A week before the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year due on 11 September, the Ministry of Education announces that the school fees are going to increase.
The rise in school fees will start with the forthcoming first term scheduled on 11 September
In order to harmonize school fee payment, Janvière Ndirahisha, Minister of Education, says the fee for the boarding-school system is now fixed at BIF 15,000 per term. For a day-school system, each student has to pay BIF 7,000 each term.
For boarding schools, students used to pay BIF 9,000 while for day-schools, they used to pay BIF 3,000 each term. However, it depends on schools; some parents say school fees varied between BIF 9,000 and 12,000.
The Minister says school fees represent parents’ contribution to the schooling of their children and are collected by schools at the beginning of the term.
Concerning the costs of constructing new classrooms or other school needs, Janvière Ndirahisha says the headmasters must work with school management committees and local administration to develop appropriate strategies for mobilizing required funds.
However, parents complain about the decision. “We fear that headmasters may also increase the fees given that school fees were fixed differently depending upon schools”, says Edouard Masabo, the chairman of the association of parents and students. He urges the Ministry of Education to follow closely the implementation of the decision.
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