MPs to meet again over Genocide Ideology

Parliament is set to open an extra ordinary session next week to discuss the findings and recommendations of the ad hoc committee set up recently to scrutinize Genocide ideology in schools.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Parliament is set to open an extra ordinary session next week to discuss the findings and recommendations of the ad hoc committee set up recently to scrutinize Genocide ideology in schools.

"The major reason as to why we are calling for an extra ordinary session, we want to discuss the report of the commission and draw measures to contain the Genocide ideology in schools," said the Vice Speaker of Parliament, Denis Polisi, in an interview at his offices in Kimihurura on Friday.

The six-man commission was set up last month to help the Education Minister Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya and the State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Joseph Murekeraho to further scrutinize a recent parliamentary probe report that revealed alarming cases of the ideology in schools.

The commission, headed by MP Bernadatte Kanzayire, was also mandated to summon the ministers to give further explanations on what the ministry was doing to fight the vice in schools.

Both ministers had appeared before the Chamber last Month to explain their progress in containing the problem, but their explanations were still unconvincing, according to the lawmakers.

The Vice speaker said that during the extra ordinary session due next week, the two ministers are expected to attend the plenary sessions and explain the progress.

"We are just waiting for the report to set the exact date when to start according to the laws and we expect to call the two ministers to explain to the August House what they discussed during the fifteen days in the committee," Polisi explained.

Polisi added that there are other parliamentary activities to be carried out during the extra ordinary session including passing some bills on financial aid.

A parliamentary probe last Month revealed a damning rate of cases of Genocide ideology in several secondary schools around the country, some scoring as high as 97 percent.

According to the report, school authorities in Association pour la Culture, l’Education et le Developpement Intégré (ACEDI) de Mataba, a school in Gakenke District, Northern Province had introduced uniforms for student survivors of Genocide, which were different from other students’.

ACEDI de Mataba and Ecole Secondaire de Gaseke in Gicumbi District, Northern Province, are the schools with most Genocide cases tying at 97 percent, according to the report.

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