New History curriculum is timely

Last week, the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) announced it would soon release revised editions of Rwanda’s history books which will be used in schools. NCDC says history books, currently used in schools are not factual and distorts the history of this nation. This is true. The importance of history should never be underestimated. Almost every subject and field of study is linked to history. It has been said that he who controls the past dominates the future. Our view of history shapes the way we view the present, and therefore it dictates what answers we offer for existing problems. Sadly, Rwanda’s history has been written in the books of lies. For long many generations of our people were indoctrinated with falsified historical literature. Take the example of the so-called 1959 revolution of MDR-PARMEHUTU party, which sadly has been part of the history that our students are taught. How can such a criminal and distractive act qualify to go in the books of history of this nation as a revolution? A revolution does not deny its own people the right to their homeland and revolutionaries do not point their guns to their own people. Some of the disbanded national symbols like national anthem, national flag and national emblem were indeed a representation of this distorted history. The history that the majority of a certain age-bracket in the country consumed sowed seeds of hatred that eventually culminated into the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Therefore, it is critical that we correct this past distortion, not only for the record but for the common good of all Rwandans. Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it and it is worse when the existing history is a pile of lies. Ends

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New History curriculum is timely