Update from Gitarama.

Hi all,

At the moment I am staying in a city called Gitarama with another Irish volunteer. Each day I visit different schools with another Education Management Advisor called Michael.  We travel on a bus, a motorbike or on the back of a bicycle.  It has been really nice to visit some schools and to talk to some of the pupils, teachers and principals.

In Rwanda, the children study 5 subjects for their exams: English, Kinyarwanda, Maths, Science and Social Studies.  The children asked me many questions about Ireland. I wonder if the pupils in Aston Village ETNS would ask the same questions if a Rwandan teacher came to visit. Here are some of the questions and the answers a Rwandan teacher would give.

What is the capital city of your country? Kigali

How big is your country? Rwanda is approximately 26,000 kilometres squared (roughly the size of Munster)

Who is the president of your country? Paul Kagame

How many children in your class? Between 25 and 78 pupils in a class

Do children in Rwanda wear a school uniform? Yes (most of them wear uniforms)

How many years of primary school? Six years

What games do the children play? Basketball, football, skipping (these are only the games I’ve seen so far but I’m sure I’ll learn more!)

How do teachers get to school? Most of the teachers I have met walk or cycle to school.

The children was very surprised to learn that all children in Ireland go to school from Junior Infants to Leaving Cert.  On boy wondered if even the poor children go to school for that long.  Here most children have to pay for the second 3 years of secondary school, which is one of the reasons that not all of them have the opportunity to complete secondary school.  Also, in Rwanda children must pass an exam at the end of one class in order to move on to the next class. This means that there are a wide range of ages in one class.  One boy I met today who was 15 years old was in the final year of primary school

In all of the schools I was asked whether I was married or not. People are very curious about my marital status here!  

I have some great pictures of a wonderful mural I saw at one of the schools but unfortunately I am not able to load them at the moment. I will try again soon.  It is called the wall of dreams and all of the children have painted their handprints and written their dreams on the wall.  I think their dreams are very similar to what the children in Ireland would pick!

I’ll try to add the photos soon.

Best wishes to you all,

Pauline