The government has set aside over Rwf 13 billion to construct classrooms for the 12-Year Basic Education (12-YBE) program across the country.

The Minister of Education, Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, announced this yesterday at the end of a-two-day joint review meeting organised by the ministry to assess the progress made by schools to accommodate the program whose implementation starts in January.

Once underway, the program will see all Rwandan children guaranteed of attaining secondary education.

"The 12-YBE will be a strong foundation for the country’s socio-economic development,” Habumuremyi said.

The government plans to put up over 2,660 classrooms countrywide to accommodate the influx of students and will bear the lion’s share of the costs.

According to the minister, citizens will also play a key role in the process by providing manpower, as was the case during the launch of the Nine-Year Basic Education (9-YBE).

According to Habumuremyi, the ministry would put emphasis in the promotion of the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET), to enable more Rwandans graduates to become job creators.

He said that there was also still need to promote pre-primary education to enable students to complete primary and secondary education while they are still young.

The minister noted that his ministry would train more qualified teachers and offer them incentives for retention to improve the quality of education.

He pointed out that the teacher-student ratio had decreased to 58 percent from 68 percent last year, adding that his ministry would continue to put in place mechanisms to further reduce this.

The primary completion rate improved from 76 percent last year to 79 percent, and according to the minister, they will continue to strive on reducing it.

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