Editor,

The good news is that there are many educational options available to families in Rwanda. As the founding headmaster of Gashora Girls Academy, I can state unequivocally that single-sex education for girls will empower them to be the future leaders of Rwanda.

There is no evidence that a girl is more likely to become pregnant attending a single-sex school; if anything the data shows the opposite.

And you may wish to talk to the many women leaders of Rwanda today who attended schools like Lycée Notre Dame des Citeaux or Mary Hills in Uganda to ask if they felt disadvantaged when they went on to mixed schooling in university or "mixed” life in their jobs.

I promise you that they will state that their single-sex education afforded them the chance to acquire leadership skills that would not have been available to them in a mixed school.

Do you think Gashora Girls who were the #1 debate team in all of Rwanda last year would have done so had they attended a mixed school? No way! You go girls!

Peter

Reaction to the story, "Single-sex vs mixed schools?” (The New Times, April 29)