Say hello to Mary Nankya, a quality education trainer for Wellspring. Mary is one of our longest serving trainers, as she joined the organization in November 2007, almost a decade ago! Mary brings a unique blend of compassion, wisdom, and dedication to her role at Wellspring. We’ve been so privileged to spend the past ten years with her and can’t wait to see what the future holds.
Mary was born and raised in Kafumu, a small village in the Mpigi district of Uganda. She studied and received a diploma in primary education before moving to Rwanda. Mary taught Grade 4 and served in a number of different schools, including Green Hills Academy, before joining Wellspring in late 2007.
As one of our quality education trainers, Mary’s job is to work through our School Development Program to help the next generation of Rwandans receive a quality education. This is done by training teachers to succeed under the Competence-Based Curriculum. This curriculum, adopted by Rwanda in 2015/2016, focuses on a learner-centric methodology of classrooms instead of the previous, lecture-based model. A lesson that is crafted with the students at the forefront instead of the teacher helps the students learn more through techniques such as active participation, positive behavioural management, and use of teaching aids. Mary also works with Head Teachers to help them develop their leadership skills. Good leadership is essential for a school to succeed, as the leader can support the teachers through lesson observation and feedback, as well as engaging with the wider community to ensure that students are being supported at home as well. Mary also models lessons to teachers and leaders to help them understand the components of a great lesson and to train them in assessing and analyzing lessons when providing feedback for their colleagues through peer learning.
In Wellspring’s future, Mary is excited to see Wellspring’s vision expand beyond Gasabo district to impact more and more lives. This is already being realized through Wellspring’s expansion to the district of Rubavu in the west of Rwanda and through initiatives of our staff members, who are taking what they have learned through Wellspring and applying the techniques, such as Asset-Based Community Development, to their own home communities. Mary is one such individual. In her home country of Uganda, Mary’s family has helped to established a school that seeks to provide quality education to the next generation of Ugandans. Mary is working hard to ensure that every child receives the quality education they deserve. We couldn’t be prouder to call her a Wellspring staff member.