Refugee students demonstrate, subjected to police dispersal, ring-leaders arrested

{There was an intense ruckus this morning forcing police to fire live bullets in air as Groupe Scolaire Kageyo students in Gicumbi district went on rampage, stormed streets and demonstrated calling upon concerned authorities to reinstate their teachers, saying the current breed is a bunch of incompetent people claiming to be teachers. }

A majority of the demonstrating students are from Gihembe refugee camp who say that capable teachers were sacked for demanding a reasonable pay and were replaced by incompetent ones. Last week, IGIHE reported about the 17 teachers at Groupe Scolaire Kageyo who resigned their jobs after failing to secure a salary they had agreed upon with their employers.

The teachers had been transferred to the school with 500 students from a school of Gihembe camp.

The head of Groupe Scolaire Kageyo Anastase Kamizikunze, has told IGIHE that they suspect the seventeen resigned teachers to have incited students into the demonstrations.

“They have come to my office this morning saying that the newly recruited teachers are incompetent .We suspect that those teachers who left may have incited students’ action,” he said.

Kamizikunze explained that security personnel rushed to the scene of demonstrations and requested students to engage school administration in dialogue but they (students) instead threw stones to police, forcing them to fire two bullets in the air to disperse the crowd.

Some students suspected to be the ring-leaders of the strike have been arrested while others have been sent back to the refugee camp.

Kamizikunze says demonstrators have also broken window glasses of school classrooms. Students who did not participate in the strike have continued with their studies.

Teachers who resigned last week would be paid Rwf 25,000 by Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) during the time they taught from Gihembe refugee camp.

Arriving at Groupe Scolaire Kageyo, they requested salary increase to be paid as other teachers they found at Kageyo but ADRA appealed to them to continue offering the service and funds are available, which they declined.

The 17 teachers then sent a resignation letter, Wednesday last week which compelled ADRA to look for their replacement that have accepted the Rwf 25,000 salary.