TR verifies mechanisms to ensure accountability in education system

KIGALI - Transparency Rwanda (TR), Friday, met stakeholders including the Ministry of Education to certify tools the NGO will use in ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of funds the government allocates to the 9-Year Basic Education (9-YBE) system. In May this year, TR came up with a project to check on the efficiency of 9-YBE funds to make sure the free education system serves its purpose. Addressing participants, TR’s head, Marie Immaculee Ingabire, said the NGO is committed to ensuring that government programs benefit the population. “Validating our tools is to make sure that all stakeholders contribute to the success of this project,” Ingabire said. The Project Manager, Albert Rwego Kavatiri, revealed the tools to be used in getting information. “Among other measures, we shall use the Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) that most countries have used to insure transparency,” Kavatiri said. He explained that more information will also be accessed through questionnaires where various schools will be selected to take part. “We shall involve district education directors, students and members of the Parents Teachers Associations (PTA),” he said. Since 2009, when the 9-YBE program started, the government provided capitation grants of Rwf 3,500 for each student every year, and according to Kavatiri, in 2009, government provided USD 16.3 million to support the project. However, TR’s Executive Secretary, Apollinaire Mupiganyi, said, “There is no independent research that has been conducted to find out whether all financial and material transfers from the central government to schools are being used efficiently.” A Senior Advisor in the Ministry of Education, Callixte Kayisire who presided over the event, appreciated the move, saying it will help in the fight against embezzlement of government funds in the education sector. Ends