Private schools in Rwanda are on the verge of closing down due to low patronage. A report says desperate proprietors who face closure of ...
Private schools in Rwanda are on the verge of closing down due to low patronage. A report says desperate proprietors who face closure of their institutions are now asking the government to sponsor students in private schools at public rates but the government has rejected the idea.
The “problem” started with the government’s twelve-year basic education policy which made public schools affordable and preferable.
According to the report, the Ministry of Education invested hugely in expanding capacity and teaching infrastructure at public schools across the country; introduced the school feeding programme and abolished school fees.
More than 30 private schools are said to have closed indefinitely this year, while others are struggling to stay afloat after losing students to public schools.
School owners told Rwanda Today that even those that had managed to stay open were struggling to meet their operational costs.
“We’ve suffered a sharp decline in the number of students enrolled, yet the school has accumulated debt, unpaid salaries and owes arrears to suppliers. It is not clear if the school will re-open,” said Samuel Batamba, the head teacher at College Nkunduburezi in Gakenke District.
Mr Batamba said the school used to have 900 students but now has only 80 students after it failed to attract new students while others enrolled in public schools.
That has never been the case in Nigeria. The government of President Buhari had barely implemented any strategies to remedy the high level of school dropout as a result of the hijacking of public schools by hoodlums, Boko-Haram terrorists, dilapidated infrastructures, amongst many others. In Nigeria, both the government officials are paying heavily for their children to study in private schools.
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