The government plans to hire more English school mentors to bridge the existing gap in schools.

The on-the-job mentoring system was initiated by the government with a view to assisting local teachers increase English language proficiency.

The previous batches of recruitment have so far dispatched around 900 English instructors, who have been serving all primary and secondary schools in Rwanda.

While 60 per cent of them are shopped outside the country, mainly Uganda and Kenya, the government hopes to bring more mentors on board to strengthen the programme beginning next year, despite lawmakers having questioned the programme’s efficiency.

READ: Four years later, learners still struggle with English

“There are no documented guidelines and policies to clearly show the expected deliverable from the mentors and what results government expects to achieve from the mentoring programme before it is phased out,” reads Auditor General’s report.

“There is inadequate supervision of the mentors by the Rwanda Education Board (REB) and no evidence of any regular follow up visits made to schools to supervise mentors during the year,” added the report.

The Auditor-General blamed the authority in charge for failure to assess performance of mentors and to establish whether REB was realising value from the activities of mentors.

It is estimated that a total of Rwf25 million had been paid to mentors who were no longer in service amid allegations that some abscond duties without notifying the government.

Members of Parliament echoed the same concerns with some calling for a review of the programme to generate the needed results.

“Looking at the programme and what has been raised by the Auditor General’s report, it is logical to question the importance of the programme. Its management is uncertain,” said Théoneste Karenzi, the deputy chairperson of the Standing Parliamentary Committee in charge of public accounts.

He further stated that the Ministry of Education and Rwanda Education Board need to put in place a comprehensive plan and policies to guide implementation of the English School-based mentors programme.

Emmanuel Muvunyi, deputy director general of Rwanda Education Board insisted the programme will achieve its objectives.

“The AG pointed out the management issues, like mentors who return back home unnoticed, and they remain on payroll for two or three months. But currently, we have resolved to put focal points at district levels who will help monitoring and evaluation of the school mentors,” he said.

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Mr Muvunyi said English school mentors were earlier under the management of head teachers, which did not favour timely reporting and evaluation.

“We have urged focal points to liaise with local governments, mostly at the sector level to ensure a daily monitoring of the mentors; otherwise we still need more mentors to cover as many schools as possible,” he added.

According to the 2015 strategic programme, all teachers will have their language competency assessed through a standardised assessment tool.

“Teachers will be given the opportunity of taking the test as often as necessary to attain the appropriate certificate,” states a clause in the strategic plan.

The test will be used to gauge ability of teachers have met the targets in levels of proficiency, intermediate for primary teachers, upper intermediate for secondary teachers and advanced for teacher educators.