Rising Gas Prices Threaten Adoption of Clean Energy in Rwandan Schools

The Rwanda Ministry of Education has revealed, the use of gas for cooking in schools is being constrained by its increasing prices, which is making it difficult to adopt use of this clean energy.

Some school head teachers who spoke to The New Times also expressed concern that though the use of cooking gas has advantages, including hygiene in the kitchen and ease of work, its cost is prohibitive.

Currently a 12-kilogramme cooking gas cylinder costs at least Rwf18, 500, an increase of about a half, compared to Rwf12, 600 in 2020.

“During the construction of kitchens [in line with expanding school feeding programme last year], cooking gas use was piloted in 30 schools, but as you all know, the price [of gas] increased these days,” Education Minister, Valentine Uwamariya told lawmakers during budget hearing last week, while responding to their proposal to use gas with aim to cut firewood consumption in schools.

Pascal Sindahabo, head teacher at G.S. Ndera, located in Gasabo District, Kigali, told The New Times that the school was still using firewood to cook for its 2,856 pupils and students from nursery to secondary, indicating that the high cost of gas hindered its plans to adopt this clean cooking fuel.

He indicated that the estimates the school made last year, even before the gas prices shot up, suggested that it would be spending twice as much on cooking if it used gas compared to firewood.

“We spend Rwf600, 000 on firewood for cooking per term (three months), and that cost would rise to Rwf1.2 million if we switched to cooking gas,” he said, underscoring that firewood consumption was bad for the environment and hygiene.