School Background
Collège Saint Jean Nyarusange is a private secondary school of Kabgayi Diocese. It is located in Southern Province, Muhanga District, Nyarusange Sector; at 70 Km from Kigali, the Capital City, at 13 Km from Muhanga Municipality, beside the main road towards the West. College Saint Jean was founded on 3 February 1997, 3 years after the tragic events of Genocide perpetrated against tutsi in 1994 that our Country has known.
Its founder is father Jean Baptiste Ripoll, a Dei Donum missionary from Spain. During that time, he was the Parish Priest of Nyarusange.
College Saint Jean Nyarusange was given the mission of providing quality education to young people which was defined as education for all and for the whole human being in accordance with the Catholic Faith. This mission is expressed in the school motto“Avoir ou Etre?”, literary means “to have or to be?”. Three orientations were defined and are still the masterpiece of the education delivered in our school.
Intellectual education: The main activity in College Saint Jean Nyarusange is delivering skills and competences through teaching and learning activity. To achieve this goal, College Saint Jean has always targeted to recruit quality professional teachers in terms of skills and good behavior. The students are also argued to focus on studying as their first responsibility. For this main purpose, College Saint Jean has tried her best to avail necessary materials for teachers and students as well. On this point, College Saint Jean Nyarusange has attained an admirable progress which qualifies it to be among the best private secondary schools in the country, and thus its popularity.
Discipline education: College Saint Jean Nyarusange has the honor to be a school of good discipline. This is known in the whole country, even abroad. “school of good discipline” does not mean full of perfectionists, as if College Saint Jean accommodates angelic students. A school of good discipline does not mean that we have come to the end of our mission. A school of good discipline gets the meaning from its foundation’s protocol, how the school has been managed in her past days and how the school is keeping up her spirit. In its beginning, College Saint Jean Nyarusange was founded as a school for good discipline: the definition of the code of conduct with its rules and regulations was ever clear. Each activity is planned in its time and at its place: the right thing in the right time, at the right place. This program has been implemented faithfully by directors, administrators, teachers, students, parents… A school of good discipline is our pride, but it is also our challenge and responsibility, to keep up the driving spirit of our school.
Spiritual education: College Saint Jean Nyarusange is a catholic founded school. It means that the driving spirit of the school in the totality of its components is catholic. Since its beginning, College Saint Jean has watched over her character and vocation. The course of religion is very important and it is taught in all classes.
We always celebrate sacraments; especially the Eucharist and we have some catholic community prayers as it is scheduled on the timetable of the school. Although, College is a Catholic school it does not mean that it is a school for only Catholics. In college Saint Jean, we have students from other religious groups and as a catholic institution; we respect the principle of difference of Faith. We grant the students time to pray in their respective denominations. In addition, college Saint Jean has always promoted quality education pertaining good community integration where all the students are invited to live in harmony, working together and respecting each other. College Saint Jean is also acting as a family where students are like children at home. In that way, educators have always assumed the responsibility of parents looking after their kids and caring for them.
The historical background of College Saint Jean Nyarusange also looks at the extension of her infrastructures, developmental programs and personnel development and the number of the students. Like many other institutions, College Saint Jean Nyarusange, in her beginnings had enormous difficulties faced, including the lack of sufficient and suitable infrastructures, especially dormitory, classrooms, Main Hall, sports fields, water sanitation; qualified personnel, etc. As time went by, years succeeded, through the cost of untiring joint work of Kabgayi Diocese, leaders of college Saint Jean, staff members, parents, students, unestimated goodness of benefactors mainly MANOS UNIDAS from Spain and God’ blessing. College Saint Jean Nyarusange has acquired adequate infrastructures. College Saint Jean has enough classrooms, dining hall, dormitories both for boys and girls, main Hall, water pumping machine, playgrounds. We are now working on the extension of the property of the school and promoting some agricultural projects like animal rearing, poultry, cuniculture and olericulture, in the way of self-reliance.
Concerning academic developmental programs, College Saint Jean Nyarusange opened with three promotions of ordinary Level and one year later, the section of languages for three years. In 2001, the section of languages was removed and replaced with the section of human sciences which was in 2009 changed into combination of HEG (History-Economy- Geography), according to the new denomination. In the same year 2009, College Saint Jean Nyarusange started a new combination of Science MCB (Mathematics- Chemistry – Biology), two years later, in 2011, another new science combination of PCB (Physic- Chemistry-Biology). In 2016, College Saint Jean Nyarusange got a new combination of MCE (Mathematics-Computer Science - Economics).
About, the personnel, over the 20 past years, College Saint Jean Nyarusange has known 10 head teachers. Hereby, we give off some presentations and details about them.
1. Mr. KOMEZA Jean Baptiste was the first head teacher of College Saint Jean Nyarusange . He worked the early months of the beginning of our College. He served from February to June 1997, for only 3 months. He died in a road accident in Muhanga.
2. Mr. HABYARIMANA Landourd was the second Head teacher of College Saint Jean Nyarusange. He served from July to September 1997, for only two months.
3. Sister Patricia Emilia Quijano Garcia was the third Head teacher of College Saint Jean Nyarusange. She served from July 1998 to February 1999, for only 7 months.
4. Mr. RUBAYIZA Gerard was the fourth Head teacher of College Saint Jean Nyarusange. He served from March to July 1999, for only four months.
5. Mr. NIYOMWUNGERI Jean was the fifth Head teacher of College Saint Jean Nyarusange. He worked from 1999 to 2000, for one year.
6. Mr. MUGENZIWIMANA Christopher was the sixth Head teacher of College Saint Jean Nyarusange. He worked from 2001 to 2002. For one year also.
7. Father BIMENYIMANA Benoît was the seventh Head teacher of College Saint Jean Nyarusange. He exercised his postoral work from 2003 to 2004.
8. Father UWAMAHORO Wellars was the eighth Head teacher of College Saint Jean Nyarusange. He exercised his postoral work from 2004 to 2007.
9. Father SIBOMANA Oswald was the ninth Head teacher of College Saint Jean Nyarusange. He exercised his postoral work from 2007 to 2014.
10. Father NZAYISENGA Jean Claude is the tenth and current Head teacher of College Saint Jean Nyarusange. He is in service from June 2014.
The number of staff members and non-staff workers has also increased gradually, from 10 teachers and 8 workers in 1997 to 38 teachers and 40 workers in 2017.
The number of students has also known a spectacular increment from 163 students in 1997 to 887 students in 2017. The maximum number of the students that College Saint Jean has known is 1016 in 2013. With this overview, we get an idea of what College Saint Jean de Nyarusange is, about its location and its background. From this illustration, we understand how far College Saint Jean Nyarusange has come, her birth circumstances, with the instability in its leadership, especially during the early years and its fertile development from the year 2004. Therefore, we take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to the almighty God for his uncountable blessings and extend our thanksgiving to all people, closer or far, who played every single role for the benefit of our beloved School, College Saint Jean Nyarusange.
Father Jean-Claude NZAYISENGA
Director
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