EFFECTIVE TODAY, the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) will carry out a countrywide head count of staff in public and semi-public schools to establish the exact number of teachers.

The head count follows Public Service Commission report tabled before Parliament last October, showing that about 130 teachers were found on public payroll even when they had left teaching in the previous financial year.

The report indicated that only 1,519 of the 1,719 teachers were active and properly documented, yet close to 130 teachers (mostly in primary schools) whose profiles were incomplete and whose jobs were not recognised, continued to draw monthly salaries.

Lawmakers on the Standing Committee in charge of Social Affairs said there was no justification for paying the teachers about Rwf80 million, raising concerns that there could be more ghost teachers.

According to lawmakers, some 129 redundant teachers were discovered in Nyagatare alone. They said that while the report might have captured only this, the situation countrywide might be bigger.

Lawmakers also called for Rwanda Education Board (REB) to ensure that rogue education officials and head teachers are brought to book and help the Government recover the money lost.

In yesterday’s letter, addressed to district authorities, Samuel Mulindwa, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Education, said it has been noticed that there are redundant teachers and there is need for new assessment.

He urged district officials to work with head teachers to make the assessment easier and effective to help establish exact number of active teachers’ in all schools.

"Each school head teacher is requested to remind all the teachers from their schools and every teacher is reminded to come with their identity and Rwanda Social Security cards, there would be no representation,” reads the letter in part.

While appearing before Parliament in January, Janvier Gasana, REB director-general, acknowledged the mistakes committed by some officials.

He informed the lawmakers that his office had limited capacity to monitor and evaluate all schools regularly but efforts to have the issue resolved were underway.

Gasana added that under new special teachers’ statute published at the end of last year, REB will soon start registration of teachers countrywide.

He said they were going to carry out new registration and licensing of teachers according to their capacities, something he said he was optimistic it would reconcile with the payroll.