Kigali- 20th, June 2019
I can now confidently share my thoughts with others-admitted Blandine after participating in a five-day training session on the basics of teaching by Inspire Educate and Empower Rwanda (IEE) through the Teaching Assistantships Project. Blandine studied Physics, Chemistry and Biology at her Advanced Levels and she excelled with 64 out of 73 aggregates. She aspires to do Ophthalmology as her future career.
In her school life, Blandine never thought of trying to do anything like teaching be it even teaching her siblings or friends at home or school. She was not confident enough to stand in front of her friends and share her ideas when it came to group presentations in her school. So many times, she would pretend not to have understood well the topic her teacher had introduced and taught, to avoid standing in front of her class.
I have been timid, most of my life. Whenever, we were given group work, I would try my best to avoid being the one to present. I would pretend that I did not understand well and so the groupmates would pick another person to do the group presentation, but all was because I lacked confidence to stand in front of my colleagues and share with them- narrates Blandine.
Aged 19, Ineza Blandine is one of the 150 bright young women participating in the Teaching Assistantships Project being implemented by IEE in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. 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 Leaders In Teaching initiative in Rwanda, 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.
A major part of the Teaching Assistantships Project is wholesome skill development for the Teaching Assistants, training them on teaching methodology, English language for teaching and general communication, personal development, inclusion and gender. The training methodology is participant-centred whereby the Teaching Assistants lead on the varied activities of the trainings, in groups and they are given rotational opportunities to present in plenaries. It is in this maze of activities that Blandine found herself trapped, unable to evade opportunities to stand before her peers to share her knowledge and experiences. The project is being implemented in 75 schools in 15 districts. Teaching Assistants are deployed to these schools, with on-going technical support by Teaching Assistantship Mentors who are school-based, collaborating with school administrators to facilitate Teaching Assistants with opportunities to teach. This preparatory training was aimed at enabling Teaching Assistants such as Blandine to gain skills to share confidently with others- because that is what teaching is largely about. Blandine is deployed at Groupe Scolaire Kicukiro in Kigali city where she assists in teaching Biology in Senior One and Senior Two for the past three months, with three more to go. She is very excited to be part of the Teaching Assistantships Project since according to her it has been helpful.
I am very much excited to be part of this project. It is very helpful and exciting because I am now confident to stand before people and share. I have also gained the knowledge and skills of teaching and managing a class, something that I always feared before. I am happy to share what I know, with others. Blandine happily said.
Blandine is thankful to Mastercard Foundation and IEE for not only equipping bright young women like her with skills for personal growth and development but also presenting them with an opportunity of giving back to their communities by mentoring, helping and above all inspiring their fellow students to perform well in their studies. She believes that everyone can be a teacher and so, she is ready to share the knowledge and skills she has gained and what she will gain in future with the people she will meet in her future career as an Ophthalmologist- because of this project.
The aim of the Teaching Assistantships Project is that Teaching Assistants could be inspired to take up teaching careers or consider education as area of further academic study. So, while some Teaching Assistants like Blandine are resolutely clear that they want to take up careers other than Education, many of them are increasingly expressing aspirations to change their tertiary education course choices to Education. Attracting passionate, young women with an interest in education to join the teaching profession is the success indicator of the Teaching Assistantships Project.
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