Willy Nsengiyumva Kamasa has dedicated his life to being an educator. Now 49, Willy started out as a primary school teacher at just 19 years old, barely out of school himself. With 30 years of experience under his belt, more than half of which has been in the position of headteacher, he's seen a lot of change and knows exactly what it takes to create a school environment where both teachers and learners thrive.
Since taking up his role of headteacher at Kijote Primary School in 2016, in rural area Nyabihu district, Western Province, Rwanda, the school is now among the best-performing schools in the district. Before Mr Nsengiyumva became the leader of this government-aided school of 500 students, the performance of learners in the Primary School Leaving Examination was poor. More than 75 per cent ranked in the lower divisions (III and IV), sometimes with none in the first (top) division. Some learners would fail and repeat the year. Cases of learners reaching the end of their primary education without knowing how to read and write were also observed.
Unfortunately, the case of Kijote Primary School was not unique. In Africa, only one in five children who reach the end of primary school achieves the minimum proficiency level required for them to continue their education. Dropout rates were also a concern for Mr Nsengiumya when he joined, with dropout rates in his school standing at 7 percent, 1.3 points above the national average of 5 percent.
He knew he had a problem on his hands, but where to start? For Mr Nsengiyumva, the schools' teachers held the key. “There was a need to meet teachers to hear from them, know the challenges they face, and identify solutions together”, he explains.
Collaboration is key
Mr Nsengiyumva works closely with teachers and involves parents in every aspect of school life to ensure that expected learning outcomes are achieved. Noticing that 1.5 hours were lost during lunch breaks every day, he suggested extra time, between one and two hours, especially for Primary 3 – Primary 6 for learners to catch up. Once he met with teachers and got their support, he called for a parents’ meeting to present the proposal. “We didn’t include learners of Primary 1 and 2 since they are too young to go home late. Parents supported the idea and six out of 12 teachers volunteered to work extra time to improve learning outcomes”.
Teachers’ ideas matter
Next, he focused on what the teachers needed. Before joining the school, the Teachers’ Council used to take place once a quarter at the school, but Mr Nsengiyumva started organising monthly meetings to ensure dialogues were taking place more frequently. "We would discuss issues related to learning and teaching, learners' discipline, absenteeism, and dropout, among others,” he said. After addressing ‘major’ issues they shifted back to the usual meeting frequency – on a quarterly basis.
Introducing ‘Radio Kijote’ to address drop out
Currently, one in five children of primary school age in Africa remains out of school, one in three children does not complete primary school on time and one in four never completes it. With these worrying statistics and Kijote Primary School’s high drop out rates, Mr Nsengiyumva knew he had to come up with an innovative approach to deal with dropouts. His innovation of choice? Radio!
Typically, when a learner was absent for several consecutive days or dropped out, other learners who came from the same area would know the reasons why. To investigate further the reasons of absenteeism, Mr Nsengiyumva initiated a 15-minute gathering of all learners every morning before classes, appointing a ‘reporter’ who is also a fellow student to share some highlights from the community including news about learners who dropped out.
“We nominated a teacher who coached the reporter in gathering and reporting the news”, explains Mr Nsengiyumva. “The reasons for dropping out include taking care of siblings and cattle keeping, among others.” Knowing that dropouts were a cause of concern in the school, exemplified by the attention the “reporting” was giving them, parents were more inclined to be persuaded to send their children back to school. “Parents know that local leaders might do a follow-up if the learner stays at home”.
Supporting teachers’ continuous improvement
Knowing what teachers need to perform their job better as professionals is also at Mr Nsengiyumva’s heart. Through lesson observation, he identifies areas for improvement for his teachers and guides them. “I visit teachers, observe the way they teach and engage learners, and provide constructive feedback – I don’t go as a ‘boss’ who assesses what works and what doesn’t.”
In addition, Mr Nsengiyumva prepares lessons and asks teachers to give him feedback. “This helps them realise that giving feedback is not about being critical or giving instructions – it is about sharing ideas to help your colleague do better.” He also organises professional communities of practice to encourage peer-learning among the teachers in his school.
Being transparent
Mr Nsengiyumva ensures all teachers are treated equally and all information is clearly communicated to everyone. For him, “being transparent builds trust between you as a leader and your teachers”.
“As a Professional Learning Community leader in my sector, I sometimes receive complaints about lack of transparency in selecting the best-performing teachers in schools while the selection criteria shared by Rwanda Basic Education Board are clear.” Now when there is a training opportunity for a teacher, he involves other teachers in choosing who should attend based on the criteria. When it comes to planning for the school, Mr Nsengiyumva also does it together with his teachers, because “not involving them is backward thinking, and is already planning to fail”. “I don’t hide anything from them. We discuss everything including the budget and how it will be used. I also share a report of what has been done”.
Leading by example
Ensuring teachers can fufil their roles and provide quality education means they must be supported by their school leadership and according to Mr Nsengiyumva school leaders like himself must lead by example. “If you ask teachers and learners to do something, make sure you do it yourself”, he explains. “Imagine asking everyone to be at school on time and you show up when everyone else has arrived! For me, I make sure I arrive at school before everyone else, so they take what I tell them seriously”.
Mr Nsengiyumva takes his own development seriously too and attended training in School Management in 2007, organised by the Ministry of Education with VVOB’s support just five months into his first head teacher role in 2007. Eleven years later, he attained a diploma in Effective School Leadership offered by the University of Rwanda College of Education in collaboration with VVOB. Thanks to school leaders like Mr Nsengiyumva for remaining committed to continuous professional development and creating exemplary school environments, teachers and learners can thrive.
To address the diverse challenges in education systems in Africa and to ignite the potential of school leadership to improve quality of education, VVOB and partners have established The African Centre for School Leadership. The Centre aims to build school leadership systems that strengthen teaching and improve learning outcomes and wellbeing for all. Learn more
