Itorero taskforce chairman Boniface Rucagu
Students who have completed secondary school will go for a seven-month national service, according to the chairman of the National Taskforce of Itorero ry’igihugu, the a civic education coordination body.
According to Itorero taskforce boss Boniface Rucagu, the service will depend on the available need of either the country, or the respective areas where those students reside.
“The national service will not replace the normal civic education programme for secondary leavers (Ingando). These will continue and during ingando, the students will sign Imihigo (performance contracts) and these will guide the kind of service they will do,” said Rucagu.
He said that the first batch of students to go for national service are those that will complete their studies at the end of this academic year, which will come to end in November.
According to Rucagu, the kind of activities will mainly be outlined by local authorities but insisted that these activities will have to be beneficial to the entire nation.
He highlighted that the nature of the work to be done by the students will necessarily not be physical, saying that they can also use their acquired knowledge to contribute towards nation building.
Students have been enlisted for national duty before, having previously worked to support the national literacy campaign, where they have been engaged in adult education campaign, which has significantly contributed towards the improvement of the number of people who can read and write in the country.