KIGALI - Kigali City authorities have set up a team to inspect 13 secondary schools grouped under the "red category” for poor hygiene and sanitation, less than a month before schools reopen.

In a telephone interview with The Sunday Times, Bruno Rangira the Kigali City Director of Media and Communication said that the team will decide which schools will reopen.

The inspection follows another that was carried out in September last year that blacklisted the schools and ordered them to rectify all the identified problems before the beginning of the academic year or face permanent closure.

The schools were found to have no toilets and poor sewerage systems thus putting the students’ health at a high risk. Some are boarding schools whose dormitories are in poor state and are ridden with bedbugs.   

They include; Groupe Scolaire APERWA, SFJ Gacuriro, ETM Gitega, ETL Masaka and ESSA Nyarugunga.

Others are ETMR Nyarugenge, Collège Ingenzi, College de Misercorde, College de Mwendo, APACE Kabusunzu, SICO, Groupe Scolaire Kimisange and ESA Gikondo.

Each of the said schools was also fined Rwf 250,000.
"No school among those in the red category will reopen this term if it does not receive a reopening certificate from this team,” Rangira said

"And to get this certificate, each school has to prove that it has rectified each mess that was identified,” he added.

The inspection team is slated to wind up its activities on January 10, a few days before it releases "reopening certificates” to the schools that meet requirements.

Schools are slated to reopen on February 1.

Ends