Rwanda is a 2014 priority country for Best Grade. While the education system is reasonably well funded and managed compared to many African countries, the rural and decentralized geography have posed challanges for Best Grade’s adoption. To increase awareness of the free software program, Best Grade recently launched a radio publicity on Radio Salus. These publicity activities follow a fall 2013 article published on Igihe.com, a popular Rwandan news site.

The timing of publicity pushes and administrator trainings is particularly important to Best Grade’s proliferation. January marks the beginning of a new school year in Rwanda. Since December school administrators and teachers have been busy preparing for the arrival of students while enjoying the final days before a demanding school calendar. Most educators are unable to listen to the radio during school hours, so the break provided ample opportunity to reach educators through radio at home.

To learn more about Best Grade activities visit www.bestgrade.org.

Since 2010 Best Grade has been used by schools in Rwanda. Before its introduction secondary schools were under pressure to handle their academic tasks. Best Grade appeared as a solution to management obstacles that schools were facing. With MINEDUC (Rwandan education Ministry) partnership through the organization VVOB , Best Grade software has been distributed to schools in various parts of the country.

VVOB ‘s mission is to train schools in all provinces of Rwanda and improve school management nationwide. As a VVOB  activity, the staff of entire schools have been trained in ways to make their management more effective. Best Grade has been part of the tools used during VVOB  trainings.

Thanks to VVOB’s efforts, Project Best Grade has been able to determine the specific demands of local schools and areas that need to be improved in the future.

Best Grade is also currently being used by a variety of schools across the country. Schools share feedback on a regular basis so that Project Best Grade can support their work effectively. Changes include accommodation of “Advanced Level” and “Ordinary Level”, a recent modification in the educational structure.

In addition, Project Best Grade offers assistance by phone, email and in person. Associates have helped schools, including Ecole Secondaire de Rilima, Alliance High School, Ecole Mecanique de Ruhango, and APACOPE  adjust academic reports, improve interface appearance and add templates and other documents.

Last year Best Grade Associates visited a group of schools in the Southern and Northern Provinces.  While introducing the product they discovered that, though some schools were in the middle of the academic year, they switched to Best Grade because they found it easy to use. Many schools in rural areas are converting their primary schools into nine year programs. Project Best Grade is determining a strategy to approach these schools to enhance their work through ICT.

Best Grade is proving itself by positively impacting Rwandan Education. Thanks to the product, schools are able to save money and time and improve the quality of their services.