DUFATANYE PRESCHOOL
Summary of project status and achievements:
M&E pre-tests have been created and conducted. Follow up post-tests will be conducted at the end of the term in November. Attendance has remained high and at full capacity.
To remain within the new budget constraints, English classes have been cancelled. This is not a significant loss since attendance had diminished to only 14 students in October. To fill that time, Dominic and Josephine, the two Dufatanye teachers were asked to teach at Kunachi pre-school in the afternoons (please see Kunachi report for additional changes made there). However, the two teachers were extremely antagonistic to this request. They believed their standardized fulltime standardized salary would not adequately compensate them for the additional work of teaching another class of preschoolers, and that they would not be able to successfully teach another class with the same energy and capacity as just one. After several hours of negotiations, the teachers agreed they would only teach at Kunachi if they were provided with a lunch stipend.
After presenting the new schedule to the Kunachi PTA, it became increasingly evident that the new teachers would not be welcomed by the TC 44 community, nor would Dominic and Josephine be as committed to satisfactorily teach an additional class at Kunachi. Subsequently, Dominic and Josephine were reduced to half-time employees, and asked to teach at Dufatanye only in the mornings just for the month of November. Ernest’s role would expand slightly, as he would be lesson planning for the whole preschool, and not just his own classes. The amount of Dominic and Josephine’s pay reduction would be applied to reinstating Donat as a fulltime teacher at Kunachi for one month, and 100,000zmk from Dufatanye’s supply budget will pay for Patience to be a half-time teacher at Kunachi as well.
After informing Dominic and Josephine of their new hours and reduced pay, they resigned on November 4th. The PM is now seeking to hire two half time teachers for the school. One likely candidate includes Prince Ben, the former Playspace instructor who has ample preschool teaching experience. Playspace in Block G has been cancelled, since it was paid for by the Kunachi budget. Unfortunately though, like most of those laid off by FORGE earlier this month, Prince Ben does not speak Kinyarwanda. Another potential candidate is Antoine Sibomana, the Zone G FHS Project Facilitator. After speaking with these candidates, if the position is not filled, the PM will begin an open hiring process, advertising the position and conducting interviews with the Project Coordinator.
Since MCAC music classes have been cancelled, two of the children’s size guitars are being kept at Dufatanye for use during music period.
Future activities and projections:
Immediate efforts will be focused on hiring two teachers and ensuring that their transition is smooth. Next month the preschool will take a field trip to the bee keeping project of the Italians who live directly behind Dufatanye. They have agreed to write an easy lesson about pollination and where honey comes from in English, so that Ernest can translate for the children.
Substantial problems or issues:
After informing Dominic and Josephine of their new hours and reduced pay, they resigned on November 4th. The PM is now seeking to hire two half time teachers for the school.
KUNACHI PRESCHOOL
Summary of project status and achievements:
Attendance this month remained solid, at over 50 students. M&E pre-tests have been created and conducted. Follow up post-tests will be conducted at the end of the term in November.
A PTA meeting was held in which the parents of Kunachi students were informed about FORGE’s financial situation and how it would affect the preschool. The parents were extremely concerned about the changes, which included the facts that Donat, Patience, and Prince Ben would all no longer be teaching at the school, and that the classes would be shifted to the afternoon and taught by Dufatanye teachers. Their concerns included the level of disruption this would create in the children’s schedules since they come in the middle of the term, they also worried about the ability Dufatanye teachers have to adequately communicate to their children since none of the teachers speak Luvale or Swahili and none of the students speak Kinyarwanda.
After speaking with the Programming Director, the PM decided to re-hire Donat as a full time teacher and Patience as a half-time teacher to at least finish the term at the end of November. The budget for this is being taken from Dufatanye (please see above.) During November, the PM will think about how to proceed come January, when the new school year begins. The program will likely have to be cancelled, or else the PM may apply her extra fundraising to creating a new preschool at Road 36, where high demand for a preschool has been demonstrated.
Piano classes after school were a success this month, with over 35 students consistently attending, and will now be continued in November since Donat will remain to teach them. After school soccer practice was also popular, with over 42 children coming to practice.
Future activities and projections:
Increase standardization between the two schools is still a priority for both preschools, but it is clear that Ernest will not take on the additional responsibility of coordinating both schools without extra compensation. When Mwangaza preschool opens in January, it might be a good opportunity to restructure preschool programming and hire a coordinator for all three preschools, if Ernest is not the best candidate for the position, he may be demoted to teacher, and the coordinator salary will be applied to someone else.
Preschool wide teacher training workshops and jointly held staff meetings could still be valuable, but are a lower priority when compared to smoothing over the transitions both schools are going through in the aftermath of the budget cuts, which is where the majority of the PMs efforts are currently being concentrated.
M&E implementation faltered this month due to concentrated efforts on project operations to minimize the disruption from budget cuts, but will be re-visited next month.
Substantial problems or issues:
The entire program may have to be cancelled at the end of this term due to budget constraints.