RWAMAGANA - The Minister of Local Government, Christophe Bazivamo has appealed to local leaders to tackle the problem of school dropouts in the area.

He made the remarks on Tuesday, after touring a number of development projects in the district. In his tour the minister advised local leaders to address urgent cases of children labour.

As part of his countrywide tours, the Minister first visited a liquid soap  factory in Gishara Sector, where he found young girls and boys working. 

"Though the spirit of self help  is important, it is wrong for local leaders to allow children to drop-out of schools to be full time workers.

That is wrong. They are still young and can be more productive in the future if they pursued further education,” he said. 

When the children said that they cannot afford school fees, the Minister reminded them that education is free under the nine-year basic education programme.

Bazivamo asked leaders to help needy children access some other basic needs like uniforms and scholastic materials.

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