British Council and Rwanda Sign New Memorandum of Understanding
British Council Rwanda signed a new MoU with govenrment of Rwanda. British Council to offer English language tuition and cultural exchange.
The British High Commissioner, William Gelling OBE and Head of the British Council Rwanda, Sheilagh Neilson, signed a new Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and Rwanda with the Permanent Secretary of the Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Jeanine Kambanda, to extend the British Council’s operations. The British Council is going from strength to strength in Rwanda offering English language tuition and cultural exchange. The demand for their services is growing fast, and with the backing of the government of Rwanda they plan to move into a variety of new sectors including vocational training to help Rwanda equip itself as an increasingly service-based economy. The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are on the ground in six continents and work in over 100 countries. We connect millions of people with the United Kingdom through programmes and services in the English language, the Arts, Education and Society. We believe these are the most effective means of engaging with others, and we have been doing this work since 1934.
We have been working in Rwanda since 2008, and have been a Country Directorate since 2013 working with the Government of Rwanda under an MOU with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Cooperation.
THE BRITISH COUNCIL’S CURRENT WORK IN RWANDA Review and revision of Rwanda’s Language in Education Policy in collaboration with REB officials and development partners Review and quality assurance of the English syllabus (Primary 1-Senior 6) for the new National Curriculum to be launched in 2015 Management and delivery of the baseline and endline assessment of English proficiency of primary and secondary school teachers in Rwanda As part of the DFID Rwanda Innovation for Education programme, British Council Rwanda manages the following projects:
-Supporting Teachers of English through Mentoring (STEM)
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Language Supportive textbooks & Pedagogy (LaST), in close collaboration with Bristol University UK
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Hub for Innovation (HfI)
As part of our Education and Society work, British Council manages the Global Schools Partnership which comprises the following programme activities
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Connecting Classrooms – building partnerships between schools in UK and Rwanda for educational and cultural exchanges between school teachers and learners. We use our 8 digital hubs in Rwanda to connect these learning communities.
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School Leadership - having worked with REB and VVOB to draw up national standards for Head Teachers, British Council is now collaborating with the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) in the UK and REB’s School Leadership Unit to further exchanges in leadership, coaching and mentoring. Find out more on connecting.classrooms@britishcouncil.org
-Active Citizens: This innovative programme aims to promote community engagement and self-development through civic activities such as volunteering. The programme thereby aims to increase individuals’ contributions to their communities. We will launch Active Citizens in Rwanda in mid-December 2015. Find out more on active.citizens@britishcouncil.org
In addition to programme and project work, British Council Rwanda:
• runs English courses for the general public and for public and private organisations including the Office of the Prime Minister, Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the European Union, Inyange, UK’s Department for International Dvelopment (DfID)
• delivers and administers UK school, university and professional exams (e.g. First Certificate and Cambridge Advanced, ACCA (Accountancy Exams), Actuarials and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) for study overseas.
• manages the annual Hornby Scholarship for the Hornby Educational Trust. This scholarship supports key English language specialists, by offering MA scholarships to study English language, teaching theory and practice at a leading university in the UK.
• promotes scholarships such as the Commonwealth Scholarship and the Chevening Scholarship
• provides free self-access online resources for learners and teachers of English
• provides free self-access English language learning resources to radio stations and publications
For more information about the British Council visit: http://www.britishcouncil.org/ http://www.britishcouncil.rw/