Education in Rwanda
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[edit] History
[edit] Prior to 1900
Education in Rwanda was informal and delivered largely through the family. Training was also delivered through amatorero (training schools). These courses included the military and war skills, iron smith and foundry, poetry, basket making, etc.
Formal education was introduced as part of the colonial system with the following aims - (1) to evangelise and (2) to train a few office messengers and auxiliary administrative staff to serve the colonisers.
To be developed.
[edit] 1900 to 1960
A Belgian census of 1933 led to the measurement and the classification of the population along racial and ethnic lines. Tutsis were given access to the best education at the prestigious Astrida Secondary School, and groomed for colonial administrative jobs, ethnic tensions grew as a result. Hutus were often used as forced labour and many migrated to surrounding countries. The tensions grew up until 1959 when civil war broke out and many Tutsis were killed. Others went into exile. To be developed.
[edit] 1960 onwards
When independence was declared Rwanda inherited an educational system which had a strong academic grounding. The main areas of study were religious studies, languages and philosophy. By the 1980s the government recognised the need for a stronger vocational element. Many Tutsi children who stayed in the country during the civil war were initially forbidden from going beyond primary level.
A national programme to promote literacy was launched in 1988 with help from UNICEF, however the programme turned out to be a failure due to bad organisation and management. This was exacerbated in 1990 with the breakout of war.
In recent times many parents have recognised the importance of secondary education. There is however a chronic shortage of capacity in the system and this has lead to a plethora of private secondary schools sprouting up.
Problems of gender discrimination have been present throughout Rwandan education history. There have been improvements at primary level, but problems of underepresentation continue at the tertiary education level. Few girls study mathematics, science or technology.
The gross enrolment ratio (GER) is now significantly higher for primary education than it was at the start of the 1990s.
To be developed
[edit] Ministry of Education
Education Minister Jeanne d'Arc Mujawamariya
Mission Statement
“To combat ignorance and illiteracy"
"To provide human resources useful for the socio-economic development of Rwanda through education and training ”
[edit] Education Finance
Education accounts for 15% of the national budget of which 9.5% is allotted to H.E.
In 2003 the state's total expenditure on education was 48 Billion Rwandan Francs (£48.6 billion or $86m).
Between 1996 and 2001 total public spending rose from 3.2% to 5.5%. However much of this was chanelled in to Secondary and Tertiary education at the expense of Primary.
[edit] Standards in Education
The following bodies oversea educational standards
- Division of Construction and equipment
- Sets standards for classroom/school construction.
- National Examination Council
- Sets standards for grades and progression to the next stage of education.
- Department of planning
- Sets and monitors standards on system performance indicators.
- General Inspectorate of education
- Inspects and advises on standards adherence and compliance.
[edit] Higher Education
There are 20 high education institutes (6 Public / 14 Private). The first university in Rwanda (National University of Rwanda - NUR) was opened by the government in 1963. 49 students enrolled initially at NUR. but by the 99/00 this had risen to 4550. In 1997/98 Rwanda had a total of 5,571 students in higher education. Today this stands at 26,796, 39% of students are female.
Throughout the Higher Education system some 100 PhDs are held, the bulk of them at NUR. Areas of research include agriculture, livestock and the training of farm managers. A system of 'universités du soir' (Night School University) has been established to widen access to university. However, there has been some debate of over the quality of courses being offered.
Rwanda's higher education sector has some way to go in developing the internal efficiency. In 2000/01 final year students were graduating with a success rate of between 11 and 50%. Across all years this success rate is 53 to 76%.
[edit] ICT in Education
The Rwandan government has formed a national ICT strategy which aims to link public Higher Education Institutions and later Private Institutions via a RWEDNET. There is also a hope that with assistance this can be expanded to link secondary schools and potentially primary schools together.
There is a big ICT skills shortage at the present time which limits ICT education to tertiary institutions and elite secondary schools.
Rwanda is a participant in the imfundo project (means “education” in the Ndebele language), which is a partnership between several DFID, several large HiTech companies and a number of veloping countries. The aim of the project is to raise attainment through distance learning and professional development courses in ICT for teachers. There is a hope that pushing the development of these skills will allow Rwandas economy to grow in to new and more profitable area. This is however, limited by weaknesses in infrastructure. Many areas are without phone lines let alone computing facilities. In an effort to improve the situation the government has been opening telecentres where staff can receive ICT training.
This training is paying dividends with many students now being offered well paid (by local standards) partime work. Rwanda could potentially attract business through the bilingual French/English skills many locals have.
Some students have been studying through the African Virtual University which is allowing students to learn online, while being taught by lecturers from other countries.
In October 2006 NEPAD e-Africa Commission launched a project to further develop ICT in Rwandan schools. The project will link up schools across Africa. The project will include Primary and Secondary level and is intended to grow so that eventually it will incorporate all Rwandan Secondary schools.
[edit] Primary Schools
The teaching language for Primary years 1 to 3 is Kinyarwanda. In years 4 to 6 this becomes English or French.
Stats 2002/03
- 2172 Schools
- 1,636,563 Pupils
- 26,024 Teachers (85.2% qualified)
- Gross 100.0
- Net 82.7%
Despite some major achievements in Rwanda's attempts to achieve Universal Primary Education, it currently has one of the worst repetition rates in the sub-saharan region.
[edit] Secondary Schools
The teaching language is English or French.
Stats 2005/06
- 405 Schools
- 179,153 Pupils
- 6,329 Teachers (48.0% qualified)
secondary enrolment 2000
- Gross 10.2
- Net 6.0
Facts
- Gender Ratio 2002/03
49,5% Boys 50,5% Girls
- Literacy Rate 2002
49%
[edit] Higher Education
There has been a rapid expansion of in the provision of HE in recent times.
Rwanda has a mixture of Public and Private HEIs.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Cape Verde · Central African Republic · Chad · Comoros · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Republic of the Congo · Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) · Djibouti · Egypt · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · Sudan · Swaziland · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe
Dependencies and other territories
British Indian Ocean Territory · Mayotte · Réunion · St. Helena · Western Sahara (SADR)
