I never understood the frustration; I wondered where it stemmed from and tried to appreciate the many pages and words I was being fed in school. I had many theories possible, from the way caterpillars slowly became butterflies to solving differential equations that I could not fathom their relevance vis-à-vis my day-to-day life. For a long time, I complained about school, not knowing where I would start from to make it less unsatisfying. As I grew up, the urge to change the education system increased as I kept on identifying my struggles with other students. Rwanda has evolved over the years in terms of education, as it is one of the top-performing countries in sub-Saharan Africa in the sector of education. For instance, in Rwanda, 98 percent of children are enrolled in primary school, the construction of 22,505 has been completed and the budget allocated to feeding students in schools was increased recently. Rwanda’s Ministry of Education has waived school fees for pre-primary and primary levels. Other commendable initiatives include the implementation of one laptop per child policy, which shows that Rwanda is on the right path. However, the question is how much are Rwandan Children learning in school? Some reach adolescence with limited knowledge and skills that can help them realise their full potential due to a ‘wanting education system. When students finish their ordinary level of secondary education, they are encouraged to take on certain combinations. While STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) combinations are favoured in Rwanda, they are not every student’s strength and preference. That said, I believe one of the solutions to that problem would be to introduce a ‘students suggest’ program, where student representatives from across the country come together to gather ideas on subjects to be added to the curriculum. This would allow most of the students to find what they are passionate about in one or more combinations. Implementing this program would encourage creativity among scholars because they would have studied what they are passionate about. In a conversation with Kessy Mugabo Kayiganwa, she shared a story of how she was not interested in sciences, but due to a trend of sciences at the time, she was forced to major in PCM (Physics Chemistry and Math). Later, after graduating from high school, Kayiganwa got accepted at ALU (Africa Leadership University) Rwanda Campus. ALU’s first year is mainly designed for leadership courses, where students learn to discover their passion, unleash their potential and other skills. This, she says, helps students understand themselves well, connect with their inner-selves and choose a faculty that aligns with their passion, which I believe should be employed by all higher education institutions as well as senior four of advanced level in secondary school to boost leadership, public speaking and critical thinking skills. Kayiganwa is now in her final year of university at ALU doing International Business and Trade. She is also the Founder and Creative Director of IKAMBA Apparel, a successful local fashion brand. Currently, when the youth graduate, some of them have incredible ideas that could truly lead to the development of Rwanda. The majority of those ideas die on the way to finding investors that could make them come true, and others do not even get the chance to be heard because there is a lack of self-confidence in the youth. Many programs such as Miss Geek Africa, Transform Africa Summit, and Youth Connekt are trying to acknowledge this issue by initiating intercontinental competitions that fund the best projects and ideas. Since such programs create a platform for the youth to pour their mind out and teach them about believing in their ideas, they should be initiated at every school level to make sure that a big percentage of the youth benefit from them. This would also encourage every youth to come up with business ideas that can impact the country at large. Initiatives like Itorero should also be used to equip young people with soft skills like designing business plans, public speaking, critical thinking, etc this will help empower more job creators than job seekers. According to Julian Kayibanda Ingabire, Deputy Vice-chancellor in charge of Planning, Administration, and Finance (DVC-PAF) at UTB (University of Tourism and Business), to innovate the education system, one has to be willing to serve the community. She also suggests that the government needs to collaborate with students, teachers, parents, activists, and the media at large on how to build a better education system for future generations. Rwanda has been doing a great job economically and socially but the education sector still calls for more effort. We need to invest time, power, and commitment to the education of young Rwandans because they are the foundation of our future and the hope of our nation. For change to take place, I believe, there should be an implementation of a new curriculum that is as practical as it is theoretical. The purpose would not be completely ignoring theory but rather emphasising on the creation of something with the theory you have. To achieve this, scholars would also require enough resources to experience the newly acquired knowledge. Also, subject choices should be broadened and there should be an increase in programs that support youths’ project ideas alongside other programs/workshops for teachers to make sure that they are in alignment with the new curriculum to be put in place since they are part of the education system. Most importantly, the government and every institution involved in the education sector should look beyond the number of children that are in schools and concentrate on the actual learning. Our leaders need to ensure that Rwandan children enjoy their right to quality education and assure them that they have their leaders behind them. Lastly, with the whole country’s education system improved, there is an assurance that Rwanda would be on the brink of evolution! The writer is the Executive Director of Peace and Love Proclaimers (PLP) Views expressed in this article are of the writer.
