Regulations should not deter initiatives

In Rwanda, access to education was always for the privileged few. The Government virtually ceded its role in education to religious groups which founded and managed schools and other education institutions. These groups managed the said institutions with their interests and beliefs at the fore of their activities and teachings, for example many religions put more emphasis on philosophy and religious studies. Better facilities like laboratories and dormitories were found in seminaries and strict codes of behavior tailored along bizarre religious activities like routine prayers at fixed times and periods of “quietness” that mimicking meditation, when students were expected to keep quiet for periods of time. One of the qualifications for such schools was the religion of the child’s parents and their “religiousness”. From 1962 to 1973 there was a period of “ethnic self elevation” when Hutu students felt and boasted that they were more intelligent and poured scorn on students of other ethnicity. They would poke fun of Tutsi noses and draw caricatures or newsletter depicting them in the vilest forms. At times non Hutu students were physically abused or killed like during the “disturbances” at Butare University when Tutsi students were killed and others “disappeared” prompting Belgian investigations that came to nothing. The government encouraged the abuse and the period saw most non Hutu students, dropout of school due to ethnic harassment or real persecution. In 1973 the policy of “ethnic balancing” was officially endorsed. Rwanda had three ethnic groups and at each level of education and government employment the percentage of the ethnic groups must be reflected, the policy demanded. In every educational institution the number of admitted pupils and students had to reflect the percentage of their ethnic percentage as per the national population numbers. Since ethnic percentages were always reported to suit the interests of the government propaganda, the school administrators alternated the number of Tutsi students between 6-9% of the recruited pupils in primary schools. Promotion to secondary schools was harder because academic performance in national examinations accounted for 40% while ethnic balancing, behavior, extracurricular activities and the subjectivity of the school management committee accounted for 60%. It was not uncommon to find a Tutsi student scoring 35 out of 40 in examinations but was not “permitted” to go to secondary school while a Hutu with 9 out of 40 was permitted to go to the next academic level. The higher the level of education the harder the ethnic vetting was. Many of those who were not permitted would end up in vocational institutions studying embroidery, cookery; tailoring and the lucky ones were admitted to Ecoles Technique Officielle (ETOs) to study bricklaying and mechanics. Tutsis found a way of shortcutting the ethnic balancing: they started “Associations des Parents pour le Development en l’Education” which they hoped would enable their children to access education. The Government, however, was not about to rescind its policy of denying a section of its population education, so the policy-makers denied these parents the license to operate the schools and did not allow pupils and students to sit for “government” examinations. After building school premises and the necessary infrastructure these parents were not about to give up so they found an ethnic Hutu to be the Association’s legal representative. The schools functioned as a refugee for the ethnically disenfranchised until notice was taken and government demanded that other members of the committee be accommodated, which members would demand the ethnic balancing to be introduced and the process would start all over again. Life was then simple: with a tenth year school certificate one could lead a decent life as a government employee, and with a high school certificate one was sure to become an important government official. Of course university education was reserved for the chosen few. Life was simple because with a government job one could get a bank loan, build a modest unbaked brick house and then enjoy life in its modest. Many people accepted the criminal government ethnic policies as ordained by God. From 1994 access to education became free for all and the demand for education has been phenomenal. Many people have taken the initiative to advance education and the most notable is the Universte Liberalle de Kigali (ULK). Nobody with a sound mind can question the role played by ULK in the advancement of education in Rwanda. Its alumnae are in many important positions in the strata of our society. Its new campus at Gisozi attests to its success and the power of creativity. Whoever saw the University during its nascent days at its former “swampy” campus will agree that with creativity, determination, vision and the right government policies, individuals can greatly contribute to the development of their country. In one academic year ULK graduates more than half of all graduates Rwanda as a nation had for the first thirty years of its independence. A couple of years ago, government put in place an institution to set, supervise, monitor and evaluate higher education standards in the country. A logical thing to do, in fact many countries have had these institutions for longer periods of time. Trouble came with the standards set last year for anyone intending to start an institution of higher learning. One must be a billionaire to start such an institution: there must be a fully function laboratory, stocked library and other requirements that are simply prohibitive and billionaires import consumer goods which have a higher returns on investment not found educational institutions . Assuming there are ten university lecturers who decide to come together, use their experience, start a college and build its infrastructure as the number of learners increases. Thereafter, they can access loans from financial service providers to acquire the college requirements. Their litmus test would be the performance of their students in the national examinations because with poor performance the institution will be condemned to failure. They may have memoranda with institutions that have what they lack for their students to hire until they can get their own as is the case in many countries. Telling Lectures or Secondary school Teachers to build schools complete with laboratories from their saving before they are licensed does not make sense, and no financial institution may be willing to finance ideas without collateral security. The supervising institution should concentrate on the curricular, teaching methods, academic standards and final examinations. Otherwise, had the national council for higher education been operating before ULK, INLAK, KIM, RTUC etc were started, these institutions would have remained ideas in the heads of their founders and the lives of the many graduates from these institutions would be different. Government policies should be to nurture, encourage, guide, empower and supervise and not deter initiatives. Email: ekaba2002@yahoo.com