Prime Minister Édouard Ngirente is expected to appear in Parliament next week on Tuesday, December 1, where he will update members of both chambers on the national status of education and the way forward. Ngirente’s briefing was initially scheduled earlier in March but was postponed as the government imposed a national lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19. According to information from parliament, he is expected to shed light on what the Government is doing to improve the education sector to offer the quality desired to feed the national development aspirations. The premier is also expected to provide updates about what is being done to strengthen the government’s commitment towards promoting a knowledge-based economy and what has so far been achieved after prioritizing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses. The MPs expect to hear what is being in the area of providing teachers with refresher courses especially for those that lack professional training but have acquired experience over the years. Further requests Meanwhile Ngirente’s appearance at parliament is being announced after this week MPs resolved to give his office one month to put in place special measures to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic among students particularly those in boarding schools. The MPs also requested Ngirente’s office to explain what strategies are in place to solve the issue of high cost of water which is burdening schools due to higher demand posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, the MPs want the government to indicate measures in place to scale up efforts in expediting the construction of planned classrooms, and provide basic infrastructures including water, electricity and water tanks for schools that do not have them, within one month. Among other things, they will expect to hear what is being done to limit school dropout. By November 17, available statistics indicated that only 85 per cent of students in Kigali have returned to school, against the 94.5 per cent in the Southern province, 89.3 per cent in the Northern Province, 89.2 per cent in the Eastern province and 84.2 per cent in the Western province. This shows that 15 per cent of students based in Kigali had not reported back to school. Similarly, for secondary schools, 15.6 per cent had not yet returned to school.
