19,000 Children in Western Province Returned to School in One Year

 

More than 19,000 children have been returned to school through the efforts of the youth and women’s leagues affiliated with the FPR-Inkotanyi party.

This comes after members of these leagues recognized that school dropout among children leads to problems such as street life, poverty, and teenage pregnancy. They therefore intensified efforts to identify and reintegrate children who had left school, successfully returning more than 19,000 children to education.

These achievements were highlighted during the General Assembly of the Youth League affiliated with FPR-Inkotanyi, held in Karongi, one day after the General Assembly of the Women’s League of the same party.

The assemblies took place at a time when a 2025 study revealed that the rate of teenage pregnancy had increased from 5% in 2020 to 8% in 2025.

The Commissioner for Women’s Development in FPR-Inkotanyi and Senator in Parliament, Mureshyankwano Marie Rose, said the study also showed that girls who are not educated are more likely to become pregnant than those who attend school.

She stated:
“Among girls who become pregnant, 23% are uneducated, 14% completed primary school, and 4% completed secondary school. We urge the youth to encourage all children to study.”

Tuyisenge Verenne said that some of the reasons children drop out of school include family conflicts and lack of school materials.

She said:
“There are many achievements we, as youth, must preserve. Schools have been built. What we are going to do first as youth is to identify children who are not studying and help remove the obstacles forcing them out of school so they can return and study in a safe environment.”

The head of the Youth League affiliated with FPR-Inkotanyi in the Western Province, Dushimimana Innocent, said that during the past 11 months of the current fiscal year, they carried out several activities, including campaigns encouraging young people to save money, which led more than 400 youths to open bank accounts in financial institutions.

The youth also planted more than 38,300 agroforestry and fruit trees to combat soil erosion, protect the environment, and fight malnutrition and stunting.

To improve the welfare of residents in the Western Province, these young men and women built 1,812 toilets and renovated 314 houses belonging to vulnerable families.

In efforts to fight street life and school dropout, they returned 2,195 children to school. Combined with the 16,872 children reintegrated into school by the Women’s League affiliated with FPR-Inkotanyi, the total number of children returned to school reached 19,067.

The Western Province has a youth population of 754,345 people aged between 16 and 30.