Friends, students and colleagues of the late Martin Masabo are mourning the 64-year-old, describing him as a man who had sacrificed his life to deliver quality education to generations of Rwandans.

Masabo, who was living with hypertension, succumbed to Covid-19 related complications on Monday, September 27.

He had been the head master of Lycée de Kigali (LDK) since 2000.

Born in the present-day Karongi district in 1957, Masabo and his family to fled to Tanzania where he attended his primary and secondary education. He later attended his university studies in the US before returning to Tanzania after graduation.

Masabo taught at different schools in Tanzania before returning to Rwanda, becoming a lecturer at University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology (CST), then called Kigali Institute of Science and Technology. He later headed to Lycée de Kigali in 2000 to serve as the head teacher, a position he held until his death.

Different former colleagues and students who were interviewed described Masabo as a ‘passionate educationist’

Sister Helene Nayituriki, a former headmistress of Lycée Notre-Dame de Cîteaux, had known Masabo for quite some time.

She said she first met Masabo 15 years ago and the two educators quickly became good friends. She had last seen last month.

"He was a man who had sacrificed his life to deliver the quality of education that the government demanded, he only took a break after all the tasks on the table had been completed,” she recalls.  

Nayituriki added that Masabo’s passion for education had seen him become one of the founding members of Heads of Schools Organisation (HOSO).

The group was founded six years ago with a view to promote quality education.

"He was an advisor to HOSO and was always instrumental in our work,” she added.

Masabo was also an education advisor to the City of Kigali.

Emmanuel Mudidi, a former education minister, recalled the time when he made the decision to make Masabo LDK head teacher.

"He was at the time a lecturer at the hen KIST and when I asked him to become headmaster at a secondary school, he didn’t take long to accept because of the passion he had for education,” he said.

"Imagine telling someone to quit his university job and abandon all those benefits to go to a high school," he said.

"And when he took the job, the school was such a disorganised institution and some students made the environment ungovernable, but it took him less than a year to get the school back to normal,” he noted. 

 Arthur Nkusi, a former LDK student, said he will remember Masabo old as a hardworking educator.

Nkusi, who was at LDK from 2007 to 2009, said the deceased head teacher was rarely absent.

"You could always find him at the school, he was rarely absented, you always found him walking in front of classrooms and interacting with students,” he said, pointing out that he was a social and interactive leader.

He added: "I remember that he was okay with giving us permission to go out for performances, and we had a journalism club to develop our talents, he encouraged us to work hard and and follow our dreams,” said Nkusi.

After the announcement of his death, government officials, scholars and friends took to social media to express their grief.

Details of funeral arrangements had not been confirmed by the time we filed this story.

Masabo is survived by a wife – MP Odette Uwamariya – and three children; two sons and a daughter.