Kayonza- FAWE Rwanda, a local non-governmental organisation, has expressed its commitment to promote girl child education in the country.Speaking at a belated celebration to mark the International Women’s Day at Nyamirama playground in Kayonza District, Rhona Nyakurama, the Chairperson of FAWE Rwanda, said advocating for girl child rights was part of its campaign. The event, which was attended by, among others, women leaders, legislators, local leaders and high school students from various districts countrywide, was celebrated under the theme: ‘Supporting girls and women to acquire education for development”.“We are ever dedicated to promote girls in or out of school...we support over 200 schools in the country. We have managed to stop some girls from serving in Rwinkwavu mines,” Nyakurama revealed.“We also campaign against child labour. This day thus marks our zeal to continue to be in the vanguard.”In an interview with The New Times, a Senior Three student at FAWE Gahini School, Jane Uwababyeyi, lamented that parents still fell short of treating boys and girls equally.“Traditional stereotypes and prejudice against girls are the order of the day in most homes. A boy cannot sweep a floor, baby-seat, cook, and so on. It is left to girls. It is a sad reality that this is acceptable as societal norms,” she complained.A parent, Dorothy Mukakalisa, 55, admitted that parents found it difficult to adopt new changes and do away with traditional ways of life.“I wouldn’t, for instance, imagine a boy carrying a baby on his back...it would look funny you know. Some of these changes can only take time to be conceptualised by the society,” she observed.
