It has been a horrible year. For most, it can’t end soon enough. Perhaps a new one will bring some brightness. Bad times, of course, are not unusual. Terrible things happen fairly regularly – wars, floods or wildfires, earthquakes and landslides, and pestilences of every kind – and cause untold devastation and mass displacement of people. But most of these are often restricted to certain areas and generally last a short time. In other places people may not be aware of what is happening elsewhere and may not even care. This year, it has been different. The Covid-19 pandemic has ravaged the whole world. None has escaped its reach, not even the most advanced economies that usually have the means to control such diseases. It has killed indiscriminately across the world. The high and mighty have also fallen. Admittedly the most vulnerable have borne the brunt of it. So, yes, this has been an annus horribilis for all of us. But even so, occasionally something happens that lifts the gloom and a little happiness shines through. And so it was with us in Rwanda this past week. Our very own Billy Byiringiro was named a Rhodes Scholar and will spend the next few years at the University of Oxford pursuing studies of his dreams. He was selected from 2300 highly talented applicants from East Africa. Being part of this group of the region’s best is itself a great achievement. Coming out best of the best, well, it can’t get better than that. But wait! It can. It makes him a Rhodes Scholar and puts him among the world’s brightest. Congratulations were in order and they poured in on social and conventional media, and continue to do so. This, too, was slightly unusual. While Rwandans generally regard academic excellence highly, many rarely celebrate it, for instance the way they do for celebrities in other fields. Some regard intellectual achievement as something distant and impersonal that they cannot relate to. Such brainy stuff is not for ordinary people. They can understand and easily relate to celebrities in sport, music, theatre or fashion. Not the same with the other. This time, however, the country took notice. Byiringiro’s achievement became ours also. This is part of a growing trend. We glory in the success and good fortune of compatriots. Which is a good thing. It means we recognise what they have done. We admire it and that can be a source of inspiration and national pride. And then there is the news value of the young man’s accomplishment. He is the first Rwandan Rhodes Scholar in the 117-year history of the Rhodes Scholarship. It would be a brave person who would have thought this was possible a few years ago. We always celebrate a first. There is something special and brave about it. You are breaking new ground, blazing a new trail, opening new frontiers, setting the pace – a whole host of pioneering firsts – that are bound to set you apart. Billy Byiringiro will always be all these. He doesn’t have to wish it or accept it or desire it or even be aware of it. It will simply always be so. And then he is already involved in new knowledge, studying stuff like artificial intelligence and will follow it up at Oxford with autonomous intelligence machines and systems. Truly one to lead the path into the future. He is in good company of other firsts. Only last month His Eminence Antoine Cardinal Kambanda became the first Rwandan Cardinal in the 120-year history of the Catholic church in Rwanda. The two firsts are enough cheer for this festive season that we cannot celebrate the usual way. It is not for this only that Byiringiro’s achievement is remarkable. His is the story of a typical Rwandan student. He, like most, is a product of Rwanda’s public school system. He went to the little known Groupe Scolaire Janja in Northern Province before going on to the better-known College St Andre in Kigali. It is a story he shares with many other Rwandan students who have studied at some of the world’s best schools. Many have come from remote, under-resourced rural schools and made it to Oxford, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Columbia and other top universities across the world. Their story says something about Rwanda’s public education system. If it can produce Byiringiro and the many others that the public does not know about, it cannot be as terrible as some make it to be. There must be something good about it. It is not therefore need a major overhaul as some would want. Of course, like most things, it can and must be improved. But that can be done by building on the good points, plugging the gaps, and not by dismantling what exists that produces world-class scholars. Where our education is concerned, we are usually quick to point out weaknesses but strangely silent about remarkable achievements. Condemnation comes easily to us, but not so commendation. The views expressed in this article are of the writer.
