Rwanda plans to increase support for the struggling preschool education sub-sector even as challenges threaten to choke a policy to introduce nursery schools across the country.

Describing the current situation as transitional, Director General of the Rwanda Education Board Janvier Gasana told Rwanda Today that in addition to grooming teachers for pre-school education, there are plans to have nursery teachers added to the national teachers’ payroll. However, he could not provide specific timelines since the decision has to be jointly backed by Labour and Finance ministries.

The government targets to have at least a public nursery school at village level by the end of this year but the programme has run into challenges such as lack of dedicated space, teachers and learning aids.

“We know that many schools have not yet got enough equipment but none can say they haven’t received any support at all. We could not wait for everything to be in place to start given the importance of these schools in preparing children for primary,” Mr Gasana said.

Most public nursery schools were introduced at Cell level nationwide three years ago but they continue to face shortages of key infrastructure such as classrooms, teaching and learning kits and toys. Educationists and parents say the three- to six-year olds then end up enrolling in primary without a strong foundation.

A teacher at Groupe Scolaire Gasagara in Southern Province said while the children are supposed to have acquired certain basic literacy skills like counting and spelling some words by the time they leave nursery but most still get to primary without achieving those levels.

“It is an initiative the government rushed to implement without prior assessment of what it entails. In our case, we operate from church facilities; when it rains the children are put together with their seniors in primary classes, and it’s a big challenge,” he said.

Inadequate investment

Inadequate investment in early childhood education has been blamed for the issues many nursery schools still grapple with.

A 2015 study by Save the Children indicated below par government spending at pre-primary level as funding to the education sector shrunk from 21 per cent of the budget in 2006 to 12.3 per cent in fiscal 2015.

The study found the share of the national budget to the pre-primary level low, affecting the poorest children whose families cannot afford the few and expensive private nursery schools largely owned by faith-based organisations, individuals and parents’ associations.

Unlike private-owned nursery schools, many public pre-primary facilities are based in the vicinities of existing primary schools while others operate in church and public buildings.

Low attendance levels

Rwanda Today established that except for the curriculum and a few materials like chalk by the Ministry of Education, parents have to incur all the other costs namely paying teachers, purchase of teaching and learning kits.

For example, parents in Musanze, Bugesera, Gisagara and Ngororero contribute Rwf500-Rwf3,500 per child, a fee set by parents’ committees and the Cell administration. This, in addition to other costs required to run the schools, has in some instances acted as a barrier for children from poor and vulnerable families. Such children fail to concentrate in lessons running from 8am to 11am due to hunger because the schools don’t serve meals.

That has been blamed for the low attendance levels that many rural nursery schools grapple with while low pay made these schools unattractive to the few trained teachers.

“There is a proposal to have Ministry of Education take up the responsibility of paying teachers and providing the needed materials for nursery and early childhood development facilities, the same way it is done at the primary and secondary levels. We hope most problems will be solved,” said Albert Niyigena, the Bugesera District Director of Education for nursery, primary and adult education.

According to the 2014 edition of the ministry’s Education Statistical yearbook, the number of children attending pre-primary school dropped from 150,000 in 2009 to 142,471 in 2013. Public schools accounted for only 363 pupils enrolled in 2013 from 874 pupils in 2009. Most schools scored poorly in terms of resources such as suitable games and learning materials for pupils.

The Rwanda Education Board (REB) says a number of interventions are being implemented to progressively equip nursery starting mainly on those in remote areas where such facilities are not existence.

“We have been investing in giving out materials like books. We’ve trained over 3,000 teachers in early childhood education with the discipline having been introduced at teacher training centres and the College of Education,” says REB’s Janvier Gasana.

Gasana said the ministry was negotiating to have nursery teachers. A final decision awaits agreement between the ministries of Labour and Finance over funding.

The government targets to have at least a public nursery school at village level by year end. Education players children from the poor families could continue feeling the pinch, putting social inclusion at stake.