Parents, Teachers In Rwanda Welcome Changes To School Calendar Year

Teachers and parents in Rwanda have welcomed changes to the school calendar, saying it will bring various benefits to learners.

The 2021/22 calendar for primary, secondary and TVET schools was released on September 3 and under the new calendar, the academic year will start on October 11, 2021, and end on July 15, 2022.

Among the benefits, students will be in holidays during the hot season.

Headmaster of Institut de Formation Apostolique de Kimihurura (IFAK), Father Jean Bosco Ntirenganya, said studying during the hot season affected the performance of learners, adding that teachers, and parents actually asked that the calendar be changed.

Teachers say that students lose concentration during hot weather, while boarding schools face water shortages.

Ntirenganya added that they are optimistic about the next academic year, due to the fact the previous one was disrupted by Covid-19 fiasco.

A primary teacher at Groupe Scolaire Kacyiru, Jolie Ladegonde Mukase, said that the calendar will allow pupils from lower primary and pre-primary school to have a little break before going back to school, since they are still studying. Their studies were interrupted by the previous lockdown.

Astéria Munganyinka, a parent, said that the calendar came at the right time, because she will have plenty of time to look for school fees, and better provide for her children.

However, she added there is still a problem of schools raising school fees, suggesting that there should be an intervention on this issue because as parents it becomes difficult.

A senior five students at Collège Saint André, Josias Ndamira, said that as students they will no longer encounter problems of too much fatigue or dust that could cause them diseases in the hot season.

Head Teacher of ADEGI GITUZA in Ngoma District, Gregoire Niragire, said that the new calendar will allow the government to properly plan, recruit and assign teachers to different schools where they are.