Free education means a future for Rwanda’s children
15 October 2007
Bringing a quality education to all of Rwanda’s children is a huge challenge. In a country with 1.2 million orphans and over 100,000 children living in households without an adult, there is a real risk that many will miss out on schooling.
However, the
Government
of Rwanda, working with civil society and development partners, has shown a
strong commitment to improving education. DFID has helped to fund free primary
education for all of the country’s children, resulting in the highest enrolment
rate in East Africa and equal access for both girls and boys.
Jean Pierre: From school drop-out to aspiring teacher
Jean Pierre Nzamurambaho dropped out of school in the middle
of his third year of primary school when he was just 12 years old. "I decided to
drop out because I was tired of being sent home because we couldn’t pay school
fees," explains Jean Pierre. "I spent two years doing domestic jobs, but I could
not see any future for myself."
In 2004, two years later, the Government abolished primary school fees and replaced them with capitation grants (grants that are determined by the number of pupils attending the school). Jean Pierre was able to return to his primary school. Now, he says, his ambition is to become a teacher, so he can provide an education for children like himself.
Jean Pierre is typical of many of the pupils who have been given a chance to study. Between 2002 and 2006, the net enrolment rate rose from 73.3% to 94%, which means over 500,000 more children getting an education. And this includes Rwanda's girls, whose education has long been sidelined in favour of boys'.
"During my first year, I was always sent back home because of either school fees or uniform," says 13-year-old Seraphine. "Nowadays, teachers are no longer sending us back home, and even if I don’t put on uniform, I come and study freely. I only have to make sure I’m clean." Seraphine has now set her sights on becoming a nurse in the local health clinic.
Challenges to better education
As beneficial as the abolition of fees has been, the
consequent rush for schooling has created new challenges. Gashotsi Evariste,
the headmaster of Kimironko primary school in Kigali City, says: "We have an
increase of more than 200 pupils every year, and we don’t have enough resources
to build additional classrooms. We currently have 70 pupils per teacher, which
is far above the required standards."
Shortages of textbooks, dilapidated buildings, unmotivated teachers and low
chances of progression through the system all contribute to high drop-out rates.
And for those who make it to the end of primary school, the chances of failing
the final exam are high, especially for girls.
However, the Government’s new
Economic
Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) for 2008-12 has
identified improving education as one of its core objectives. If the growth in
school places is matched by an increase in the numbers of classrooms, teachers
and textbooks, Rwanda may move even closer to providing its children with the
education they need and deserve.
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Key facts
- The UK is Rwanda’s most important bilateral partner. Over the past ten years DFID has provided £380 million in aid, of which £201 million has been Poverty Reduction Budget Support (PRBS).
- DFID has been providing financial and technical assistance to the Rwandan education sector since 2000. So far, the total contribution has been around £12 million.
- DFID is a major funder of the Joint Education Sector Support programme (JESS), which was set up to channel money and technical assistance to Rwanda's
- The creation of JESS enabled the
- Spending on primary education has increased significantly as a result of these developments, with the amount almost tripling between 2002 and 2006. Grants covering schools’ operating costs have also increased over the same period (from RWF 300 (US $0.5) to 5,300 (US $9.6) per student).
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