Education
Rwanda ’ s School Project Demonstrates What a Mobilized Community Can Achieve
Geoffrey Mushaija
For many years now , the Rwandan education sector has elicited many heated debates in our society and beyond , with some commentators raising concerns about its quality . However , these debates tend to overlook Rwanda ’ s tremendous efforts to establish the requisite infrastructure and provide the best environment possible for our school children to thrive . Indeed , there remains much to be done to attain the quality of education Rwandans aspire to , but building the physical infrastructure is a prerequisite to and an integral component of quality education . Accordingly , those responsible for Rwanda ’ s education system have relied upon homegrown initiatives to address this crucial issue .
As in most developing countries , the financial resources to cover basic needs and deliver on socio-economic transformation are often meagre . In 2003 , for example , US $ 45 million was needed to fulfil the government ’ s commitment to building 3150 classrooms and 10,000 toilets , but the available budget was only US $ 9 million , which is just one fifth of the amount needed . Yet , the objectives had to be met . Similarly , when a global economic crisis hit the world in 2007 / 2008 and most sources of financing dried up , the government decided to turn to home grown solutions to ensure that critical sectors of the society , like education , remain interrupted .
Specifically , a number of key challenges in education were raised for discussion during the 2009 government retreat : overcrowding , long-distances between schools , and the dropout rate . Significantly , all were linked to the scarcity of classrooms across the country , which was diagnosed as an important factor for overcoming the poor quality of education – which , according to the deliberations , needed to be tackled urgently . Among other
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