Kigali — In an effort to beat the three month deadline to construct 3,172 classrooms required for the nine-year basic education programme, the Ministry of Education has enlisted services of Rwanda Defence Forces and the National Police to beat the deadline.

The classrooms are meant to accommodate students who will enrol for the programme which starts this academic year. The programme ensures that students do the six years of primary and the three years of secondary education at the same school.

The new education system was adopted to cut-down on the dropout rates. During a meeting with the national police, the Minister of Education Dr Charles Murigande said that they will also use the decentralisation system to effectively execute this project.

"We will not only use ministries but also districts and sector levels that are on the ground for effective implementation," he said.

Murigande said that the need to include various institutions in the construction process was a strategy devised to expedite the program. The minister reiterated that every Rwandan had to play a role if the construction was to be completed on time, before end of this year.

Projections made by the ministry put the total cost of the classrooms at Rwf 36bn with Rwf10bn readily available. State Minister for primary and secondary education Mathias Harebamungu revealed a programme assigning responsibilities from top government institutions to the grassroots, as a strategy to achieve this target in a cost effective manner.

"We want to include every Rwandan - even the school-going children have a role to play. The Rwanda Defence Forces [RDF] will be responsible for transport throughout the operations," he said.

RDF personnel over the weekend embarked on classroom construction in Kigabiro Sector in Rwamagana District, in support of the programme.