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Improving learning outcomes in English and

JUNE 2021 | Issue #9

BLF DIGEST

Empowering girls through education

2BLF Digest, June 2021

BLF Digest, April 2021 2

CONTENTS

BLF, Aigle Blanc Building, Kimihurura, KG 566 Street, P. O, Box 4251 Kigali, RwandaPhone: +250788318509 | Email: [email protected] | Website: www.buildinglearningfoundations.rw

p3 ForewordBy Salome Ong’ele

p4 Programme updateSchool community partnerships drive improved learning outcomes

p5 Programme updateRemediation is key to students’ success in learning

p6 FeatureSNECOs instilling positive behavior management in schools

In this issue:

FREE The BLF Digest Magazine is free of charge and will be distributed on a quarterly basis. You can download the e-magazine as a pdf file at:

www.BuildingLearningFoundations.rw

Our team:

FAITH MBABAZI

Communications Manager

GEORGINE MUKARUGIRALeadership for

Learning Advisor

ALEX MAHE MUKIZWA

Systems Strengthening

Advisor

HAZEL COX

Inclusive Education

Advisor

SOFIA COZZOLINO

Education Technical Lead

SILAS BAHIGANSENGA

ProgrammeDirector

Senior education officials appreciate BLF’s support to the sector

p10 Programme update

p7 Q&ADismas’ story: Creating the school vision and mission together ensures ownership

p8 Q&AKimonyo’s story: How GS Gahima is building relationships with the community

p9 ProfileBLF’s English for Teaching course brings online language learning to rural Rwanda


CONTENTS






In this issue:



Our team:

FAITH MBABAZI



Learning Advisor

ALEX MAHE MUKIZWA


Advisor

HAZEL COX

Inclusive Education

Advisor

SOFIA COZZOLINO


SILAS BAHIGANSENGA

ProgrammeDirector







CONTENTS






In this issue:



Our team:

FAITH MBABAZI



Learning Advisor

ALEX MAHE MUKIZWA


Advisor

HAZEL COX

Inclusive Education

Advisor

SOFIA COZZOLINO


SILAS BAHIGANSENGA

ProgrammeDirector






CONTENTS

In this issue:p3 ForewordBy Salome Ong’ele

p5 ProfileHow Professional Learning Communities support girls’ education

p7 News BLF celebrates International Day for Women in Mathematics 2021

p8 FeatureSupporting the achievement of deaf children in primary schools

p9 FeatureOlive’s storyWomen leading the way in girls’ education

p6 News An all-girls Maths competition, an inspiration to pursue mathematical sciences

p4 Programme updateBLF’s girls’ Education approach

3 BLF Digest, June 2021


CONTENTS






In this issue:



Our team:

FAITH MBABAZI



Learning Advisor

ALEX MAHE MUKIZWA


Advisor

HAZEL COX

Inclusive Education

Advisor

SOFIA COZZOLINO


SILAS BAHIGANSENGA

ProgrammeDirector






FOREWORD

Building Learning Foundations is addressingthe existing inequalities in access to quality education between boys and girls starting with the early years.

SALOME ONG’ELE | BLF Team Leader

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the 9th issue of the BLF Digest, our quarterly magazine that gives you an insight into the work we are doing to improve learning outcomes in English and mathematics in all Rwanda’s public and government aided primary schools.

The Government of Rwanda has demonstrated strong political will to promote gender equality as a pre-requisite for sustainable development and by so doing the country has made great strides in achieving equitable education for girls, having attained and surpassed gender parity in primary education.

These gains over the years have been impacted by a decrease in

number of girls transitioning to secondary education due to a high number of dropouts. Any form of underrepresentation in upper secondary or tertiary education inevitably leads to missed opportunities and the loss of talent – at both an individual and national level. The causes of such underrepresentation lie predominantly in a variety of barriers which continue to prevent girls from developing a strong and well-supported passion for excelling right from an early age. Thanks to funding from the UK Government, our Building Learning Foundations programme is working with Rwanda Basic Education Board and the Ministry of Education to provide quality learning and a safe environment for all students, particularly girls, at risk of dropping out.

In this issue, explore the approaches Building Learning Foundations is taking to address the existing inequalities in access to quality education between boys and girls starting with the early years. This special edition describes several activities that are being implemented right from school to national levels that aim at addressing challenges that hinder girls from performing well from early years to later stages in education. I hope you enjoy reading this issue.

Sincerely,


PROGRAMME UPDATE

BLF’s girls’ Education approach

To both Rwanda and the UK Governments, Girls’ Education remains a priority. A combination

of general and girl-targeted interventions bring tangible results towards eradication of gender-based hinderances in education.

