Lycée de Kigali, one of the most prominent secondary schools in the country, was this month placed under the leadership of Catholic Brothers of the Marist Order.

With the next academic year set to begin on September 26, the school’s new management has assured students and parents that no major changes, in terms of values, will be made.

Speaking to The New Times, Jean Mfurayase, the new head teacher of the Rugunga-based school, noted that they will not exclude any religion at the school, pointing out that LDK also has a mosque for students of the Islam faith.

"As Catholic Brothers we respect everyone’s religion as long as it embraces generally acceptable values of society. We’ve not come to ban any religious practices. We’re here to support our students instead,” he told The New Times.

Mfurayase also said there will not introduce any major adjustment to learning and social routines at the school.

"There won’t be any significant changes for now except allocating a short time for prayers before classes and other prayer sessions during the weekend for those in boarding,” he said.

Regarding the fate of current Lycée de Kigali (LDK) staff, Mfurayase said the new management will keep them all, adding that they have already reviewed their resumes and found them all meeting minimum qualifications.

Asked about recent restructuring of school fees in public schools by the Ministry of Education, the head teacher said they hope the move will not affect the quality of meals for students.

"We don’t want to make any major changes because that could affect students,” he stressed, adding that any adjustments must be alive to potential psychological impacts on students.

‘Shortage of dormitories a challenge’

Mfurayase added that parents, along with LDK administration, had requested Nyarugenge District authorities to support the school in getting more dormitories for students.

"Currently, the school has capacity to accommodate only 432 students but we need help to build more dormitories because, as Marist Brothers, we do a lot of counseling for students and having more students in boarding will help us closely follow up on them.”

The mixed gender school, which last year lost its longest serving head teacher (Martin Masabo, who had served for over 20 years by the time he passed away), boasts slightly more than 1400 students.

The Catholic Church runs a significant number of some of the traditionally best performing schools in the country.