Education in Rwanda has undergone considerable changes throughout Rwanda's recent history, and has faced major disruptions due to periods of conflict. Education was divided by gender whereby women and men had a different education relevant to their responsibilities in day-to-day life. Women were mostly taught housekeeping while men were mainly taught how to hunt, raise animals, and fish. This is because Rwanda was a community-based society where every member had a specific contribution to the overall development of the community. Older family members like grandparents usually took on the role of educators.
Despite improvements to education and literacy as part of the country's rebuilding after the 1994 genocide, the education system still faces challenges including low school enrolment rates and limited resources. The education system is overseen by the Ministry of Education.
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) finds that Rwanda is fulfilling only 73.1 percent of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country's level of income. HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education. While taking into consideration Rwanda's income level, the nation is achieving 94.7 percent of what should be possible based on its resources (income) for primary education but only 51.6% for secondary education.
History of Rwandan education
Prior to 1900
In Rwanda, education was informal and delivered largely through the family. Training was also delivered through Amatorero training schools. These courses included the military and war skills, iron smith and foundry, poetry, basket making.
1900 to 1960
Belgium created a plan to provide elementary school to as many children as possible from World War I to World War II, under a League of Nations mandate. The majority of schools were run by religious organisations and received government support if they followed the Belgian curriculum and other rules. A Belgian census of 1933 led to the measurement and the classification of the population along racial and ethnic lines. Tutsis were given access to the best education at the prestigious Astrida Secondary School and groomed for colonial administrative jobs, ethnic tensions grew as a result. Hutus were often used as forced labor and many migrated to surrounding countries. The tensions grew up until 1959 when civil war broke out and many Tutsis were killed. Others went into exile.
1960 to 1994
After Rwanda's independence, the focus was on restructuring of the education system and the development of a national curriculum. The main goal was to reach more Rwandan children and in particular to improve access to schooling in rural areas. A national curriculum and double shifting were introduced in 1966. From 1977 on, primary school was eight years of education in Kinyarwanda, while three years of post-primary and secondary education were taught in French.
1994 to 2012
Post-genocide years focused on human capital rebuilding and increasing enrolment rates. 1996 saw the introduction of 6-year primary, 3-year lower secondary, and 3-year upper secondary education, where Kinyarwanda was the language of teaching up to 6-year primary, whereas lower and upper secondary, which changed to French and English.
In 2006, The 4th Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP 2006–2010) introduced fee-free schooling for 9YBE - 9 Year Basic Education - including primary and lower secondary. While enrolment rates have gone up, school related costs remain a barrier for many.
In 2008, in an effort to stimulate Rwanda's integration with the East African Community (EAC), English was adopted as the national teaching language, and only the first three years of primary are still taught in Kinyarwanda.
Several new authorities were created: The Workforce Development Authority (WDA) was created in 2008 to address the growing need for better, more, and more demand-driven policy for technical and vocational training. The Rwanda Education Board (REB), established in 2011, became the implementing agency for general education: giving education policy input on sciences, coordinating implementation of education programs, overseeing curriculum development, education standards, national examinations for sciences, etc. The Rwanda Polytechnic was created in mid February 2018 encompasses all integrated polytechnic regional center (IPRC), became the implementing agency for technical education standards, technical and vocational national examinations, etc.