As the start of academic year 2021/2022 nears, the Ministry of Public Service and Labour has suspended all job recruitment in public institutions to focus on teachers.

The development was announced through a letter addressed to the top officials of public institutions on Friday, September 16.

"Reference made to the school calendar where the academic year will commence on 11th October, I would like to inform you that all other job positions in public service is temporarily suspended until schools reopen,” reads the letter signed by Fanfan Kayiranga Rwanyindo, the Minister of Public Service and Labour.

The move was taken to provide a special consideration to the teachers’ recruitment and provide all needed support to be conducted smoothly, read the letter.

Government recently announced plans to recruit over 13,000 teachers and over 40,000 applications are expected through an electronic recruitment system.

The exercise is being conducted by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Rwanda Education Board and Rwanda TVET Board.

In previous interviews with The New Times, REB officials have indicated that the recruited teachers will be deployed to 650 schools.

Addition of teachers aims at reducing congestion of students and scrapping the ratio of students per teacher, which will allow the teachers to be able to easily monitor the students’ performances and follow their daily progress.