Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente has promised teachers that the government will look into possibilities of putting a tax exemption on money allocated for school feeding and also encouraged schools to set up gardens in their premises where students can cultivate basic foodstuffs like vegetables and fruits. Ngirente’s promise followed requests made by teachers during the celebration of national teacher’s day held on Wednesday, November 2. The celebrations attracted over 6000 teachers. Periodically, the government allocates money to schools for feeding students, however, teachers say that the money allocated to them is taxed and this has affected their purchasing power considering rising food prices. Emmanuel Mushinzimana, a teacher from Kayonza District told the Prime Minister that the new harmonized school fee structure for public primary and secondary schools saw a decline in school funds. He then suggested that, for schools to be self-sustaining, school feeding programme should be tax-free to facilitate schools to improve the well-being of their students. Other concerns raised by the teachers included having a primary and secondary school representative in the parliament. “We need to introduce basic law education in primary and secondary schools,” Tharcisse Turatsinze from Groupe Scolaire Byumba told The New Times in an interview. Claudine Gatoya, a teacher at GS Muyange said that classrooms are still few in some schools while, Valentine Micyomyiza, a teacher at Teta School in Gasabo district raised an issue on textbooks that the government provides only to public schools and requested that private schools be considered as well.
