ECOLE FRANCOPHONE DE KIGALI

The Ecole Francophone Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (EFASE) has more than 660 students from Grade 000 to final year of High School. They come from around fifteen nationalities and live in an airy, green and well-maintained environment located in the heart of Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda.

EFASE is in Kigali, the only local legal school that prepares French, nationals and other countries students to obtain the Diplôme National du Brevet (DNB) “O” Level and the Baccalaureat “A” Level. It provides the teaching programs of the French National Education and in accordance with its values ​​and requirements, promotes exchange and broadening to others.

Since 2010, the year of its reopening, the preschool, primary and Junior Secondary School sections have been receiving direct instruction while the pupils of the Senior High School section have been following the courses from the Centre National d’Education à Distance (CNED) in organized classes.

With teachers from numerous origins, with various professional experiences and dedicated to the cohesion of the educational community, EFASE’s essential goal is to contribute to the training of responsible individuals and citizens and to promote the acquisition of knowledge and skills included in the programs of the French educational system.

History of EFASE

The school has a long history in Kigali. It was founded in 1973, and until 1994 it appears on the list of French Schools abroad and benefits from the support of the Agence pour l’Enseignement Français à l’Etranger (AEFE). Closed from 1994 to 1998, the buildings will be ceded to the French authorities out of will of the pupils’ parents anxious to keep their children in the French educational system.

In 1998, with the financial support of the French Embassy in Kigali, it reopened its doors and named itself “International School UBUCUTI” (friendship), name which will be abandoned in 2003 to take up that of Ecole Française Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Following the breakdown of diplomatic relations between Rwanda and France, it will be closed again in 2006.
In 2009, France and Rwanda re-established diplomatic relations and the school reopened in September 2010 with 229 students, 80% of them were Rwandans. The main objective of the organization which therefore ensures its management is the intellectual, moral and physical education of children going to the school.

In 2017, the name of the school changed from Ecole Française Antoine de Saint-Exupéry to Ecole Francophone Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (EFASE). Subsequently, the enrollment has continued to grow to reach the number of 660 pupils at the start of the 2022-2023 marked by the re-agreement which initiated the great return of the establishment to the network of French schools abroad (AEFE).This dynamism symbolizes the vitality that the French language  and French-speaking cultures have found in Rwanda for several years.