Girls in Rwanda – particularly those of adolescent age – continue to face barriers to achieving their full potential. This has implications not only for individual girls and communities but will continue to be felt at societal and economic levels if left unaddressed.

How evidence informs BLF’s girls’ education approach

Building Learning Foundations has always been concerned with equitable access, enrolment, performance and continuation of both girls and boys in Rwandan schools. In line with its efforts to continue bringing substantive contribution to the Government’s work in education, BLF conducted “An Inequity Impact Assessment of Primary 2 and 3 pupils in Rwanda” following the school closures in the context of Covid-19. The assessment was aimed to inform plans to reopen schools in the context of COVID-19.

Findings from the assessment highlighted some gender implications that require attention and call to action. For example, the assessment revealed that gender norms have played a significant role in determining which parent takes primary responsibility for supporting their children’s learning whereby both parents and children confirmed that mothers were twice as likely as fathers to support their primary-age children’s learning, yet mothers were also the least likely to have completed tertiary studies or attended formal education at all.

The assessment also found that girls, particularly those of pre-adolescent and adolescent age, are in danger of being left behind when schools resume and that school closures increased the propensity of girls to either sexual violence, sexual exploitation, and abuse (SEA), or engagement in risky sexual behaviour.

Strategic priorities for girls’ education

BLF’s design and intended outcome aligns with the priorities of the Government of Rwanda and FCDO. Considering the barriers to girls’ education, BLF has developed a specific Girls’ Education Strategy and defined its goal to contribute to the progressive elimination of normative, infrastructural, and governance-related barriers hindering girls’ access to equitable education in Rwanda, by September 2023. BLF adopted a gender transformative approach that works at the intersections of Gender

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion and applies school and community-centered methodologies by combining general and girl-targeted interventions.

BLF selected the following five strategic priorities for girls’ education in Rwanda:

Embed gender-responsive culture and practices throughout BLF programme implementation and governance; strengthen the education system at the decentralized level to respond timely and adequately on gender and other safeguarding issues.

Also Support girls’ access to useful information, education and communication (IEC) materials and advocate for gender equitable and inclusive processes at school and institutional levels by ensuring that interventions are informed by a gender transformative approach.

Under each strategic priority, BLF defined key strategic objectives and related activities and assigned different roles and responsibilities to staff to ensure the above goal is reached. The programme works to ensure that children, teachers and communities are supported to move beyond the access of girls and boys to school and strive for girls and boys to also experience the same levels of quality and outcomes of education. The BLF programme also aims to support schools and communities to understand and challenge the social and gender norms that perpetuate gender inequalities.

BY JEAN MARIE VIANNEY MUNYANEZA BLF Gender and Safeguarding Specialist

Students from GS Ayabaraya learn using BLF’s English pupil activity books


PROFILE

BY FAITH MBABAZI | BLF Communications Manager

INyarufunzo Primary school is located in Mageragere sector, Nyarugenge District, rural Kigali City. The school is

supported by the government of Rwanda and is led by a female local leader of learning supported by Building Learning Foundations.

At this school, there was a scheduled Professional Learning Community (PLC) meeting that is supported by BLF under its Leadership for learning Foundation. Here about 11 school leaders from three sectors in Nyarugenge District met to discuss matters relating to continuous improvement while leading their schools.

Nyarufunzo head teacher Murekatete Claire Joie leads the PLC meeting and a BLF Sector Learning Facilitator provides logistical support to the group. Central to their meeting is touring the school facilities and providing constructive feedback on what can be done better as well as discussing ways to eliminate the issue of school dropout.

Some of the challenging issues the PLC meeting addressed urgently wass to ensure that all children safely return to school especially adolescent girls who became pregnant during the Covid-19 school closures.

The Ministry of Education in Rwanda allows pregnant and adolescent mothers to attend classes and sit for examinations. The government also guarantees pregnant school aged girls receive special care such that they are able to attend school safely.

Building Learning Foundations leans on this positive momentum and supports

school leaders to help ensure that pregnant teen girls get back to school and continue learning through the back to school campaign. School leaders at Nyarufunzo Primary school gathered at a PLC share successful strategies with their peers and many find strong parent engagement and open communication as essential to eliminating student drop out.

The school leaders provided examples of their individual school cases and how they had been handled. Headteacher of GS Akumunigo Mr Ildebrand Nzabandora says that he was informed about a pregnant student who was not able to come back to school. He narrated how he went to the students’ family to encourage them to send her back to school so that she may not lose a lot of learning. The head teacher reported that the student came back to school, was supported to access the girls’ safe room whenever she felt the need to rest. This student did not miss any learning and performed very well in end term examinations. She expects to give birth in Mid-June 2021.

