Founded in 2011, Crimson Academy is one of the highest performing schools in Kamonyi District on National Exams. The school is located in Kagina Cell, Runda Sector, Kamonyi District in the southern Province of Rwanda. Dr Phillip Haynes, The Executive Director of Crimson Foundation which owns the school, chose to build it in the cell where live the families categorised as historically marginalised groups Rwanda.
Many years ago, families of those categorised as historically marginalised made a living through rudimental pottery, hunting and entertaining people in ceremonies through their exceptional dance moves. But as time went by, those past activities lost their appeal thus compelling them to resort to farming and animal husbandry in a society where land was scarce and precious. Due to limited access to land coupled with societal negligence, the historically marginalised found themselves between a rock and a hard place forcing many to sink deeper into poverty.
The school founder along with the Head Mistress Marie Claire, PTA, Kominyi and Sector leaders wanted to empower communities to thrive with increased access to quality educational practitioners and facilities, the priority was those families of those categorised as historically marginalised groups, who could not afford school fees and materials.
Since then, School leaders encouraged the community to bring their children to Crimson Academy and they started studying together with others from families that could afford school fees, materials and school buses facilities for those who come a bit far from the school.
Crimson Academy was established with the aim of providing quality education for underserved populations. The school began with four classrooms educating 181 students. At that time, the school had no water nor electricity but worked tirelessly with community members to educate students. Since the school's inception, Crimson Academy has grown and now has two full streams from Primary 1 through Primary 6 including nursery. The campus now has 15 classrooms, a library and computer lab. Some of the services the school offers now include transportation feeding, soccer, karate, and gymnastic programs. All facilities are equipped with water and electricity thanks to US donors and Rwandan municipality leaders.
Crimson Academy has a long track record of helping students matriculate to top secondary schools within the country. The school has been the top performing primary school in the Southern Province for 10 consecutive years based on national exam results. The graduates have attended some of the best secondary schools in the country.
Marie Claire Mukabirinda, the Head Mistress, stated that their hardworking and the quality of education provided by the school, can be well explained by the outcome.
"Recently in 2022, sixty five percent of P6 students who took the national exam scored perfect marks. Another thirty two percent scored within three points of perfect marks. This is the best our students have performed thanks to the dedication for the teachers, parents and students. All P6 students were placed in secondary boarding schools".
Elizabeth Nyirabucyeye was one of the first students of Crimson Academy, and she is now a teacher in the same school. She praises the leadership of Crimson that enabled her to be successful while she was hopeless.
"Some of us could not afford the fees and materials but the school helped a lot. I have now a brighter future, thanks to the education I got from my school and I am now committed to serve it as teacher using the basic skills they gave me. Being both a student and later a teacher in the same school make me proud, but also motivate my students"
Crimson Foundation is committed to increasing access to quality education in marginalized regions and populations around the globe. The target areas of development are located in East Africa, Central America, and Southeast Asia. More specifically, they have existing projects in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Nicaragua.
