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Thesis

French

ID: <

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/6869

>

Where these data come from
Development and diversification of private education in sub-Saharan Africa: private education in Rwanda
Disciplines

Abstract

In sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of a few territories that were occupied very early by France, private education preceded public education. During the colonial period, public education was born and the two education sectors cohabited. Their collaboration and complementarity depended on colonial power policies, international texts and the Catholic Church’s position on education. Overall, private education has grown more than public education. With independence, the new authorities opted for the development of public education. In some countries, private schools were nationalised, in others they were integrated into public education or acquired the status of subsidised free schools. With these policies, public education was more developed. However, with the economic crisis of the 80s, the World Bank and other donors imposed school reforms on these countries requiring state disengagement through liberalisation, privatisation and decentralisation of education, reduction of costs per pupil and transfer of funding from higher education to lower levels. As a result of this disengagement, there was an explosion and diversification of private initiatives in education. For Rwanda, its education system has evolved in a context similar to that of African countries in southern Sahara. The peculiarity was that the very close collaboration between the colonial power (Belgium) and the Catholic Church meant that during this period the Catholic Church provided education almost as a decision-maker. On the eve of independence, education was almost exclusively deprived with the predominance of Catholic schools. With independence, primary education was nationalised and secondary schools were transformed into public schools. Education was thus seen as a case of the Church and the State. As in other African countries, Rwanda has experienced the economic crisis and has been forced to reduce its engagement in education. The first agreements were signed in 1990. These were suspended in 1993 and resumed in 1998. As a result of these requirements, in the state’s school network, which had loopholes and was described as unfair, private educational initiatives exploded and diversified. Seculars, either in association or in a personal capacity, have embarked on the Rwandan school field. Religious faiths that had the possibility to set up schools in the context of subsidised schools also created purely private schools. Islam, which had long been absent from the Rwandan school field, appeared. Even local administrative entities have started up in this school enterprise. Programmes for private students in public educational institutions have been introduced. The evening schools were set up. Foreign universities have invaded the Rwandan school field. Each actor officially aimed at contributing to the development of education. However, there were other motivations behind this speech. Although private education has grown quantitatively, quality poses problems. With the exception of primary schools and small Catholic seminars, the percentage of success in State exams is lower than that of schools in the State network. This appears to be, among other things, the effect of education policy for the recruitment of pupils, which at each end of the cycle makes a screening by assigning good pupils to schools in the state network leaving the rest for the private sector.

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