Supervisor Barbara

This week I'm involved in supervising final year B.Ed students who are out on their first, and last intern programme in secondary schools throughout Rwanda. Fortunately I was allocated a district not too far from home, and one I'm (kind of) familiar with as it includes the Rwandan orphanage Project which I visit twice a week.
The first school - Groupe Scolaire Camp Kanombe has a combined primary and secondary - up to Year 9. There are plans to extend to Senior 6 (ie Year 12) in the next year. I've observed classes in ICT, Chemistry, and English, with more to come tomorrow and Thursday. The other school is a short busride down the road, then a rather long journey on the back of a pushbike (see previous blog) up hill and down dale on a VERY uncared for clay road. We've had rain here over the past few days, so as well as the aforementioned craters, there are quite deep pools to negotiate. The riders are very considerate however, and slow down when negotiating the puddles, to minimise the red mud splashes....  I saw myself yesterday, on the back of the bike, clutching the huge book of report sheets I have to fill in for each student, in triplicate, and my bag in the other hand, bumping out into the rural area surrounding Kigali, like some school inspector from the 1920's or so...
Anyway, it's interesting to go into the schools and observe the student teachers - they've been well prepared, but have to work in difficult situations - from a Westerner's point of view anyway. Classes average 40 - 60, classrooms are basic with cement floors, no lighting (so it was still pretty dark this morning during the 7.30am class), a blackboard, iron roof and no ceiling, and benches for the students. The poor ICT teachers and the science teacher had the most challenges - no labs, no computers. They did admirably however, drawing monitor screens on the blackboard to explain the intricacies of using tables for simple calculations!! They don't have access to photocopiers either, and the students don't have textbooks, so it's all chalk and talk. I'll never whinge again when the photocopier breaks down!
The kids are remarkably well behaved however, and very keen to learn, which makes the teachers job easier - and they always do their homework!! Such is the competition for places in tertiary institutions. They all sit an external exam at the end of primary school, which determines where they go, or if they will go to secondary school. A lot of children don't even attend primary school, if their parents can't afford the uniform and minimal fees.

ICT lesson with teacher's own laptop



English - verb 'to be'  - present tense!



English lesson

A couple of photos from this morning's classes - school starts at 7.20 and finishes at 1.30pm. NB All teachers wear the lab coats - protection from chalk dust I think