President Paul Kagame on Thursday, October 22, made a case for heightened vigilance as schools resume physical learning globally, saying that ensuring the health and safety of learners is paramount.

He was speaking at the Global Education meeting that among others aimed at discussing strategies to ensure that the pandemic doesn’t reverse decades of progress in education.

The high-level virtual meeting also aimed at securing commitments from global leaders for the protection of education financing during the Covid-19 recovery period, and, also, to produce consensus on priority actions for the next year.

"Our countries are in the midst of determining how to safely re-launch learning in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and mitigate the long-term effects on education outcomes,” the Head of State noted.

"Ensuring the health and safety of learners is paramount,” he added.

Kagame highlighted that the stakes for African countries are very high due to the growing youth population.

"This means finding creative ways to not only protect education financing, but also increase it,” he said.

Kagame shared Rwanda’s experience highlighting deliberate efforts the government has taken to allow collaboration between both national and international stakeholders.

"In Rwanda, we are counting on close collaboration between national stakeholders, including clear communication with citizens to help us stay focused on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.

He reiterated that international co-operation with global partners including UNESCO, the Africa Union is an important part of such efforts.

"I thank you for drawing attention to the critical issue of education, as we play our part in building an education system for the future,” he noted.

In Rwanda, physical studies started this month, seven months after schools closed following the outbreak of the virus in the country in March this year.

The reopening of schools will be gradual and it started this month with universities. The rest will progressively reopen over the next few weeks.