Premier cautions students against sugar-daddy affair

Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi has cautioned high school students against engaging in sexual relationships with older men or women, a phenomenon known as the sugar mummy/ daddy syndrome.Speaking on Sunday at the event to mark the 75th anniversary of Groupe Scolaire St Bernadette, the Gisagara District-based first girls-only school in the country, Habumuremyi said cross-generational sex is detrimental to the future of youngsters.The premier condemned sugar daddies and mummies, saying they tempt students into premature sexual relationships. “I am condemning the adults who induce these little girls into sexual practices, thus destroying their future,” the premier said, before warning that measures have been stepped up to counter the act.Habumuremyi said some ‘old men’ were behind some teenage pregnancies in schools and cautioned that the behaviour destroys the future of girls.He called upon local authorities to work together to ensure that the vice is wiped out of society.The premier also urged parents to follow up on their children when they are at school to keep guaranteeing that they remain disciplined and focus on their studies.Promoting girls’ educationGroupe Scolaire Ste Bernadette de Save was founded by the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa and was an exclusively girls facility until in 1992, when the boarding school started admitting male students. More than 4,000 students, majority of whom females, have graduated from the school in the last 75 years.Currently, the school has 751 students.The head of government commended the school for its role in promoting girls’ education since its inception in 1938. Sister Gregory Maria, 89, one of the school’s graduates, said scientific, spiritual and cultural skills that girls fetch from the school help them to contribute to the development of the country. Gregory, who joined the school in 1939, said it inspired her “to become a nun and a champion of girls’ education”.Senator Tito Rutaremara, who spoke on behalf of parents, thanked the school for its contribution to nurture the youth into custodians of Rwandan cultural values. The head teacher, Sister Immaculée Mukandori, said the school will continue churning out quality graduates who are ready to excel in life. She, however, said the school is faced with lack of modern equipment and enough means to build hostels to increase boys’ enrollment.

National

Premier cautions students against sugar-daddy affair