The government has started construction of 22,505 primary, secondary, and vocational institutions classrooms to improve the students – teacher ration in September when the next academic year starts.
The classrooms to be completed in three months are expected to improve student to teacher ratio to an average of 1:45 in both primary and secondary schools. Today in primary school, the ratio is 59:1 for primary and 26:1 for secondary.
Construction works started on June 1, 2020, across the thirty (30) districts of the country with vital contribution of the community.
In the teachers’ recruitment plan for 2020, Rwanda Education Board (REB) says 7,214 new professional teachers would be recruited to improve students to teachers ratio and cater for the new classrooms being constructed to decongest existing ones.
According to the recruitment plan, the government will hire 3,799 primary school teachers, 3415 secondary school teachers, and 386teachers for vocational schools.
Going by the statistical yearbook of 2018 from the ministry of education, there are 6491 students with 261 teachers in pre-nursery education, while nursery schools have 226,706 students with 7178 teachers.
Primary schools have 2,503,705 students that are served by 44,544 staff, compared to 578,897 students with 25,143 teachers in Secondary school.
“We expect these classrooms to combat overcrowding in classrooms and reduce the distance covered to/from school,” Flavia Selaphine, Ministry of education communication specialist said.
“We are requesting parents to contribute towards the execution of this program,” she said.
The ground laying stone for construction of classrooms started in Ruhango district, Southern province where 707 classrooms will be constructed.
Valens Habarurema, Mayor of Ruhango district said that each classroom will be completed at a cost of Rwf6million, with residents contributing half of the money through community works commonly known as umuganda.
Another 380 classrooms will be constructed in Muhanga district while 1,124 will be built in Rubavu district, Western Province, among others.
According to the Ministry of education, at least 22,505 new classrooms and 31,932 toilets will be completed by September 2020 with the funds from the World Bank.
