Free education means a future for Rwanda’s children
15 October 2007
Related pages:
Rwanda country profile |
Millennium Development Goal 2: Education
Bringing a quality education to all of Rwanda’s children is a huge development
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 in his native language of Kinyarwanda. “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 in a rural village of Rulindo district in the Northern Province. His
ambition now is to become a teacher and provide an education for the children of
his village.
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
girls, whose education has long been sidelined in Rwanda in favour of male
children.
“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.” This new opportunity has allowed
Seraphine to set her sights on becoming a nurse in the local health clinic.
 Back
to top
A joint venture that works
In 2003, the Government of Rwanda presented its first
Education
Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP). This emphasised universal access to education
and equal availability for boys and girls. One year later, with other
development partners in the education sector, DFID introduced the innovative
Joint Education Sector Support programme (JESS) to channel money and technical
assistance to the ESSP. With JESS in place, it was also possible for the global
education partnership, the
Fast
Track Initiative (FTI), to endorse the Government’s ten year plan for
education, which has encouraged new donors (recently the Dutch Government) to
support the sector.
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).
“We had always problems to convince parents to pay school fees on time.
Nowadays, we receive the capitation grants on time and can buy all the necessary
equipment; it really helped us,” says a joyful Emmanuel Mudahakana, Headmaster
of Shyorongi Primary School.
Back
to top
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 Gasabo District of 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.
Back
to top
Key Facts
- 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.
- Rwanda has the highest primary school enrolment rate in
the East African region at 94%, with parity between girls and boys in
primary school as high as 100%.
- DFID is a major funder of JESS, contributing £13 million
to the project for the period 2006 to 2010. DFID's partners, Sweden,
Netherlands, Belgium and the
African
Development Bank, have committed a total of $76 million to JESS for 2006
to 2010. An additional $70 million is being provided by the Catalytic Fund
of the Fast Track Initiative.
- The Joint Education Sector Support programme (JESS) is
delivering the following outputs: (i) Operational education sector budget
support; (ii) Enhanced institutional capacity within the Ministry of
Education and decentralised structures to plan, implement, support, monitor
and evaluate the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP); (iii) Enhanced
financing of the ESSP; (iv) Enhanced aid effectiveness; (v) Analysis of
constraints that limit enrolment and completion of school by children and
the extent to which national policies and plans on HIV/AIDS, vulnerable
children, girls’ education, and environment coherently address these
constraints.
Back
to top
Links
|
Directgov |
(141
kb)