Youth in Rwanda death from HIV/AIDS have left over 95,000 Rwandan children and youth orphaned. Prior to colonization, the Rwandan education system was unstructured. German colonized the country but was quickly replaced by Belgium who redefined many Rwandan systems including education. Catholic missionaries who had arrived in Rwanda earlier than German colonizers had set up some missionary schools to educate Rwandan youth and the Belgian colonizers continued to allow the Church to do educational work. Belgium created schools of their own between 1923 and 1925 but all were closed before 1929. Belgium instead gained indirect control over missionary schools. When Rwanda gained independence
Youth in Rwanda in 1962, the new government implemented free and obligatory primary education and kept the colonial system of education intact. Today, the Ministry of Education oversees all public education programs in the country and works "to transform the Rwandese citizen into skilled human capital for socio-economic development of the country by ensuring equitable access to quality education focusing on combating illiteracy, promotion of science and technology, critical thinking and positive values." After 1994, public services had to be recreated and re-imagined to work towards the new goals and ideals of Rwanda. The public pre-primary to secondary education system in Rwanda is