3. An Overview of Government Administration and Education in Rwanda

The government administrative structure in Rwanda is tiered and hierarchical and reaches down to the smallest community units. Control is exerted from the top down, and there are expectations for all levels to report on how they are delivering desired government services and achieving desired government outcomes.

The country is divided into 4 provinces plus Kigali, which are split into ever smaller administrative units; Districts, Sectors, Cells and Villages. At village level, the smallest unit, there is a council and a village head. Although the system is designed to decentralise power and promote active citizenship, there is still an expectation from central government to deliver on key targets and Districts must report annually on their successes and failures. With this tiered structure, local administrations are good at mobilizing local communities.

Education is delivered in part by government which is free to users. But a significant proportion of the population pay for education. What is paid varies considerably, with the price dependent on both the quality of education and facilities provided and by the buying power of the community served. Roughly 5% of primary children attend private schools, but paying for education is considered a norm in Rwandan society. If families can afford to, they will choose to pay for it in the hope of bettering the futures of their children. Government schools tend to be underfunded and overcrowded.

The importance of nursery and pre-primary education has recently been recognised by the government and pre-primary teachers are now on the government payroll in government schools. These teachers used to be paid directly by the parents. The country is playing catch up training pre primary teachers, but there are still many unqualified teachers working in these year groups.

ECDs (Early Childhood Development Centres) can be categorised into: Model ECD, School based ECD, Community based ECD and Home-based ECD. The latter 2 are much less likely to have qualified teachers running them. Home-based ECDs are usually run by parents in villages who have either been nominated by the community or have volunteered for the job. They are likely to be poorly paid or unpaid, and will have limited knowledge of child development. The Government in it’s recently published standards for Home-based ECDs calls upon partners for support in providing training for Home-based ECD providers.

In many families where both parents work, childcare will be provided by a maid. Maids are often badly paid and poorly educated. They are often responsible for the majority of the care of very young children including their feeding, but have very little knowledge and understanding of nutrition and child development.