MPs re-launch anti–Genocide campaigns in schools

KIGALI - MPs are set to visit schools all over the country for the second time in a bid to sensitise students, teachers and parents on the issue of the genocide ideology. MPs have already spent seven days touring schools across the country to counsel on the dangers of the ideology. “We are going back on February 25. The campaign will take seven days; all schools will be visited,” vice speaker of the lower chamber of parliament, Denis Polisi, revealed last week. “It is intended to visit all the remaining schools countrywide.” “All deputies will be out of their offices to campaign against the genocide ideology in schools,” Polisi added. Polisi revealed that after MPs have visited all schools, a report will be complied and discussed before the August House and recommendations will be drawn. The campaign has been re-launched at a time when both primary and secondary schools have resumed for the new academic year. The sensitisation comes after a parliamentary commission that was set up to investigate the genocide ideology in schools released a report confirming its widespread existence in schools. Recently, MPs held an extraordinary session that came up with resolutions to launch a crackdown on the genocide ideology in schools. Late last year, the committee exposed cases of genocide ideology in several secondary schools around the country. In some schools up to 97 per cent of students confirmed the existence of the ideology. The details of the report prompted legislators to summon the two education ministers ,Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya and Joseph Murekeraho, state minister in charge of primary and secondary education, to the August House to explain why the ministry could not stamp out the genocide ideology in schools.Ends