In April 2021, Pledge of Love (POL) began implementing a pilot project-based learning program (PBL) in Ruhango district, Southern province of Rwanda, for students of Bright Future Academy. PBL is a progressive learning method and practice of teaching in which the curriculum focuses on student learning through investigating, researching and solving real world problems to build high-level skills and solutions to be successful in the 21st century. Using a student selection checklist, POL and teachers at Bright Future Academy selected fifty students, ages __, to strengthen their academic skills, empower them to think more critically, build their confidence and expose them to different career path options.
At the start of the program, students were assigned a confidence assessment that served as a baseline to help measure the impact of the project. The students took this assessment once again at the end of the pilot phase, and the results helped analyze the success and improvement in the students’ confidence levels.
The POL program entails a 3-tiered approach encompassing the following areas of development:
Academic development: POL proposed a list of books and movies to be assigned to students according to their age range. With POL’s technical assistance, teachers assigned books and movies alternatively every Saturday to the students and at the end of each session, students discussed and wrote in their journals what lessons they learned and how it applied to their daily life. During the semester, students read books including Gira Amatsiko and Mimi Hogoza; and watched movies including The Never Ending Story 1 and 2. Through these sessions, students developed cognitive abilities to think critically, and improved their reading, listening and writing skills.
Professional development: POL organized a field trip to help students discover the different career opportunities in the country. On May 22, 2021, students visited Masaka Business Incubation Center which houses multiple startups in Kigali City. Students were able to speak with different business owners who inspired them to visualize themselves in thriving careers. They were able to ask questions on how to start businesses and had hands-on lessons on some crafts. After the trip, in a reflection paper, students wrote about the experience and the lessons they learned. This exercise enabled students to think outside the box and see themselves in the professional world.
Personal development: In an effort to help students envision and aspire to a life that is not based on mere survival and to become contributing members of their society, POL assigned students a series of questions each week that they had to answer in 100 words in their journal entries. These questions included “What is your greatest dream and why?”, “ Five years from now, where will I be?”, “Describe three ways you could help a friend this week?”, “What do you think will be the coolest job to have and why?”, “ What is your favorite hobby and why do you enjoy it?”, and “Who is your role model and why?”. Their responses helped to evaluate their goals and how they can achieve them, and gave the teachers an opportunity to understand the students on a deeper level, as well as flag anything that would need POL’s attention and intervention. Through these exercises, students significantly improved their English writing skills and gained a sense of self-esteem, optimism and vision for their future.
In addition to the above-mentioned activities, with the teachers’ guidance, the students set up cultural and modern dance clubs, as well as arts and sports, which they participated in after finishing their programmed film or book every Saturday. These activities encouraged them to be creative, express themselves through art, learn about their culture, and instilled discipline. Also, since PBL is a weekend program, POL offers breakfast to students, which is usually not a privilege for most students in the program.
The challenges encountered during the pilot phase include the change in the Rwandan academic calendar which was not synchronized for primary and secondary schools, the second and third waves of COVID-19 which led to travel restrictions hampering field trips, and the limited English ability of students. Lessons learned include using films with a Kinyarwanda translation available and providing feminine hygiene products to young girls in the program.
Since the start of the PBL program, Bright Future Academy has not experienced any student dropouts and students have shown more commitment and confidence in their academic performance. POL and Bright Future Academy teachers are collaborating on the design of the PBL program in 2022 and are excited to begin implementation in the next coming months.
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