His story motivated other school leaders attending the PLC to be able to follow up on similar cases in their respective schools.

Nsabimana Laurent, School Head of EP Rugarama explains, “We generally have more girls than boys in school, but since

we reopened after the closure, some few teenage girls couldn’t return to school due to relocation and financial reasons.”

Teenage girls risk early marriage as well, especially in some rural parts of the country. Another challenge is the financial capabilities of parents. Even though the discrimination between teenage boys and girls in education is gradually disappearing in Rwanda, however following the Covid19 pandemic a few parents focused on sending their male children back to school, whilst their female counterparts are kept at home to cook and continue to take care of affairs, until their parents have raised enough money.

The Ministry of Education(MINEDUC) for its part, is putting measures in place to ensure the gender parity in schools, especially for teenagers, since that is where we see the sharp decline in number of girls. There are incentive packages and initiatives which are meant to motivate teenage girls to return to school and strive for the best such as scholarship to very good schools in the country.

Across the country, our Building Learning Foundation team members are working tirelessly to support schools to ensure that all girls return safely to school through various campaigns.

How Professional Learning Communities support girls’ education


NEWS

As part of activities to mark international day for women in Mathematics, BLF in collaboration

with school leaders in Burera, Gasabo, Ngoma and Ruhango districts organized a girls’ competition in Mathematics dubbed as “Girls Mathematics challenge”. The competition involved girl students at P1 to P3 in several schools across Rwanda and was supervised by their mathematics teachers alongside BLF Sector learning facilitators who support those schools.

The event took place on 12th May 2021, under the theme, ‘Empower girls in mathematics: start early’ and aimed to encourage girls to be confident in mathematics as a subject and later take it on as a career at secondary level of education.

Teachers put together a collection of mental quizzes, a quiz bee competition as well as puzzles for the girls to solve in a given time frame during normal class time. At the final stage of selection, each class had a total of 5 winners who were given several awards which included; mathematical sets, mathematics pupil activity books and Mathematics essential learning materials that were provided by BLF.

One the female students who emerged the best at GS Kimironko said,

“I am so happy to have been given an award.I was the best in solving a puzzle that our teacher gave us out of 10 students, I became the winner. I am so happy and encouraged to continue being the best and go away with good awards like these,” says - IKUZE NICE BLESSING

Eugenie Kankwazi, a P3 Mathematics female teacher said that, BLF has trained her and her colleagues to be able to

create their own teaching and learning materials which make learners interested in mathematics. She says competitions such as the Girls Mathematics Challenge supports their efforts of breaking down all the barriers and challenges to girls engaging with mathematical sciences.

“BLF has been at the forefront of changing the way mathematics is taught at school, initiatives such as the Girls Mathematics Challenge inspire young girls at an early age to take on STEM subjects in the future without fear as they remember that they were champions right from childhood.I can see that my learners’ confidence has increased,”adds teacher Kankwanzi.

BLF Mathematics Assistant Stephanie Nyirakamanzi who had been largely involved in preparing the Girls Mathematics Challenge said that BLF supported schools to host the inaugural Mathematics Girls competition so that moving forward, the schools could make this an annual activity. She noted that teachers were trained by BLF to make their own learning resources which in future could be given to the winners of the competition without putting a cost to the event.

Most barriers affecting girls to perform well in Mathematics related subjects are predominantly rooted in social norms, whereby maths and science are too often believed to be the domain of men and boys. This leads not only to an all-too-frequent lack of female role models in STEM – especially in school settings – but also negative stereotypes around girls’ mathematical abilities, and lower levels of confidence among girls than among boys of similar attainment levels. It can also contribute to unconscious biases among teachers and school leaders, meaning that girls do not receive the encouragement they need to pursue these subject areas. This issue is further compounded by the additional barriers to girls’ education, especially during adolescence, not least that issues of sexual abuse remain common in some schools, disproportionately leading girls to drop out or perform poorly as their mental health is impacted.

Addressing these barriers is complex and multifaceted, but highly necessary. It requires work with boys, girls, men and women alike to challenge social norms and attitudes and to encourage all children – no matter their gender – to pursue an interest in mathematics and related subjects. Encouraging such interests at as early an age as possible appears likely to be important for engaging girls in these subjects, and while encouragement their curiosity would ideally start at home, schools provide a critically important avenue for this purpose.

