The GRCs training carried out in all 30 districts intended to equip the members of these committees with basic knowledge of their responsibilities and how effective they will partake in the conflicts resolutions that might emerge during classrooms and latrines construction procedures.

The Single Project Implementation Unity (SPIU) at Ministry of Education Coordinator, Mrs Nociata MUKAMURENZI, highlighted that MINEDUC organised the training to deliver basic knowledge and skills to the elected committees as means of putting in place decentralization of challenges solving at grassroots level in order to alleviate conflictual actions that may impede the successfulness of the project.

“We organized this training of Grievance Redress Committees countrywide to provide knowledge and skills on elected committees to allow them to accomplish their responsibilities by monitoring and resolving grievances of Project Affected People (PAPs) that may arise during or after the Project implementation. GRCs were put in place to enable decentralisation of complaints solving at the grassroots level, and provide a quick response to project affected people without spending their time and resources”. Nociata Expressed

Talking about his experience on the training, the Director of Education in Kicukiro district Jean Claude Munyantore expressed that the training clearly outlined the guidelines and responsibilities of the Grievance Redress Committees members, and it will enable them to reduce issues that may delay construction activities.

“Members of Grievance Redress Committees (GRCs) were not fully aware of this project, their roles as well as their expected results and I believe that as of now it is clear that they are aware of what they will be doing it will actually help us to solve simple conflictual issues that may impede the construction activities. We are grateful for this project as it will reduce long distances that our children are taking to reach schools as well as alleviating overclouding in classrooms”. He said.

Habimana Daniel who is charge of education in Nasho Sector in Kirehe District affirmed that the GRCs training came in time as it upheld them to deeply understand their roles and even were able to differentiate their responsibilities with those ones of technical committees.

“Normally, we build schools with the support of Ministry of Education through Rwanda Education Board and our district but there was no specific committee in charge of solving disputes and issues that might emerge during construction. We only had technical committees that are entitled to follow up construction activities on daily basis, we believe that residents living around the construction sites will benefit more from these committees as it will be an easy channel through which they will report their cases”. Daniel noted.

The Rwanda Quality Basic Education for Human Capital Development Project financed by World Bank is on top of projects that are implemented by The Rwanda Ministry of Education whose development objective is improving teacher competency, student retention and learning in Basic Education in Rwanda in a bid to improve Rwandan students learning and progression in basic education. The Project seeks to supports the ongoing government’s program to phase out double-shift, and reduce class overcrowding, which is currently the highest priority. Additionally, it will replace existing overage substandard primary classrooms, kitchens and sanitation facilities and expand access to pre-primary education (pre-school classrooms) to improve pupil’s school readiness. It is expected that the project will build 11,000 furnished classrooms and 14,680 latrines in five years which is 50 percent of the required school infrastructure as currently the country need 22,000 classrooms countrywide.

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