The genocide ideology still exists in schools and there is no doubt about that. However, government is trying its level best to totally do away with the vice in both primary and secondary schools. In a research conducted by lawmakers late last year, it was found out that teachers and students in some schools were planting revisionism in several forms. It was also discovered that some pupils abused survivors of 1994 Genocide or simply wrote tracts to them. In others schools, teachers were reportedly identifying students along ethnic distinctions. What steps are being taken to stop the young generation from holding grudges amongst themselves? Patrick Nkurunziza, a pupil of Kacyiru Primary School says that it’s not good at all for us the young people. The ideology causes fights and discrimination among fellow students at school that also affects students’ performance. Nkurunziza says that one of his friends at school nearly dragged him to believe that Hutu students were all Interahamwe. “A friend of mine dragged me into the issue of ideology of genocide and when I resisted, he insulted me. He gazed at me and said that whoever had cut my face had not done well, he should have chopped me to death,” says Nkurunziza. Nkurunziza got an accident and now carries a glaring scar on the face. However, a teacher at Ecole de Remera says that genocide ideology is very destructive. “We condemn the genocide ideology and the school is doing everything possible to create unity and avoid isolation among pupils”. Last year in April, many schools got threats of radicalism from students who circulated tracts of the ideology which scared both teachers and students. “It was evident in some schools where some teachers intentionally traumatized students for example, by calling the survivors to stand up and get counted, this is very bad and such isolation should stop because it hurts” says John Bosco Karamira, a school teacher in Byumba, Gicumbi District. Steps to curb the vice As primary and secondary level students start a new term, teachers have to be on the look out for any cases of the ideology in their classes as part of a concerted effort to curb the problem of spreading the ideology. Many students from different schools have been reported for imparting the ideology. Teachers have however tried to set up sensitization lessons among as a step to eradicate dogma among the pupils. Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya urged all the head teachers to come up with policies that ensure students do respect each other. “The teachers need to be good examples to the students if the bitter sentiment recently reported among students is to stop,” said Mujawamariya. In Gicumbi District, strategies are already in progress to stop genocide ideology spreading among students and teachers, as an example, sensitization groups have been set up in a bid to distract students in to unity from the vice. “We have called for seminars in which we intend to discuss problems facing education including the fight against ideology of genocide. We are determined to do it’, said Anastase Ndayizeye, the new director of Rebero College in Byumba”. Also the law makers are doing their best to fight genocide ideology in schools. They recently recommended that the commission that was instituted to fight the vice visits the schools in question to amicably end the ideology . Ends
