Ministry seeks to curb school drop-out rates

In spite of being close to attaining Millennium Development Goal 2 on universal access to education, the government’s focus has shifted to a reduction in both drop-out and repetition rates, particularly among girls, in a bid to meet the required target. The primary school enrolment rate currently stands at 97 percent and 98 percent among boys and girls, respectively, with secondary schools registering 92 percent this year and Rwanda leading the region in this respect. According to Education minister, Dr Vincent Biruta, the ministry in collaboration with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is now focused on working alongside local government authorities to tackle the relatively high school drop out rates that currently stand at 11.4 percent for primary school and 7.5 percent for secondary school. The United Nations and other development partners stress that the quality of education should be maintained while achieving high enrolment rates. On Tuesday last week, Members of Parliament questioned the quality of education in the country.But Dr Biruta says quality is a long term issue. “Quality is a continuous process that needs a holistic approach.” He, however, added that there are complementary initiatives to enhance quality education such as boosting the number of trained teachers and provision of adequate and updated teaching materials, which he says are key to improved learning outcomes. The United Nations Development Programme indicates that one measure to enhance education quality is to ensure a student-teacher ratio of not more than 40:1, as recommended by the Education for All Fast Track. The government has embarked on a teachers recruitment drive to bridge the gap of pupil teacher ratio and student teacher ratio that currently stands at 58:1 and 37: 1 in primary schools and secondary schools, respectively.The minister adds that improving the quality of the education at all levels is the next area of focus as his ministry carries on to implement the 12-Year Basic Education programme, upgrade teachers’ skills and working conditions, as well as improving the relevance of learning knowledge based economy. The ministry also plans to expand access to quality Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) and to continue enhancing higher education quality, among others.Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia are home to a vast majority of children out of school with inequality thwarting progress towards universal free education. In Rwanda, primary enrolment has reached 91.7 percent (2010-2011) compared to 86.6 percent in 2005-2006, while the completion rate in primary school has increased from 51.7 percent in 2006 to 81 percent, largely due to the government’s decision to make primary education free and mandatory, backed by donor support and sensitisation to encourage parents to send children to school. Indicators also point out enhanced education quality as the pupil per qualified teacher ratio has decreased from 70:1 in 2006 to 58:1 in 2010/11. Dr Biruta says his ministry has not only reached the target for MDG 2 that centres on universal access to education, but they have also been able to attain the MDG 3 A, which rests on elimination of gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2015, as well as all levels of education not later than 2015.

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Ministry seeks to curb school drop-out rates