Education minister Lwakabamba in Parliament over student petitions

Education minister Prof. Silas Lwakabamba is today expected to appear before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Technology, Culture and Youth, to answer queries related to the Ubudehe social stratification which informs government’s education scholarship programme. He was summoned following petitions by a total of 126 university students from various University of Rwanda colleges who say they were wrongly classified under the Ubudehe social stratification scheme. The majority of the students are from Gatsibo District. MP Agnès Mukazibera, the committee chairperson, said the students argue that there was bias in the screening exercise which deprived them of government sponsorship yet their families naturally fall in the category of the poor and cannot afford tuition fees. “We expect the minister to respond to the issues raised,” Mukazibera said. The complaints were first raised in 2013 although some petitions were submitted to the Chamber of Deputies earlier this year. “We have been following this case closely. We met the Education minister in April after some of the students had been denied sitting their exams and he intervened, and then the students were allowed to sit the exams,” Mukazibera said. The students fault local leaders for not providing sufficient explanation about the Ubudehe scheme. Meanwhile, The New Times last evening learned that some petitioners had since been reinstated on government sponsorship but they are now required to clear last year’s arrears that accumulated as a result of the Ubudehe impasse. First launched in 2001, Ubudehe is a poverty reduction instrument under the Rwanda Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) process. The Government is currently reviewing the social stratification tool reflect recent economic dynamics at the household level. The review started with Nyarugenge, Gicumbi, Gisagara, Rulindo and Rutsiro districts. Since 2008, the Government has been using six categories namely; umutindi nyakujya (those in abject poverty), umutindi (the very poor), umukene (the poor), umukene wifashije (resourceful poor), umukungu (those with abundant food), and umukire (the rich), which have been used in determining who is eligible to benefit from government schemes such as universal health insurance, education scholarships and cows. The review will ultimately see the social categories reduced from six to four.

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Education minister Lwakabamba in Parliament over student petitions