Rwanda: Report by Ambassador Daniel Barekayo

School year cancelled due to coronavirus

The coronavirus, commonly known as COVID-19, has just appeared and has already turned the world upside down. Although not all countries are affected in the same way, it takes a lot of time and effort to repair all the damage it causes.

In Rwanda, the first person to suffer from COVID-19 was registered on 14 March 2020. To prevent the pandemic from spreading, a lockdown was imposed throughout the country until 30 April 2020. As the number of people infected increased overnight, the Government Council had to extend the containment measures until 15 May 2020. To reactivate normal life in the country during this two-week period, the lockdown measures were relaxed. As a result, many activities will return to normal, while respecting all measures prescribed by the Ministry of Health, such as social distance, hand care with soap and water, wearing protective masks, etc. The focus remains on homework and the use of the Internet to reduce the risk of infection. The number of people contaminated is currently around 400.

Nevertheless, schools and churches are still closed. Schools at all levels are not expected to reopen until September 2020, which means that this school year will be cancelled for kindergarten, primary and secondary students in Rwanda. They had not yet completed a third of the school year.
It is not yet known how this period of 5 months can be managed by teachers, students and pupils, should COVID-19 stop devastating people’s lives before September 2020.

This pandemic will have very serious consequences in several areas. A thorough study must be carried out to assess its scale.

Barekayo Daniel

GPENreformation Ambassador
Rwanda