The government of Rwanda has secured a whopping US $80m from the Indian Export and Import Bank (EXIM bank) to construct 10 specialized Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) schools across the country.
Jonah Kwikiriza, the Acting Coordinator of the Single Project Implementation Unit at Workforce Development Authority (WDA) confirmed the reports and said they are finalizing the plans with the government to break ground for the construction.
According to the Acting Coordinator, the development is part of an effort to have at least 60% of students who complete ordinary level of high school join vocational education. The target had previously been set for 2018, but it was later revised to 2024 due to lack of enough infrastructure and teaching staff among other constraints.
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Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) schools
He further affirmed that WDA, have already mapped out where the facilities will be built based on different criteria among which included access to water sources, electricity, road infrastructure.
The development project which will be built 10 districts will o involves construction of four new incubation centres. WDA have organised three different trades (combinations) per school whereby each trade will have two different streams, and every stream will accommodate a minimum 30 students, meaning at least 180 students per school with standard practical workshops.
“Districts have different market demands and raw materials, so it was a better way to come up with an initiative which has an impact on society using hands-on skills. Under this project, we shall let the teachers, together with all officials concerned, shortlist the disciplines to be particularly taught in their areas and we will compare with the priority centres and decide,” said Kwikiriza.
Currently, there are 5,200 teachers in vocational schools across the country and 2,026 have completed specialized training in different disciplines.