Schools must therefore be equipped to help both girls and boys engage with these subjects effectively. To do so, Building Learning Foundations has adopted a gender transformative approach across its programme implementation, working at the intersections of gender equality, diversity and inclusion. In this case, it helps to counteract the misconception that science and maths are more appropriate for boys than girls by educating students about what different STEM fields and careers might involve, and highlighting that both men and women can be, for example, scientists or engineers.

An all-girls Maths competition, an inspiration to pursue mathematical sciencesBY FAITH MBABAZI | BLF Communications Manager

Teacher Eugenie Kankwanzi teaching a maths lesson at GS Kimironko 1


NEWS


On 12th May 2021, the Building Learning Foundations programme held several events to mark

International Day for Girls in Mathematics. The event was celebrated under the theme, “Empower girls in mathematics: start early”. The event which is celebrated annually around the world seeks to inspire women to celebrate their achievements in mathematics and to encourage an open, welcoming and inclusive work environment in mathematics-related fields.

The events included a virtual webinar and a girls mathematics challenge competition at school level in five districts.

The panel discussion saw contributions from Dr. Marie-Christine Gasingirwa, Applied Sciences Analyst at Rwanda’s Higher Education Council, Marie Chantal Bizimana, BLF Sector Learning and Jean Marie Vianney Munyaneza, BLF and Gender and Safeguarding Specialist, who each spoke about the various barriers and challenges faced by girls studying Mathematics as well as the necessary efforts that are underway to address these issues.

Despite gender parity at primary level in Rwanda, girls are consistently underrepresented in STEM subjects at upper secondary and tertiary levels. Any type of underrepresentation inevitably leads to missed opportunities and the loss of mathematical talent – at both an individual and national level. The causes of such underrepresentation, according to our panelists, lie predominantly in a variety of barriers which continue to prevent girls from developing a strong and

well-supported passion for mathematics from an early age.

In her remarks, Dr Marie Christine said the present barriers are entrenched deep down in families and that for this to change, it’s important to deal with the family structure. She explained that why barriers still exist despite strategies in place, is due to the fact that resilience among humans is very difficult and that the desired changes can’t happen overnight.

“But with policies in place and continued support for the girls, change will happen eventually. They will learn from the women in the space, their passion will encourage them. Currently we have more opportunities, if we had them back then, we would have more women in mathematics,” - DR MARIE CHRISTINE

Gasingirwa noted that the more we have all people empowered the better the development will be.

“What we need to understand is how relevant mathematics is on every level, this is why it matters that we introduce this to the girls earlier in life. In Rwanda, we want to go much faster but there are still obstacles; these may be conscious or unconscious, but there is progress. What is remaining is for people to remove the stereotypes that keep blocking progress. We want to fly because we are in a changing world, we need to be equipped with tools, we need to be bold, feel empowered academically and be able to apply the knowledge that we have acquired,” she added.

Chantal Bizimana, BLF’s Sector Learning Facilitator, mentioned the case with the

learning process that at times doesn’t consider challenges girls face in accessing education especially those in the science field.

“Girls are sometimes not quick when learning mathematics but when a teacher has the right techniques they can excel just like boys. It’s important for teachers to encourage them and ensure that they are not lagging behind. Teachers should be supportive too and help them overcome that fear of science subjects believing that it’s meant for boys alone,” she explained.

Adopted approaches

Jean Marie Vianney Munyaneza, BLF Gender and Safeguarding specialist revealed that what needs to be done is to address the existing inequalities between men and women, boys and girls.

“When you dig deep, you see that these differences are rooted in the habits and attitudes of society. It makes it difficult for the girls to be on equal ground with their male counterparts. These negative stereotypes, unconscious biases, issues of sexual abuse, is what affects their mental health and consequently their health and performance in school. Girls often report lower confidence than boys do in their math and science abilities as a result of the cultural belief that science and math are male domains. This affects girls to select mathematics as a subject and for even those who have taken it, to continue performing.” he observed.

Munyaneza hence challenged women and men to defy their social norms and empower both boys and girls.

He also mentioned the need to expose both boys and girls to successful role models in the science field.

Schools and communities can also be proactive in exposing pupils to successful female role models in STEM, especially if there are any from the school alumni, while also implementing a combination of general and girl-targeted interventions and extracurricular activities to foster a supportive, stereotype-free environment to build girls’ interests and confidence.

BLF celebrates International Day for Women in Mathematics 2021


Speaking and hearing play an important role in communication, and teaching students who

have difficulties in these areas of communication. Students of G.S Institute Filippo Smaldone have demonstrated that apart from their hearing and speaking disability they are just as hardworking, intelligent and independent as other children. G.S Institute Filippo Smaldone is a catholic owned school that is supported by the government of Rwanda. With over 434 students at primary level and lower secondary, more than half of these learners are deaf and mute and come from poor family backgrounds.

