LIST OF
ACCRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
ACE: Australian College of Educators
CRESST: Centre for Research on Evaluation, Standards &
Student Testing (USA)
EFA: Education for All
MINECOFIN: Ministère des
Finances et de la Plannification Economique [it was formerly called
« Ministère de l'Economie et des Finances i.e. Ministry
of Economy and Finance» (today's «Ministry of Finance and
Economic Planning»)
MOE: Ministry of Education
NCES: National Center for Education Statistics (Australia)
RNEC: Rwanda National Examinations
Council
PRSP: Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
TV: Television
UPE: Universal Primary Education
WASC: West African School Certificate
CHAPTER
ONE
PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE
1.1. Background to the Study
Education is the primary agent of transformation towards
sustainable development. It increases people's capacities to transform their
visions for society into reality. All countries strive for quality education
for their sustainable development. The government of Rwanda, like any other
African country, considers education as a fundamental human right and an
essential means to ensure that all Rwandans realize their full potentials. It
places special emphasis on basic education as a priority area within the
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) because of the strong correlation
between education and improved economic opportunities, better life and fewer
children (family planning), especially for girls. [Ministry of Finance and
Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), 2005:40].
The Government of Rwanda cannot satisfy educational needs of
its increasing population, so the private sector also plays a great role in
educational development by creating schools known as private schools which
operate at all levels of education from the nursery to the tertiary and enroll
a good number of people. In the past, the historical growth in enrolment was
largely a public sector phenomenon, involving schools financed almost entirely
by the government and managed either by the government itself or, in the case
of private subsidized schools, by churches and other organizations. (World
Bank, 2004: 32).
At any education level, the quality of education depends upon
several factors such as: school facilities, teachers' qualifications, teachers'
motivation, management and administration, etc. In other words, a quality
school is a school where: pupils respect their peers, their teachers and their
school management; have a voice in decision-making, are interested and engaged
in their learning; accept responsibility; receive feedback and encouragement
from their teachers and feel valued. In addition, teachers work together and
share ideas, feel valued and are given support to be innovative, employ
teaching strategies that are varied and personalized to meet the needs of all
learners. Others are that administrative and support staff work as valued
partners with principals and teachers to ensure that students are supported in
their learning and that school systems work effectively to support teaching and
learning.
The school as a whole is committed to continuous improvement
and forms learning partnerships within and beyond the school. It develops plans
and targets that address its goals, seeks feedback on its performance, uses
data to reflect on its outcomes, reports openly and honestly and celebrates its
achievements. It is known that an individual's quality of life and the well
being of the society depend on the quality of education. Pupils' performance in
primary leaving examinations will greatly depend on the quality of education
that pupils have gained in school.
The key concepts in this study are that nature of schools
(independent variable) which is conceptualized in terms of two categories;
public and private schools and performance of pupils (dependent variable)
conceptualized in terms of score in assessment test given to pupils' national
examinations.
Parents or guardians are always trying to make the best
decisions for their children and their future. They often have to choose
whether to send their children to private school or keep them in public
schools. Parents will have one or more factors that concern them. According to
the National Center for Education Statistics [NCES] (2002), when looking at
public or private schools, number of factors comes into play which include;
Academic reputation and college preparation; School size and Class size; Safety
reputation; Special programs; Costs; Religious and Moral instruction; Location
and Ideology.
Public schools offer a general program, designed for all while
private schools have the flexibility to create specialized programs for
learners. For example, private schools may use art or science in all classes,
or take children on outdoor trips. They can create their own curriculum and
assessment systems, although they also respect the general program of the
Ministry of Education.
In Rwanda, at many aspects private subsidized schools do not
differ significantly from public schools in that, public education is education
given to the children of the general public by the government, at national,
regional, or local, and from the kindergarten through to the university levels.
Public education is inclusive, both in its treatment and admission of students.
Public education is often organized and operated to be a deliberate model of
the civil community in which it functions. It is not a mistake to say that
private subsidized schools respond to public education. The differences found
there do not have significant impact on pupils' academic performance. They are
about the recruitment of management staff, the type of religion to study, some
additional funding from the religious congregation that founded the school.
While they share many characteristics in common: public and private subsidized
schools get the same funding from the government in accordance with their
respective enrolment, their teachers are paid by the government, they have the
same obligations to enroll all children without any discrimination etc. In this
study, these two types of schools will be considered alike under the same term
«public education» and «public school».
Admissions into public and private subsidized schools are by
social demand. So to enroll in a public school or private subsidized school
parents simply register children by filling out the necessary forms. Public
schools and private subsidized schools must accept any resident pupils who
apply for admission, regardless of sex, race, religious affiliation, economic
status or physical or mental handicap; while private schools are not obligated
by any laws regarding admission. Therefore, private school admission is
competitive. Also, private schools are not required to provide educational
programs for children with special needs. Private schools are also under no
obligation to keep a student enrolled. If a child's behavior disrupts the
school's milieu, they can be discontinued. Another scenario to keep in mind is
that if a child's academic progress is not acceptable, they may be discontinued
as well.
According to Rwanda National Examinations Council, (RNEC)
2009, prior to the period 1994, certification and selection to high levels of
learning were based mainly on schools' internal assessments which were
characterized by subjectivity towards ethnicity, regionalism, nepotism,
favoritism and total corruption. This was followed with a law no. 14/1985 of
29th June 1985 concerning primary integrated rural trade and secondary
education which was: Emphasizing exclusivity and not competence based on
individual performance.
One of the challenges of the Government of national unity
(Government set after 1994 genocide) was to establish a body that would
eradicate at all costs all forms of discrimination in education system and
establish on objective, fair, and transparent system in which the main
indicator for equity in education system is the individual performance level
and the right of choice to any school or institution in Rwanda. It is for this
reason that the Rwanda National Examinations Council was created by the
Presidential Decree of 01/05/2003.
Since the RNEC was created, the comparison between public and
private primary schools shows that pupils of private primary schools tend to
perform better than their counterparts of public and/or private subsidized
schools. The RNEC has a culture of celebrating excellent performance of pupils
in the top ten positions in final examinations and for the case of PLE, almost
all the top ten come from private primary schools. This became an issue concern
to the researcher and it prompted a research on the effect of the nature of
primary school on pupils' academic performance in Gasabo District.
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