In the closing fiscal year, the education sector was allocated Rwf236.3bn, an increase of Rwf 28.6bn compared to the 2012/2013 financial year.

The money was meant for improving the education sector infrastructure and equipment, welfare of teachers, scaling up the well-being of students and setting up a university project and an education loan for students from poor families.

Budget execution     

Rukara College of Education in Eastern Province received a development budget of Rwf 2.7bn to enable it prepare to receive (accommodate) about one thousand students from the Kavumu College of Education in the Southern province which is soon relocating to the former’s premises. The two will merge to form Rwanda Teachers College.

During the last budget reading, it was revealed that three major projects that were already under construction would now be completed with the Rwf2.7bn allocation. They included a female students’ hostel, a multi-purpose hall and a library. It was also noted that a school canteen and a fence would be constructed to ensure the student’s comfort and security.

Asked whether the money was well spent, Chadrac Ntirandekura, the school’s publicist, said:   "Since our demands outweighed the funds we had, there was no option but to spend it prudently.” 

The Workforce Development Authority (WDA), a parastatal that is mandated to promote, facilitate and guide the development and upgrading of skills among others, was allocated Rwf13.9 billion.

This money, according to Jerôme Gasana, the WDA director General, was key in increasing the number of schools across the country to meet the 2020 objective of having three Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) schools per district.

"A number of projects are ongoing in Musanze, Gicumbi and Kayonza districts, where the construction of schools is expected to be completed by August,” Gasana told the Education Times.

The country’s target is to have 60 percent of secondary students joining TVET schools by 2017, as opposed to the current 40 percent. This initiative requires increasing the number of students by at least 5 percent every year.

According to information from WDA, the number of students enrolling for TVET increased to 83,909 last year from 51,773 students in 2010.

The increase in enrolment of students for TVET is bound to put pressure on technical tertiary institutions which will, in turn need to upgrade the facilities, to accommodate more students.

WDA achieved the target of having one tertiary institution per province to deal with this number. These institutions will be part of Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centres (IPRC).

As far as increasing IPRC’s capacity is concerned, since last fiscal year, work has been underway to expand IPRC Kicukiro. This school currently accommodates 3,662 students. The objective is to increase this number to 10,000 students by 2020. Rwf10.4bn was allocated for the expansion of this school in the closing fiscal year. The money went to construction of a four-storey complex with 170 rooms that will include a trainers’ centre, a learning centre and an ICT centre.

Officials from the school said they expect the facility to be ready for use by next year.

Umutara Polytechnique from Nyagatare district, Eastern province was given Rwf 1.1bn to purchase school equipment and improve infrastructure, while the Kigali-based College of Business and Economics was given Rwf 2.1bn for the same purpose.

We achieved quite big — REB

For the pre-primary, the primary and secondary schools; Rwanda Education Board (REB) was allocated Rwf 11.4 bn for school construction and Rwf 6.9bn for the One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC).

Commenting on the budget execution, REB Director General John Rutayisire told Education Times that he is satisfied with the performance. 

He said: "We implemented the projects by over 95 per cent which is a great achievement. The construction of schools stands at 92 percent.”

According to Nkubito Bakuramutsa, the in-charge of One Laptop Per Child programme which was given Rwf 6.9bn, there was a lot of work to do. 

"Contrary to what some people think, we do not carry laptops to schools and just distribute them; construction of infrastructure that will enable their use is always costly in terms of time and money,” he said.

The money that was received by the OLPC project went into purchasing 43,000 laptops and setting up the necessary infrastructure. 

"We have realised that in most cases, when we are told that a school has access to electricity, only the director’s office is connected and yet all the students cannot be accommodated in the office to charge the laptops,” noted Bakuramutsa.

Thus, prior to giving out laptops, classrooms are wired with electricity. The wiring also facilitates installation of a school server, which eases effective utilization of the laptops for research purposes.

Next fiscal year budget: Expectations and suggestions of stakeholders

Ultimately, there is a need for continued investment in the education sector as it is one of the basic needs of any economy to achieve a higher level of development.

Michel Rucaca, a parent, believes that for children to get quality education, teachers have to be facilitated, trained and given the right skills and educational materials.

Felicien Ngarukiyirwanda, a teacher at Ecole Secondaire Kacyiru I, says that increasing teachers’ salaries is one of the major components the country should take into account to improve quality of education.

"A graduate teacher earns approximately Rwf130,000 which is not enough because of the current high cost of living. I would suggest an increase to at least Rwf 200,000.”

Ngarukiyirwanda’s argument is that while teachers are training future leaders and doing a terrific job, they are forced to live a miserable life and are not in position to afford the needs of their families. In the end, people are discouraged from joining the profession.

Although there are efforts to improve teachers’ conditions through the Umwalimu Sacco, a teachers’ financial institution that gives them loans with a lower interest rate, he says it’s not enough. "This is not a direct solution to the teachers’ problem. An attractive take home is the only lasting solution.”

This point of view is supported by Martin M. Masabo, the Headmaster of Lycee De Kigali. He says government should also increase infrastructure development and renovation in the education sector while equipping educators with more skills. Masabo also observes that there isn’t much support being provided by the government to the private institutions and so does Boniface Onyango, the principal of Riviera High School. "I would like to see increased support of the private institutions by providing educational materials,” Onyango explains.

Aline Kabanda, the country director for Akilah Institute, believes that the government still has a long way to go to show the importance of vocational institutions. "There is still stigma against vocational institutions because people think that you can only join such an institution if you are an academic failure,” she notes.

Also, more emphasis needs to be put on providing women with entrepreneurial skills, recognising the importance of mentorship and availing it to women as well as educating people in career development.

Therefore, as the minister reads the budget tomorrow, citizens will be very eager to see if their priorities have been catered for. 

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PUBLIC SPEAKS OUT ON BUDGET

Gerald Ochwo, teacher at Groupe Scolaire Saza The budget should focus providing education to everyone in the country. The priority should be how ICT must be taught in school in order for students to understand it better. The government should also find a way of making school fees and tuition affordable.

Holga Kamikazi, an educationist The budget should focus on the feeding of students at school. This business of students going back home for lunch disrupts learning and affects concentration of those who skip lunch because of the long distance to their home. It is also time wasting. 

Richard Kiyimba, teacher at Essa NyarugungaThis year’s budget must put much emphasis on science subjects. We are now living in a society where science sells like a hot cake. Therefore we need government to invest more money in science teachers and equipment in all schools in the country.

Prossy Kabanyana, a businesswomanThe budget should concentrate on improving infrastructure in schools. For instance new classrooms should be built in most schools in the country to create a conducive atmosphere for learning. 

John Rwema, a history teacher at Efoteck Secondary SchoolThe budget should provide more funds to review the education curriculum. Our curriculum needs to be overhauled so that it is clear and more relevant to our society.  If the curriculum is revised and well implemented, we shall have the best education system in the region.