The Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) is currently assessing the implementation of the new school fees policy in particular schools, after some head teachers complained that they are struggling to maintain the quality of particular services, for example feeding, The New Times has learned. Also read: Parents, schools welcome reform in school fees Gaspard Twagirayezu, the State Minister in charge of Primary and Secondary Education said the ministry has been monitoring how the new fees policy is being implemented and of course, the contribution base either from government or parents can be adjusted to fit particular situations. “We had our first assessment after one month and we realised that most of the schools have compiled with the guidelines, we know that schools have special requests for example ongoing construction projects in their schools and these are government's responsibility in Public schools ” he noted. Twagirayezu highlighted that the assessment will give statistics that will back up the outcomes of the assessment and will determine the decisions that the ministry will take. According to information from MINEDUC, the parent contribution per student in different levels pre, primary, secondary and boarding was calculated based on the cost of school feeding, mainly. Since the introduction of the policy, teams have been doing inspections to check compliance, to gather specific issues, schools may have and explore ways to improve. Twagirayezu said that the assessment will give the way forward on how much the government needs to contribute and how much parents will contribute to the school fees. Samuel Ngabonziza, the Head Teacher at Kagarama secondary school said they had a parents-teachers meeting last week and parents requested them to reinstate the previous fees, but added that they still have to inform the ministry and wait for their feedback. Ngabonziza said that according to the meeting, parents realised that prices of food on the market have been increasing and the new fees policy set out by the Ministry is not enough. “Parents have been pushing for this because they want their children to feed well as they used to,” he said Jeanine Mukaneza, the head teacher at Groupe Scolaire Kigali, said that the school has expenses which require a fees structure that is more than the one set out by the Ministry of Education. She mentioned that the school has smart classes, electricity fees and laboratories equipment which require for an increment in the school fees. Another Head teacher who chose to stay anonymous said that, “We had several meetings ever since the school fees changes and parents requested us to increase the fees, and our answer has always been, we are following the guidelines of the ministry.” She said that the school has already submitted the parents’ proposal and are waiting for a response from MINEDUC. Meanwhile, Twagirayezu said that the ministry will not take any measures before the assessment ends.
