To achieve Rwanda’s vision to become a high-income country and transition to a service economy by 2050, digital skills among the population are crucial.
Recently, Rwanda has made progress in increasing access to education. However, challenges remain to improve the quality of education and ensure equity. Although more girls are enrolled in secondary education than boys, they do not choose ICT nor science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) because they believe that these are subjects for boys who outperform them in these disciplines.
Rwanda’s curriculum emphasizes creativity, problem solving and collaboration, but many teachers struggle to develop these competences.
135 ICT and STEM teachers of 45 secondary schools in Kayonza district will take part in a blended learning trajectory that will equip them with the digital and coaching competences needed to initiate and facilitate after school Scratch coding clubs for secondary school learners (especially girls) and to integrate Scratch into their lesson plans. This trajectory includes workshops, online exercises, regular meetups, Scratch coding days, hackathons and exposure visits to tech companies. Scratch is a free and open software that is excellent to let learners develop computational thinking and 21st century skills.
- Development of a Scratch pedagogical guide that is adapted to the Rwandan context, including lesson plans integrating Scratch, coding cards and case study videos.
- 135 secondary school ICT and STEM teachers have the competences to facilitate coding clubs and integrate Scratch into their lesson plans. They participate in Scratch Meetups to share experiences and overcome challenges.
- 135 after school Scratch coding clubs (with on average 10 learners/club) are running in Kayonza.
