During the drafting of the 2013-2018 Education Sector Strategic Plan, several areas were identified as major challenges. One was increasing access to all levels of education, especially rural-based and disadvantaged children and improving the quality of education. One challenge that stood out was improving the relevance of education to address the labour market demands. There had been ideas and beliefs floating around that the education sector was churning out people who were not ready for the job market. Now as we enter into the last round of the strategic plan, it would be only normal if Education stakeholders updates the country on how far they have gone in implementing the plan. Are the policies put in place making an impression on the education sector? Would be one place to start. How far has the reorganisation of and the frequent changes at the University of Rwanda disrupted the process? The questions are unending and REB and the Ministry of Education will have to take full ownership and make quick decisions that are not unnecessary bottlenecks. For example, REB proudly announced that it was now able to print its own high school certificates, they would no longer be printed in the United Kingdom. They even announced that over a thousand 2010 certificates were finally out! Sometimes a seemingly innocent comment can trigger a chain reaction that can shake even the most staunch believer. How does it take eight years to perform a simple task of printing certificates? Why weren’t they done locally to deflate costs, maintain their integrity and distribute them in a timely manner? One can only understand the agony many successful secondary school leavers went through but let’s hope REB has turned the page for good and will understand the value of true ownership, even for the little certificate.
