The Ministry of Education has taken the fight to end school dropouts a notch higher by moving to task schools to furnish it with names of students who cease reporting to school. The ministry says it would then track such students to establish where they are and how to bring them back to class. Speaking at a Joint Review of Education Sector in Kigali last week, Education minister Papias Musafiri said school dropout rate had reduced significantly over the last one year. Figures from the Ministry of Education show that in the Academic Year 201516, the national dropout rate in primary schools was 5.7 per cent, 6.5 per cent in lower secondary and 2.5 per cent in upper secondary education. Overall, school dropout rate decreased by more than a half as it went down from 10.5 per cent the previous year countrywide, Musafiri said. “That did not come from nowhere; it is rather thanks to the support we got from the President (Paul Kagame). He talked about the dropout issue at the National Leaders’ Retreat and continued to bring up the issue during his outreach tours across the country,” said Musafiri. “That yielded result as it made people understand and act on the issue, including school authorities, local government officials, the ministry and other partners.” Kayonza has the highest primary dropout rate with 12 per cent over all. Ngororero has the highest lower secondary dropout of 15.6 per cent, while Rwamagana has the highest upper secondary dropout rate of 25 per cent. New measures Musafiri said the ministry and its stakeholders embarked on a series of measures to ensure students remained in schools. The measures include setting up close partnership between concerned entities, including school authorities together with the Teacher-Parents Associations (PTAs), as well as monitoring daily attendance of students and sharing information with the local governments. This, he said, will expose absenteeism. The minister said operations were carried out in homes, markets, tea plantations, mining sites and other areas. Pastor Jacques Nkinzingabo, Education Director at Seventh Day Adventist Church in Rwanda, said the most effective way to tackle the issue of school dropouts was to make parents and students understand the significance of education. The Church operates a number of schools in the country at different academic levels. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
