It has been shown that armed conflict in Rwanda had a strong negative impact on schooling.
Huge gaps remain, however, in our understanding of its heterogeneous effects across subgroups
and the underlying mechanisms. Relying on population census data, we show that – in contrast to
previous findings - there is no leveling off, i.e. the negative impact is not stronger for non-poor
and boys. We further demonstrate that slower grade progression as well as increased drop-outs
explain the drop in primary schooling, while the drop in secondary schooling is driven by a
decline in school initiation. Finally, our results reveal a spatial mismatch between communelevel
genocide intensity and the drop in schooling. We test for several confounding factors - prewar
regional trends in schooling, migration, selective killings, and post-war assistance to
genocide survivors - but find that none of these factors can fully account for the mismatch. We
conjecture that the impact of armed conflict on schooling in Rwanda was nationwide, both
because the disruption caused by the genocide was felt in every corner of the country and
because - besides the genocide - other forms of violence took place in Rwanda in the nineties.