The government has begun constructing 22,505 classrooms for primary , secondary, and technical institutions to boost the students – teacher ratio in September when the next academic year begins.
In both elementary and secondary schools, the classrooms to be completed in three months are required to reduce the student-to – teacher ratio to an average of 1:45. The ratio today is 59:1 for primary and 26:1 for secondary school.
Construction works started on 1 June 2020 in the country’s thirty (30) districts with essential community commitment.
In the teachers’ recruitment plan for 2020, the Rwanda Education Board (REB) says it will hire 7,214 new qualified teachers to increase the teachers ratio and prepare for the new classrooms being designed to decongest existing ones.
The Government will hire 3,799 primary school teachers, 3,415 secondary school teachers, and 386 vocational school teachers according to the recruitment plan.
According to the Ministry of Education ‘s 2018 statistical yearbook, there are 6491 students with 261 teachers in pre-kindergarten education, while nursery schools have 226,706 students with 7178 teachers.
Primary schools have 2,503,705 students served by 44,544 staff, compared with 578,897 secondary school students with 25,143 teachers.
“We expect these classrooms to combat overcrowding in classrooms and reduce the distance covered to/from school,” Flavia Selaphine, Ministry of education communication specialist said.
“We are requesting parents to contribute towards the execution of this program,” she said.
The ground laying stone for the construction of classrooms began in the district of Ruhango, in the southern province where 707 classrooms will be built.
Valens Habarurema, district mayor of Ruhango said that each classroom will be completed at a cost of Rwf6million, with residents contributing half of the money through community works commonly known as the Umuganda.
Another 380 classrooms will be built in the district of Muhanga, while 1,124 will be built in the district of Rubavu, western province, among others.
According to the Ministry of Education, by September 2020 at least 22,505 new classrooms and 31,932 toilets will be finalized with World Bank funds.
