The 57schools that had been earlier suspended for failure to meet minimum requirements to create a learning-friendly environment for students have been reopened and students will today resume their studies. The schools were suspended after an inspection that was carried out ahead of the beginning of the new school term, which started last week on Monday. The Ministry of Education gave the affected schools up to one week to fix the gaps identified insisting they would only be allowed to reopen after meeting these requirements. Speaking to The New Times, Eugene Mutimura, the Minister for Education, explained that the decision to reopen the schools follows a special inspection conducted in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government, which took place from August 23-25 to see whether the recommendations to the schools in question had been implemented. According to the minister, the inspection established that the schools had fulfilled the requirements while others were on course to fulfill what they were required of. “All suspended schools will continue their operations on Monday. The decision comes after a special inspection in different districts last week that showed an improvement to meet the requirements,” Mutimura said. The ministry had previously announced that the suspended schools did not meet Government guidelines on basic things such as food, hygiene, lighting and whether students had access to some facilities like computers. The suspension, which was announced two weeks ago, was informed by the ministry’s inspection of public schools. Also, some schools were accused of keeping laptops in stores instead of giving students access to equipment. In an earlier news conference, the minister had said that an allowance would be made to extend the school term by a week to ensure students from the affected schools are not academically affected. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
