Education authorities in Rwanda have announced that the upcoming academic year will bring several changes, including students in the lower primary level starting classes at 8:00 AM, and the merging of certain subject combinations in secondary schools to align with core subject areas.
These changes will begin in the 2025–2026 academic year. They include adjustments to the current science combinations, whereby students enrolled in more than two related combinations will be grouped together and taught in a unified stream.
The Deputy Director General of Rwanda Education Board (REB), Mutezigaju Flora, presented these changes. She stated that students who were previously enrolled in MCB (Mathematics, Chemistry, and Biology), PCB (Physics, Chemistry, and Biology), and PCM (Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics) will now be grouped under the Mathematics and Science – Stream 1.
As for those who studied other combinations such as MEG (Mathematics, Economics, and Geography), MCE (Mathematics, Chemistry, and Economics), MPC (Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry), and MPG (Mathematics, Physics, and Geography), they will now be grouped under Mathematics and Science – Stream 2.
Meanwhile, students who studied combinations like HGLE (History, Geography, and Literature in English) and HLP (History, Literature, and Psychology) will now follow a new stream titled Arts in Humanities.
There are also changes for those who studied language combinations, such as LEFK (Literature in English, French, and Kinyarwanda), or the English, French, and Kiswahili combination. These will now be merged under a single language stream that includes Kinyarwanda, English, French, and Kiswahili, which will be taught together.
Major Reforms in School Schedules
In addition to these structural changes in secondary school combinations, the next school year will also introduce a new starting time of 8:00 AM for students in the lower primary level.
Mutezigaju Flora explained that shifting the start time was a response to challenges observed in some schools regarding limited learning time.
She said: “This is a major reform, driven by feedback we received from teachers who told us, ‘The curriculum is far too long for children to complete, not even close.’” She added: “We realized that many schools operate in what we call a double shift, and with double shifts, it is impossible to cover 40 periods in a week or eight per day.”
She further explained that when students study in two shifts a day, they typically receive about 25 periods per week, or five periods per day.
She stated: “So, in order for students to receive three and a half hours of learning time per day, when should they begin? We found that to achieve this, students in this level must begin at 8:00 AM and finish at 11:40 AM, while the next group will start at 1:10 PM and end at 4:50 PM.”
Education authorities say these changes aim to enhance the quality of education, which still requires significant improvement due to persistent challenges in the sector, which remains a key pillar of the country’s development.
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