The new order of the Prime Minister establishes a special statute governing the staff of primary education schools, which stipulates that every three years a teacher must pass the test of English as the language of instruction, but the teacher who fails twice in a row, will be fired.
In Rwandan schools, the language of instruction is English and there are schools that are trying but many of them continue to be difficult, so that children studying in the first three years of primary school fail math tests because they do not understand the questions they are asked in English. .
The assessment conducted on primary education students based on their knowledge in Kinyarwanda, English and Mathematics shows that the students in the third year of primary school in 2021 who passed mathematics were 69.94% in 2023 and decreased to 55.6 %.
Those who have basic knowledge in English reached 37.5% in 2023 from 10% in 2021 while reading and understanding Kinyarwanda is 82.7% among students in the third year of primary schools.
The Minister of Education, Nsengimana Joseph, recently announced that the reason why children fail in science is because they learn in a language they do not understand but "even the teachers who teach them their level of English must rise because you cannot give what you do not have."
The Ministerial Order of the Prime Minister of November 12, 2024 establishes a special statute governing the staff of primary education schools, which stipulates that the teacher's job test must be conducted in English as the language of instruction, whether he teaches another language and is conducted in that he wants to teach
Article 10 of it contains a paragraph that says “The teacher candidate also takes the test of English as the language used in education. The unsuccessful candidate will not be hired.”
It stipulates that in order for a teacher to be promoted, he must have a teaching license issued by the Ministry of Education; has a degree or qualification in teaching; or has three years of experience in the position he is in.
He is also required to have passed the “English proficiency assessment that is conducted every three years based on the standards set by the Ministry of Education; and passed the final evaluation of the training and additional skills based on the standards determined by the Ministry of Education in charge.
A report by the World Bank in 2018, showed that there is a great need for teacher training in English because only 38% of teachers from Monday to Wednesday had sufficient knowledge in English.
A document published by the Ministry of Education on February 26, 2024, shows that "only 4% of teachers who teach have intermediate to high-level knowledge in English, which is the language used in teaching."
Article 46 mandates that a teacher who fails English twice in their exams will be fired.
He said, “A teacher who has passed the assessment must take the English as a medium of instruction test every three years. A teacher who fails twice in a row is fired.”
The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with various agencies, is training 12,726 teachers who have not studied education in primary and secondary schools in order to improve the quality of education.
Minister Nsengimana says that no teacher should pretend to have studied in French because many years have passed, so the changes should have been welcomed everywhere.
He said, "In recent years, those who are starting to enter the teaching profession have studied in English."
The 2023 figures show that there were 138,038 teachers and other staff in educational institutions, with 51% men and 49% women. There are more than 50,000 people working in government agencies, while there are more than 66,000 people working in government agencies.
