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Crisis in Rwandan education: 54 computers for 10,000 students at the National University of Rwanda

By Rwanda News Agency
Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Photo:
President Kagame congratulates the First Lady Jeannette Kagame on her graduation from the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology several years ago. Lawmakers found out on Monday that the education system is at crisis point.

Kigali: There is no way Rwanda’s development path can be attained with the current level and nature of education at the country’s higher learning institutions, according to a damning Parliamentary report, which calls the situation “scandalous”.

Not only are students getting outdated education, as the 270-page report says, the environment which the students have to live in is unbearable.

A Parliamentary Committee investigated the conditions at 26 higher institutions of learning across the country. The findings are so damning that the lawmakers spent Monday evening debating what to do, and will continue on Wednesday.

For example, at the National University of Rwanda (NUR) – the country’s premier institution, there are 10,000 students sharing a total of 15,000 textbooks. Worse still, a large percentage of these books are in French and outdated when lectures are conducted exclusively in English.

The Southern Province-based institution has just 54 computers shared among all its students and lecturers, according to the Committee report.

For class-numbers at the same University, the report says the class ratio is way beyond the size some rooms are meant to contain.

As the committee presented its findings, the mood turned from disbelief to constant laughter in the House at the whole situation being painted by the report.

Since 2008, all schools right from primary to university are conducting class in English when most of the teaching staff had a background in French. And the situation becomes dire at the National University where lecturers are said to be using Google Language Translator to change the notes to English.

The report found that students even found themselves reading notes that do not make sense in the translated version because Google only changes words but not the phrase context.

When it seemed like the Committee’s report was detailing crisis after another, lawmakers only found that was just a slice of the problems in the education sector. Despite the four-hours which the lawmakers spent seated listening to the presentation and later had time to debate the findings, time was not sufficient.

Salary crisis

Lecturers are not only paid so poorly that most have preferred to abandon teaching, but a severe salary inequality was discovered. At the National University of Rwanda for example, it has lost 175 lecturers and researchers since 2002.

Some former lecturers also revealed that they had left their teaching jobs because they did not feel they had the appropriate management. However, no new ones are replacing those leaving because nobody wants to be there.

As a back-door solution to attract a good salary, university Rectors prefer to abandon Rwandan nationality so they become expatriates - earning more than seven-times those of the same caliber. For example, some rectors with foreign nationality are earning about Rwf 8million (Approx. US$13,500) while their Rwandan counterparts are earning just about Rwf 850,000 (US$1,500). The report does not name individuals.

The report also says university students are studying from outdated syllabuses. The faculties of law, according to the Committee, are still studying laws and principles that no longer in use.

When the debate on the report started, there were an unusual number of lawmakers who wanted to speak that the House activities lined for Wednesday have been cancelled to continue discussing the findings. An overwhelming number of Deputes that spoke shared the demand that the Minister of Education is summoned.

Job market worried

The latest spat on the education sector follows that of President Paul Kagame who bitterly complained last July that universities were releasing half-baked people onto the job market. Firing specifically at the National University of Rwanda, President Kagame revealed that graduate Rwandan students at South African universities are having to be given a year of preparatory classes.

The NUR teaching staff has fiercely dismissed such attacks, instead accusing government of disregarding their pleas for improved conditions. Last week, at the 2010 graduation, students also pushed the blame squarely on the teaching staff, but the Rector Prof. Silas Lwakabamba Silas rejected the categorisation.

Private companies have also complained that they are not getting employees with the required skills. For example, according to sources, new telecom sector entrant TiGO delayed its launch because it had failed to source staff locally.

The parliamentary report lays bare the frustration of employers. The Public Service Commission which hires civil servants is reported to have documented figures which lawmakers called worrying.

Between May and June last 2008, just 191 people passed job interviews for both written and oral – from a total of some 1049. Last year between January and June, only 23% passed the interviews out of 611 graduates.

Related Materials:
Rwanda: Heated debate in Parliament over education crisis report

posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 7:21 PM