Adrien aspires to achieve

RUBINGO, Rwanda - Adrien Dukunda is in his final year of secondary school. He is the head boy at his school, known among peers for his high marks and active participation in the school community. If you ask him what his plans are after graduating, he will smile shyly and tell you about his love of economics, and how he wants to attend university. “I want to be a leader,” he says.

In 2008, the Government of Rwanda made history when they signed a new law providing tuition-free secondary education for all Rwandans. For the first time, young people like Adrien enthusiastically set ambitious goals for themselves and have the optimism to believe that their goals could be reached.

Unfortunately, the future is not as bright for Adrien’s eight brothers and sisters. “We were not able to afford school fees for our first eight children, so they could only finish primary school,” says Anasthase Zimurinda, Adrien’s father.

The youngest of the nine children, Adrien is the only one who will complete secondary school. Adrien’s siblings are all unemployed, and because Adrien is the only one to attend secondary school, he is the only member of his family who speaks English.

“My wife and I never attended school, and we do not know how to read and write,” says Anasthase.

Policy changes such as tuition-free secondary school have led to nearly 98 per cent access to education in Rwanda. When the Government signed the tuition-free law in 2008, communities and parents complemented government efforts by uniting to build new classrooms and schools. This resulted in the construction of over 3,150 new classrooms in just six months, exponentially increasing the amount of infrastructure to support the new policy.

UNICEF Rwanda is one of the Government’s main partners in the education sector, and continues to contribute significant technical and financial resources to ensuring that all children can access education and achieve their full potential.

Adrien is sure that free education has given his life a new and positive direction. “Secondary education is very important. It helps alleviate problems that youth are facing,” he says. “When girls and boys are occupied with school, they are not concerned with other behaviours that can lead to drug addiction or early pregnancies.”

Sitting side-by-side, Adrien and his father smile and discuss what Adrien will accomplish when he graduates secondary school. Some of Adrien’s siblings linger outside, idle and unemployed. “When more people are educated, everyone benefits,” says Adrien’s father.

"Leadership is my talent, and education allows me to develop it. I think all children should have this opportunity."