst my overall aim of changing the way English is taught so that every primary school pupil can learn English is taking time to achieve, I must not forget the many lives we have touched and changed through our work.

That has only been possible because of donors such as you. The continuation of our work depends on our donors, and I thank you all for your generosity, kindness and support.

With very best wishes,

Katy Allen Mtui