Private school representation decries the order to follow public school regulations

François Ngeze, the President of UPEP

François Ngeze, the president of the national Association of Private Schools (known by its French acronym UPEP), decries the measure by the ministry of education requiring those schools to abide by the same regulations concerning post-basic school placement as public schools. He argues that if private schools admit in the first year of Post-Basic School only those who have passed the National Test of Placement and Certification as the law says, they will have no students coming to register. “When the government deliberates on the passing scores in national tests, they base their decision on the places available in public schools. They don’t consider the places available in private schools. That’s why today, our school are almost empty”, he says.

He says that the representation of private schools has requested the ministry of education to allow the admission into the first year of Post-Basic School pupils who succeeded in regular class exams but failed the national test.

“That’s how we used to do it with pupils who had failed the 6th grade national test. And many of them are in the different layers of the government institutions, and they perform even better that those who had succeeded the national test”, he claims.

But Janvière Ndirahisha, the Minister of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research, has been crystal clear on that matter: “Private schools are on the national land. They have to abide by the law of the land”. She has warned that those who will not follow the regulations will see the repercussions when the time of doing the national test opening their way to higher education comes. “We will check whether the pupil will have passed the 9th or 10th grade national test to be allowed to sit for the post-basic education test. There will be no explanation whatsoever for anyone who will be found to not meet the requirements”, the Minister explained.

Independent schools have, however, some special permission. For example, while 9th and 10 grade pupils who failed the national test in public schools with a score below 90 won’t be allowed to attend school anymore, their counterparts in private schools have the right to repeat the year. “If they have places in their schools, they can let their pupils repeat the year. It’s all about the availability of places”, said Ndirahisha.