The Ministry of Education Rwanda has announced that the percentage of students completing primary and secondary education without repeating classes increased to 15% between 2019 and 2024, up from 11% recorded between 2015 and 2020.
The figures were presented on Monday, March 30, 2026, during the launch of the State of Education Conference 2026, a forum aimed at assessing the state of education in the country.
The data follows a report released by the Ministry of Education in May 2025 indicating that school dropout rates decreased to 4.7% in the 2023/2024 academic year, down from 6.8% recorded in the 2022/2023 academic year.
According to the report, between 2015 and 2020, only 11% of all students managed to complete the full 12 years of basic education without repeating a class, from Primary One through Senior Six.
The statistics show that many students have struggled to finish their education on time due to various factors including repeating classes, dropping out of school and other challenges.
Despite these difficulties, the latest report indicates improvement, with the percentage of students completing their studies without repeating rising to 15% between 2019 and 2024.
However, the report also highlights a significant decline in the number of students completing primary school without repeating. Between 2015 and 2020, about 96% of students completed the six years of primary education without repeating a class.
In contrast, the 2023/2024 academic year recorded a sharp drop, with only 48% of students completing primary school without repeating.
At the secondary level, the report shows that students completing secondary education without repeating averaged about 54% between 2016 and 2021. This figure later dropped to 43% in the 2023/2024 academic year.
