The Catholic Church has been lobbying the government to revise the school calendar for very surprising reasons. They say that studying during the dry season is counter-productive. That the heat interferes with the students’ abilities to grasp what they are being taught and they are not attentive enough. This is not a justifiable enough reason to call for the altering of the academic calendar, which was put in place after thorough research. Looking at the Rwanda’s weather pattern all year-round, the hottest temperature on average is about 25 degrees Celsius, a far cry from some of the hottest regions we know. The other reason the prelates put forward is that during the dry season, there is water shortage so students have to first go fetch water before going to school, thereby wasting precious class time. Again, that is far-fetched and generalizing; according to the Ministry of Infrastructure, most people in Rwanda live within 500 metres of a water source. Even then, efforts and resources required to alter the school calendar can instead be channeled towards expediting the process to ensure all Rwandan households get piped water close by, a project that is already underway. The Catholic Church operates over 1000 schools, and so when it speaks the government listens, but that is no reason enough to push for an unfounded agenda that affects hundreds of thousands of children. They want to return to the old system where the school calendar begins in September and ends in July. This means students and teachers go on holiday for three months. While it might be good for teachers as they have more time to pursue their personal business, it gives students more time for mischief if they have no well-laid out plans to occupy their time. The government needs to consult all education stakeholders and rely on scientific proof that heat affects learning abilities.
