Compared to regional states including; Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, it is very important for schools to have at least two or three school vans for transporting students to and from schools.However, in Rwanda every day students risk waiting for commuter buses even at queer hours.
Igihe.com surveyed different schools around the city for reactions about why many schools havent acquired buses especially the boarding schools.
Lycée De Kigali is among the biggest government school in Rwanda which has a big number of students registered in both boarding and external sections but it is unfortunate that such school lack school buses.
Students of Lycée De Kigali plead with their school administration to work hand in hand with their parents so that they can jointly contribute to acquisition of school transport students to and from the campus.
Senior six students at the school say, it is very import for the school to have Vans for transporting. They believe that even if they are late they shouldnt be blamed. The say even if the wake very early, sometimes they wait for commuter taxis for long but vain.
The class captain says, it is difficult to reach home before 8PM because getting a taxi to head home is not easy because they gather at the taxi stopovers when they are many.
“I live in kanombe and have never slept before 11PM and make sure that by 5AM I am awake to make sure I’m not late for school. I always do that to avoid some difficulties with the security guards and other negative consequencies,” Explains the class captain Musoni John Bosco.
Just like John Bosco many students around the town face the same challenges of reaching home or at school late because they lack enough buses to take them.
Ms. Marry, … Dean of Students Lycée De Kigali, however argues that the school once arranged different buses of Onatracom to facilitate students transport but unfortunately this did not last long because many students wanted luxury taxis fitted with loud music and this made it difficult for school administration thus terminated the agreement with Onatracom because they were losing a lot of money.
She says the only bus for the school, facilitates mostly boarding students when they are sick, having different trips like going to engage in sports competition with other schools, students going for field studies and other activities that require school involvement.
She adds that the bus was bought in cooperation with parents but hastened to add that the school administration is working out a new mechanism with private transport companies to transport students because the school cannot manage to buy many buses as the students come from different locations.
The Dean of Studies explained that Students will be charged some fee per month in order to avoid the unnecessary inconveniencies like the students’ insecurity as well as late coming by many students which in the long-run affects their academic performances.
Parents are concerned about the risks of their daughters reaching home as late as 9PM but have no choice other than accepting the fact. Most parents who live in the areas of kanombe, Gikondo, Gisozi with children studying in the day section always have fear for their children’s security.
Mugabo Betty says she’s mother to three children, one of whom is in a boarding section while two are still in primary school but in a day section. They go to school and come back late in the evening and she is worried about their security at late hours.
Habimana Emmanuel is mostly late at work. He first takes his children to Kigali Parents school. He says he wakes very early at 6 oclock wait for them to prepare and later drives them to school and arrive at his office after 9 o’clock but regrets that if the school had enough school buses he wouldn’t bother taking them to school.
Many parents wonder whether the ministry of Education is doing something to help students.
Ruberwa Emile of the public relations at the ministry of Education said that before, the government never recognised the transport challenges. However, after seeing many students stranded on the streets they had to something.
Ruberwa says they started communicating to different administrators so that they can start collaborating with different private transporters in order to help in transporting students to their destinations at a fee that shall be agreed upon by the two parties.
He explained the fact that students are very many and the taxis are few, when he gave an example of cases where students were scattered everywhere because of the shortage of taxis but called for the parents to lend a hand to the school and pay transport fee that would be put in place by the school administrators.
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