Teaching after a violent past: the secondary school history curriculum and a child’s right to education in present day Rwanda

The primary purpose of this thesis is to determine the impact the present history curriculum, taught in secondary schools in Rwanda, has on a child’s right to education. The thesis analyzes the teaching of history before the genocide, and the manner in which it contributed to the 1994 genocide. Thereafter, the national government placed a moratorium on the teaching of history, until 2006. Put under pressure by national and international non-governmental organizations, as well as by civil society organizations, President Paul Kagame’s government created a new history curriculum for secondary schools. This syllabus portrays pre-colonial Rwanda, post-independence Rwanda and the narrative of the 1994 genocide in a biased and one-sided manner. Consequently, this thesis determines that the curriculum violates a number of articles included within both the Convention of the Rights of the Child, and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. These are related to the freedom of expression, the best interests of the child, the right to education and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. However, the Rwandan Constitution, adopted in 2003, ascertains that the respect of these different rights is determined by Rwandan national law.