Senator Tito Rutaremara has urged schools to prioritise quality education, not profiteering, to ensure that the country gets competitive citizens.

Rutaremara was speaking during the 10th anniversary celebrations of Ahazaza Independent School located in Muhanga District, Southern Province.

"If quality education is not provided, private schools risk losing a big number of students. So, much as they are business-oriented, they must provide the quality our country needs to develop,” he noted.

Rutaremara also noted that the quality of education is also compromised by teachers who subject their students to many lessons and deny them time to rest.

However, he lauded some private schools like Ahazaza Independent School for giving an opportunity to poor children to attend school.

"I appreciate this school for supporting poor children to learn for free while many other private schools are only business-oriented and care about maximising profit,” Rutaremara said.

According to the school director, Raina Luff, each class, from kindergarten to primary six, has 25 students, among them five in every class, who learn for free.

"To determine those who qualify for scholarships, we consult district officials to confirm their status. Secondly, we have a commission of three people that goes to their homes to verify if they are needy. So, for me, one of the motivations I had when I founded this school was to give social mobility to the vulnerable,” Raina noted.

Fortunée Mukagatana, the Muhanga District vice mayor in charge of social affairs, noted that to achieve quality education, there is need to address existing challenges in both public and private schools in the district, but the situation was worse in private ones because they are profit-driven.

Ange Benitha Muganwa, a senior two student, said she could express herself in different languages because of the good foundation she received at the school.

For Bernice Kamikazi, her dream of being a medical doctor started at Ahazaza Primary School.

"I always dreamt of being a doctor when I was a child. I am now doing biology and chemistry thanks to the facilities at the school,” she Kamikazi.

Sophie Umutoni, a parent at Ahazaza Independent School, said she doesn’t worry about his son’s future.

"I expect my son in Kindergarten 3 here to perform well like the former students who passed from this school. He is good at English and French at his early age,” Umutoni said.