The Senate is to make an inquiry into how the history of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi is taught in primary, secondary schools and institutions of higher learning. The senators adopted the resolution on February 25 after assessing the 2019/2020 activity report of the National Commission for the Fight against the Genocide (CNLG) The report was assessed by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security through a virtual hearing. John Bonds Bideri, the committee’s chairperson said there was need to examine why teachers are not comfortable teaching genocide-related history and also assess the impact of teaching materials that were distributed in schools. Bideri said that the fear of some teachers to utter some ethnically “sensitive” words like Hutu, Tutsi and Twa were among the reasons they are fear to teach genocide studies. “We want to find out why this issue has been recurrent over the last three years. That’s why it is necessary that the Senate thoroughly looks into the issue, and possibly make recommendations on what should be done to effectively tackle it,” he said. The committee also resolved to request the government to scale up its lobbying efforts and encourage countries to introduce legislations that punish trivialisation of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi, as well as the spread of its ideology. Genocide ideology, denial and trivialisation is largely spread through social media platforms, the senators said. This, they observed, has continued to fuel the rise in cases of genocide ideology, which can partly be addressed by adequately teaching its history in schools. “The committee realises that if the history of the Genocide against Tutsi is taught well in schools, it will lead to the respect of fundamental principles,” he said. Senator Cyprien Niyomugabo said that there was need to introduce specialised academic programmes on the history of the genocide in institutions of higher learning Meanwhile, the committee commended the progress made by the government in empowering teachers to deliver genocide studies, especially through training and civic education. It requested that momentum be maintained. While assessing the report, the committee found that CNLG put in place approaches for exchanging ideas about the genocide, its aftermath and the strategies aimed to prevent and uproot it, including delivering related talks in schools, rehabilitation centres, prisons, and writing books about the history of the genocide.
