BUJUMBURA February 28th (ABP) – The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Mr. Gaspard Banyankimbona, opened in Bujumbura on February 26, 2019, a two-day reflection workshop on improving quality of the initial training of teachers of two level of the basic education, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
The workshop was organized to develop a common foundation for teacher-training institutions and the reforms that should be made.
The two Ministries in charge of Education have come together to reflect on appropriate strategies aiming at improving the quality of education taught in the basic, post-basic schools and teacher-training institutions.
Mr. Banyankimbona said that the primary objective of the workshop was to revise and harmonize teaching approaches and training offerings for the basic and post-basic teacher training courses.
The Minister in charge of Higher Education deplores the fact that the Burundi education system faces many challenges, notably related to equity in access, quality of learning / education, the harmonious development of the education system from the basic to the higher through the post-basic, the gap that is between the post-basic and higher education institutions in general or professional education institutions in particular. Another major challenge concerns the quality of the laureate of public or private higher education institutions.
He stressed that there should be coherence between the basic, post-basic and the curricula of teacher-training institutions in higher education.
“Higher education institutions that have the mission of training trainers should be informed of the realities of the moment in order to professionalize more basic and post-basic teachers,” he said.
According to Banyankimbona, a permanent framework for harmonizing training offerings and methodological approaches is needed to fill the gaps found to ensure good quality of future laureates.
The reform of the BMD system, which has been in force since the 2011-2012 academic year in the universities, as well as the start of basic education since the 2013-2014 school year, requires an appropriate teaching approach to remove the discrepancies observed at end of each level, he said.
