Rwanda scraps tuition for public primary schools

 The Ministry of Education has on September 14, announced a new harmonized structure of tuition fees in pre-primary, primary, and secondary levels of education for public, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), and government-aided schools.

Starting with the academic year 2022-2023, parents will no longer pay school fees for students in pre-primary and primary, however, they will contribute Rwf975 for school feeding programme.

Whereas parents will pay Rwf19,500 for day-scholar students in public and government-aided secondary schools, and Rwf85,000 for students in boarding schools.

For instance, according to a statement from Lycee de Kigali that entailed school fees of the first term of 2022-2023 academic year, a day scholar student in A’level will now pay Rwf19,500 instead of Rwf86,000 they had stipulated and Rwf85,000 instead of Rwf128,000 for boarding students.

MINEDUC also indicated that when necessary and upon parents’ approval, a contribution for other school needs shall not exceed Rwf7,000.

“For schools that rent mattresses as bedding requirement, they are permitted to charge only new students Rwf9,000 once in three years for replacement purposes,” it added.

Valentine Uwamariya, Minister of Education, said the move to harmonize school fees across all public and government-aided school fees was made to have an equitable structure and support parents with limited means.

“There were no school fees guidelines set before. This caused some schools to charge more, others less, and in some cases, others demanded unnecessary contributions from parents,” she said.

She pointed at regular contributions to construct some school facilities, fences, and mattresses, among others, “which may be necessary for the school but not to be handled by parents.”

The changes, according to her, come after studies were conducted in different schools in light of the current cost of living. “We found that at most 60 percent of contributions requested from parents was spent on foodstuffs,” Uwamariya noted.

“There are certain cases where some schools used to charge fees less than these new directives, they are encouraged to keep it that way. However, they are warned against neglecting the quality of food or education they provide,” she added.

While announcing the fee structure, Uwamariya indicated that private schools will continue charging fees in accordance with inputs from parents’ general assembly.

The changes in the Rwandan education system come after the latest 88 percent salary increment for primary teachers with A2 and a 40 percent increase for secondary teachers.

This means a primary teacher will receive a net pay of Rwf108,488 up from Rwf57,639 while most of secondary teachers with degrees (A0) now receive Rwf246,384 up from Rwf176,189.

story by Alice Kagina

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Man tackled after rushing at Queen’s coffin at Westminster Hall

Police have arrested a man who attempted to grab at the Queen‘s coffin – in an incident which left mourners stunned.

Officers tackled the man to the floor during the jaw-dropping incident, which took place around 10pm at Westminster Hall on Friday.

It is believed the man pushed through a queue of mourners, among them a seven-year-old girl, rushed up to coffin and tried to lift the royal standard. He is then thought to have put his hands on the Queen’s casket.

The Queen has been lying in state at Westminster Hall since Wednesday, when her coffin was brought from Buckingham Palace to the historic venue to allow people to come and pay their respects.

Hundreds of thousands of respectful mourners are thought to have passed through the hall in the last two days, despite queues times stretching up to 24 hours.

But mourners were left visibly shocked during Friday night’s incident – which took place just hours after King Charles and his family held a vigil in honour of the Queen.

Alongside siblings Anne, Andrew and Edward, the newly crowned monarch stood guard beside his mother’s coffin.

Last night, one witness who saw the incident told MailOnline how a mourner ‘screamed’ when she saw the man running at the coffin.

The witness said: ‘We saw him (the man) in the queue from the beginning of the queue and throughout the day, he was by himself.

‘When we entered the room we were at the top of the stairs when we saw the incident. A lady screamed as it happened it was quite unnerving. Although he was detained and people kept calm and carried on.’

Another witness Tracey Holland, whose seven-year-old niece, Darcy, was pushed aside by the man as he rushed at the coffin, last night described the incident.

She said: ‘A person decided they were going to push my seven-year-old niece out the way, run up to the coffin, lift up the standard and try to do I don’t know what. She was grabbed out the way and the police had him within two seconds.

Ms Holland added: (It was) terrible, absolutely terrible, so disrespectful and unbelievable – and this poor little seven-year-old child, this is her lasting memory of the Queen.’

The Metropolitan Police last night confirmed that a man had been arrested on suspicion of a public order offence.

A video grab posted to Twitter shows the moment of the incident at Westminster Hall. Police officers are tackling the man, circled, as he lifts the Royal Standard off the Queen’s coffin

A spokesperson for the force said: ‘At 10pm on Friday 16 September officers from the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command detained a man in Westminster Hall following a disturbance.

‘He was arrested for an offence under the Public Order Act and is currently in custody.’

A spokesperson for the the UK Parliament, said last night: ‘We’re aware of an incident in Westminster Hall, in which a member of the public moved out of the queue and towards the Catafalque.

‘They have now been removed from the Hall and the queue restarted.’

The Queen lying in state at Westminster Hall has been covered via a live stream on the BBC 24-hours a day since the coffin arrived at the venue on Wednesday.

But the cameras, which are delayed for around 30 seconds, quickly cut away from the coffin around 10pm on Friday, instead showing a moving image of the outside of the Palace of Westminster. The cameras did not turn back to the casket for around 15 minutes, at which point the Royal Standard appeared to have been moved.

One mourner who witnessed the incident, last night told The Sun: ‘It happened so fast. Someone got up to the coffin, grabbed the flag and pulled it upwards.

The mourner, who did not wish to be named, described members of the public ‘hysterically crying’ and ‘shaking’ after the incident.

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Harry and Meghan have been ‘uninvited to state reception at Palace’

 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were ‘uninvited’ to a state reception for world leaders and foreign royals tomorrow evening, it was reported last night.

It is thought the couple received an invitation to the event, hosted by King Charles and the Queen Consort, earlier in the week.

But Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are now unlikely to attend after officials at Buckingham Palace insisted the reception was for working royals only, it is understood.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (pictured with Prince William, Prince of Wales, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Catherine, Princess of Wales on Wednesday) were ‘uninvited’ to a state reception for world leaders and foreign royals tomorrow evening, it was reported last night

Photos captured a poignant moment for the Duke of Sussex (left with the Duchess of Sussex right) as he held his head in his hand, shielding his eyes, and looked down as the Queen’s coffin was moved inside the Palace of Westminster

William, Kate, Harry and Meghan walk into the Palace of Westminster for a service on Wednesday

US President Joe Biden, French president Emmanuel Macron and the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau are among the heads of states who will arrive in London this weekend to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday.

World leaders, ambassadors and foreign royals will attend a reception at the Palace where they will also be greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

The confusion over Harry and Meghan’s invitation points to issues with communication between the Californian-based couple and the Royal Family, according to the Daily Telegraph.

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