The Ministry of Education yesterday launched the National Service in higher learning institutions.

The National Service is a continuation of the spirit of promoting positive values among Rwandans, especially the youth.

The values include unity, patriotism, selflessness, integrity, responsibility, volunteerism, humility, among others.

Speaking at the launch, Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi said there is need to maintain national service for the development of the country.

"Let values you have learnt in Itorero help you build Rwanda rather than betraying it,” Murekezi said, cautioning the youth against drug abuse and other anti-social behaviour.

The premier reaffirmed government’s commitment to financing education of poor students while encouraging banks to offer loans to bright students.

Education minister Silas Lwakabamba said his ministry will do everything possible to make sure that students graduate with the values they can stand by and defend wherever they are.

Prof. Lwakabamba said today’s graduate should be far different from the graduate in the colonial period, which he said produced graduates who failed to fight for the values shared by all Rwandans.

"They instead allowed to be manipulated and the outcome was the atrocities that befell our nation; the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi,” the minister said.

"We do not want a graduate that is disconnected from these values, the society and the family; we want a graduate who will lead by example and be a model to society wherever they will be. This is the meaning of our theme, ‘Nkore neza bandebereho.’”

The minister said his ministry recognises the role of higher learning institutions in developing the right graduates.

"Conventional knowledge that the education system provides cannot be useful to our nation if it is not complemented by instilling Rwandan values in our young people. That is why we have invested a lot of effort in revising the primary and secondary school curricula so that the knowledge we provide our youth is one that transforms the whole person,” he said.

The minister appealed to heads of higher learning institutions to provide full support to National Service and ensure that it is institutionalised and functional there.