The school has been involved with Building Learning Foundations since 2018. The teachers of Mathematics and English of lower primary are mentored by a BLF staff every month and the inclusive education guide developed by BLF is an important tool they refer to during their monthly Community of Practice meeting.

While observing a P3 Mathematics class taught by teacher Consolée Icyizanye, I observed she used both sign language and verbal communication to interact with her class of 20 which includes 16 with hearing impairment. Students used Mathematics Pupil activity books and Essential Learning Materials such as the abacu and dices provided by BLF and worked in pairs on each wooden desk.

On many occasions teacher Console would ask the students to solve a mathematics

task on the blackboard and she would praise the ones who provided correct

answers.

Teacher Console has dedicated her life to teaching students with special needs because she wants to make a difference in the lives of these children. she says she wants to make these learners become the best in the their lives and their families. And with her long experience teaching these learners, she developed compassion and love for them.

Challenges

According to Sister Uwamariya Clotilde,Director of Studies at G.S Institute Filippo, some challenges faced include identifying qualified teachers who have knowledge on the needs of the mute and hard of hearing learners. She added that some students have a mild hearing impairment and if given hearing devices they can cope very well in class.

One other challenge is that when students graduate from lower secondary, it is difficult to be accepted into upper secondary schools because the schools are not trained to teach children with hearing impairment which makes them drop out at that level.

It is evident that students with disability can cope very well in a class of their normal colleagues once a teacher is trained to teach inclusively. This is what Building Learning Foundations is doing in all schools led by National Leaders of learning and Local Leaders of Learning. BLF Special Needs Education Coordinators (SNECOs) train focal teachers of each school to be able to colleagues to identify learners’ special education needs and to support those who have been identified.


Supporting the achievement of deafchildren in primary schools

FEATURE

P3 students at GS IFS participating in a Mathematics lesson

Icyizanye Consolée Maths teacher at GS IFS


BY UJENEZA Olive

My name is Olive Ujeneza, head teacher of Group Scolaire Shagasha and a BLF Local leader

of Learning for Gihundwe sector Rusizi district. I have been involved with the Building Learning Foundations Programme since 2018. Participating in the CPD Certificate course offered by University of Rwanda, College of Education and BLF has equipped me and my colleagues to always bear in mind including all learners in class and safeguarding the rights of children with a particular focus on those who are most vulnerable to drop out of school.

Some of these are teenage girls who are at risk of being pregnant if they are not educated well or safeguarded. Two years ago, I realized that some girls at our school had dropped out of school and were married while others became pregnant. This was very disturbing information to me which made me call for an urgent meeting with members of our School General Assembly Executive Committee to investigate the root causes of these cases.

Most of these girls came from poor households where parents were not engaged in the learning process of their children. Through our discussions with the families of these students we were able to bring them back to school after one year.

Through our monthly Professional Learning Communities, we discussed the need to establish mechanisms to support girls to enjoy studying and making our environment friendly.

In our School Improvement Plan, we put more focus on building and equipping the Girls’ safe room, electing one parent and one female teacher in charge of supporting girls who have specific issues at school. We also established a girls’ club to discuss issues relating to reproductive health.

Our school has registered a significant decrease in girls’ drop out.

While analyzing the last comprehensive assessment, we realized that girls performed much better than previous years. This is a result of collaborative work between school leaders and the SGAEC.

Furthermore, as we are not allowed in this period to hold Parents’ meeting due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has ravaged the country, our school has jointly agreed with local authorities and Sector Education Inspector to create a whatsup group for those who have smart phones and share information on girls who may not have returned to school.

FEATURE

Women leading the way in girls’ education

On that forum we also discuss specific issues affecting our school in general such as school feeding, construction activities as well as many other issues affecting our school.

I appreciate the support we frequently get from BLF’s School Leadership Advisor who takes part in some of our PLCs and provides guidance on how we need to lead learning while supporting all learners especially girls.


FOREWORD

BUILDING LEARNING FOUNDATIONSAigle Blanc Building | Kimihurura, KG 566 Street

P. O Box 4251 Kigali, Rwanda | Phone: +250788318509Email: [email protected]

Website: www.buildinglearningfoundations.rw

The Building Learning Foundations Programme is implemented by a consortium of three of the United Kingdom’s premier not-for-profit leaders in improving education globally: Education Development Trust (co-ordinating), British Council and VSO

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