Detained in Rwanda

Here is the strange case of an international teacher in Rwanda that has been rumbling on – I’ll be using no names and I’ll be making no judgement.

Who: Teacher is a 65year old male, no family in the country and no health insurance.

The accusation: This teacher was accused of “deleting teaching materials, students work, students’ letters of recommendation”

Timeline Part 1 - tenuous:

9^th November 2021 – The teacher was fired by the school

15^th November 2021 – Teacher was rehired by the school

31^st January 2022 – Teacher was dismissed by the school

4^th February 2022 – Teacher filed a labour dispute with the Inspector General

Timeline Part 2 - tenuous:

1^st March 2022 – Inspector General determine the Teacher had a legitimate case and forwarded to the Labour Court & charges were filed against the teacher

31^st July 2022 – At Midnight civil suit is filed against the teacher for $10,000

Timeline Part 3 - tenuous:

1^st August 2022 – Criminal trail begins, civil suit is presented as part of the case

29^th August 2022 – Teacher is sentenced to 3 years in prison, 2 years suspended and a $2000 fine

29^th August 2022 – Civil suit is dismissed

Points raised by the Attorney in the Trail:

Why was the teacher rehired and never questioned during their employment?

Where was the evidence of malicious intent?

Other people had access to the laptop

Other teachers’ thoughts:

“Some schools can be as vindictive as teachers”

“Why would a teacher return to a school that fired him?”

“Lots of missing pieces to this story”

“The school will have an impossible time holding on to people”

Board Response

The school has reframed from issuing statements during an ongoing trail

The teacher in question received a three-year suspended sentence and a $2010 fine

The teacher is not in prison

The teacher can leave Rwanda as soon as the fine is paid

FAQ – from the School:

The Teacher filed legal actions the day after resigning without notice and then claimed unfair dismissal.

3000 files were deleted as a result it was considered a cyber and data crime.

The school has recovered the files.

The teacher was not fired on the spot