Gender in School Leadership

Some key findings from the overview of gender-disaggregated education statistics are:

• GIR for Primary 6 have increased, both for males and females, showing that more children finish primary education.  There is no gender imbalance at this level.
  

• NIRs remain much lower than GIRs, meaning that there are many over-aged and under-aged children in the education system.   To achieve the universal target of 100% GER, more strategies and plans should be elaborated to ensure the smooth transition of students to secondary level (so that over-aged children do not remain in primary). Moreover, a recommendation is that parents should be sensitized to send their children on time to the Nursery level.  This would enable children to be school-ready to join the primary level at the appropriate age.

• Transition rates for primary to secondary education are lower than those from lower secondary to upper secondary education.  This means that the transition from primary to secondary education remains the main barrier for learners, where most drop-outs take place.  Transition rates are slightly higher for boys than for girls.

• Dropout rates in primary and secondary education are similar for boys and girls.  However, dropout for younger boys tends to disrupt their education and contributes to over-ageing, whereas dropout for girls more often represents the end point in their education (UNICEF & MINEDUC, 2017). 

• Despite recent declines, repetition remains a major issue in Rwanda’s education system.  By Primary 6, 85% of children in the education system have repeated at least once (UNICEF & MINEDUC, 2017).  A key characteristic of Rwandan classrooms in primary and secondary school is high age‐variation within grades.  High age‐variation within grades inevitably affects class dynamics and the quality of teaching.  At primary ages, girls are less likely to repeat than boys, a difference that reverses in secondary education.
  

• GER in secondary and tertiary education are much lower than for primary education.  Strong differences between gross and net rates point to many learners that are not at the right level according to their age level, due to late entry, temporary drop-out or repetition.  Enrolment and intake rates at secondary level are gender balanced, but at tertiary level, there are still more males than females who enrol.

• Data on the percentage of women age 15-19 years old who have begun childbearing according to their education level show that the higher their level of education, the lower the number who have begun childbearing in their teens.