The Downsides of Dominance

Since the end of the 1994 genocide, Rwanda’s government has charted an audacious development project aimed at social and economic transformation. Formal education has featured prominently in this project. It has introduced policies to improve enrolment at the primary and secondary level. But recent evidence has shown that many students failed to meet basic reading and arithmetic standards. Dropout, repetition, completion, and transition rates have not fared well. Given the ruling party’s commitment to delivering development, why has it not introduced reforms that have improved educational standards? This chapter draws from policy analysis and fieldwork across two districts to explore the interaction between Rwanda’s political settlement and the education policy domain, to shed light on its surprising inability to improve learning. This failure is surprising because the Rwandan political elite has demonstrated both capacity and willingness to undertake and implement reforms it has deemed necessary to deliver development in other sectors.