Historian Says Education Policies Helped Prepare Youth for Genocide

Kigali, August 12, 2026 - Historian and Genocide against the Tutsi survivor Francois Xavier Ngarambe said education policies under Rwanda's First and Second Republics were used to promote discrimination and ethnic hatred before the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Speaking around International Youth Day, Ngarambe said Tutsi students faced years of restricted access to education and scholarships. He cited 1973, when Hutu students expelled and in some cases killed Tutsi classmates, as evidence that ethnic divisions had deeply penetrated schools.

He said the government later incorporated ideological teaching into the education system, including programs linked to the ruling MRND party's worldview. He also pointed to education reforms approved in 1979 and implemented from 1981 that limited access to secondary education and directed many primary-school graduates toward rural vocational programs.

Ngarambe argued that history and civic education were used to portray Tutsi as enemies and prepare Hutu youth for confrontation. The remarks underscore Rwanda's continuing focus on genocide ideology, civic education and historical memory as matters of national cohesion.