Rwandan authorities are set to carry out mass coronavirus tests on children in primary and secondary schools as classes are expected to resume next week, a senior official from the ministry of Education told APA on Wednesday.
It is expected that all students in primary four and secondary
students from senior one, two, and four will resume their studies on November 23, after other levels resumed on November 2.
Since last October, Rwandan officials resolved that schools will reopen gradually depending on the level of education.
According to the academic calendar, upper primary from primary five to primary six, secondary school candidate classes from senior three and six, TVET schools from level three to level five, and TTCs students from year one to year three will be the first to return to school on November 2, 2020 and end on April 2, 2021.
Students will break for the holiday of term two from April 3, 2021 to April 15, 2021, for two weeks.
For term three on the academic year calendar 2020/2021, upper primary from primary four to primary six will commence on April 19, 2021, meaning it will run for only 12 weeks.
“The ministry of education is carrying out mass testing in schools and to all levels of students that resumed studies on November 2. The tests are conducted to ensure the safety of students that have already resumed,” Dr. Valentine Uwamariya, Minister of Education said.
In line with instructions by the ministry of health and education guidelines, in the case of many Covid-19 cases detection in a school, the administration will be advised to halt receiving of students and fight to normalize the situation in the school.
CU/as/APA