Rwanda operates on a 6-3-3-4 system: 
- Primary School – 6 years (Elementary school)
- Junior Secondary School (Ordinary level) – 3 years
- Senior Secondary School (Advanced level) – 3 years
- University Bachelor’s degree – 4 years
Language: Kinyarwanda in primary school P1-P3 and English from P4 through University.
French is taught as an elective or a supplemental subject in public primary and secondary schools.
Junior Secondary School: Each year around 28,000 Rwandan students take the national secondary Education Ordinary Level test at the end of Junior Secondary School (ninth grade) in nine subjects. i.e. Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geography, English, Kinyarwanda, History and Entrepreneurship . If failed, a student can retake the third year of Junior Secondary or decide to join a private school, or join a technical school or if he/she cannot afford to pay for school he/she drops out.
Senior Secondary School: In Rwanda, there are 734 secondary
schools, so each year an estimated 13 000 students are enrolled in these schools. Many high schools in Rwanda are public boarding schools. However, there are other schools that are non-residential public schools where students attend classes on a daily basis.
Rwandan high school grading system can be compared with the U.S system as follows:
A = US A; B = US B+; C = US B; D = US C+; E = US C; F = US F; Subsidiary = P.
University Bachelor’s, graduate, certificate and diploma degrees. 
Around 44,000 students are enrolled in more than 26 nationally recognized universities each year. The University of Rwanda is the top ranking public university in Rwanda with 7 colleges. These include College of Arts and Humanities, College of Science and Technology, College of Business and Economics, College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, and College of Education. These students are enrolled in undergraduate, graduate, certificate and diploma programs.