The Director General of the Ministry of Education in Rwanda, Rose Baguma says the government is putting together a detailed plan that will see an increment in the number of children who attend pre-school improve from the current meagre 24 per cent.

Shedding light on what will be included in the country’s national education policy, Baguma said that the government is seeking to review the policy to realign the education system with its new targets, new vision and goals as a country.

The new policy will be based on inclusivity, teacher motivation and development and promotion of the right skills among others.

Baguma pointed out that the new policy will seek to have preschool programs ready and functional.

Besides providing a valuable foundation that the children will need as they advance with their education, Baguma said that it cuts down on the number of children who start primary school at a late age and others who repeat and drop out.

She called on the parents to actively participate, since learning begins from home.

The number of teachers in pre-primary schools who are on government payroll was set to be increased from the current 33 to 613 in this past fiscal year.

According to figures from the 2019 Education Statistical Year Book, in 2019, there were 3,401 nursery schools (with 282,400 pupils) in Rwanda of which 508 were public, 1,555 government aided, and 1,338 were private

While addressing journalists recently, the Minister of education Valentine Uwamariya said that 107 teachers have already been placed in government nursery schools, while the remaining ones are expected to be placed by the end of the financial year.

However, the ministry officials did not immediately provide the budget implications of this move.

Meanwhile, pre-primary education attendance was at 20 per cent in 2018.

Key stakeholders in the technical vocation education sector in Liberia have reviewed the previous five-year policy and have revised it for the next five years, beginning from 2022 to 2027 in order to meet current day reality.

Revision and subsequently adoption of the new five years policy was done recently following a one-day working session held at the Boulevard Palace in Monrovia.

During the one-day session, the stakeholders reviewed the 2015 TVET policy, which ran between September 2015 and December 2020, and from 1st – 10th June 2021.

With deeper review of the previous policy, stakeholders were able to identify the gaps in the content and implementation of the 2015 TVET policy and how these gaps could be filled by focusing on the current economic environment and labour market skills needs to further strengthen the TVET system in Liberia.

Both missions were commissioned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at the request of the Government of Liberia.

The aim was to improve the governance and regulatory framework of the TVET sector by creating an enabling environment for the acquisition of employable skills for the world of work by all categories of learners, including the youth, adults, the unemployed, and person with disability (PWD).

It also seeks to create a robust, yet flexible human capacity development system that is open to the changing needs of the labour market and produce a highly skilled workforce that gears to make Liberian industries, products, and services increasingly competitive in the local, regional, and global markets.

The one-day meeting was also attended by the Regional Advisor for Higher Education and ICT at UNESCO, Abuja Regional Office, Abdoulaye Salifou, who spoke on behalf of Dr. Dimitri Sanga, Director of UNESCO Regional Office for West Africa.

Salifou congratulated the Liberian government and the Inter-Ministerial Task Force (IMTF) on TVET for prioritizing education and TVET in the face of the many developmental challenges facing Liberia.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has been warned of a second consecutive year of “chaos” over exam results in England, as experts warned of the desperate scramble ahead for university places.

Students awaiting A-level results next week face a highly-competitive battle to win spots at the country’s top universities, with some institutions expecting more grade inflation after last year’s exams fiasco.

Analysis carried out by The Times has revealed that the number of courses in clearing among Russell Group universities has fallen by one third, from 4,500 last year to only 3,000 this year.

Former universities minister Lord Willetts said top universities are less likely to offer a place to A level students who have underperformed by a grade, predicting less flexibility in the system this summer.

The latest UCAS data shows a record 311,000 18-year-olds had applied for university places before the end of June deadline – a 10 per cent increase on last year.

Russell Group universities are believed to have become more cautious about awarding places this year, after more applicants than expected gained entry results in 2020 following significant “grade inflation”.

Even higher results are predicted for this year, after exams were replaced by a combination of teacher-assessed grades and course work.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson faced calls to quit and students protested over last year’s A-level results – after pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds were found to have suffered more the biggest reduction in grades from an “algorithm” system.

Labour Member of Parliament Kate Green, shadow education secretary, responded to news of a squeeze on clearing places by urging the government to come up with a contingency plan for students who do not get the grades they are expecting.

Calling on the prime minister to explain what action will be taken to avoid the exam result scandal of 2020, Green added: “A repeat of last year’s fiasco cannot, and will not, be tolerated.”

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said some of last year’s university applicants have acceptances agreed for this year – further squeezing the number of places available.

Lord Willis said the competition for places at selective universities may become so fierce that institutions could traduce their own entrance exams.