MTN Rwanda has partnered with 21 schools from across the country to enable parents pay school fees using the telecom’s mobile money platform. 

Norman Munyampundu, the MTN general manager for business, said the new service enables parents to transfer school dues from their mobile money wallets directly into the schools’ bank accounts in real time.

"This will save parents time and money involved in physically-going to pay tuition in banks,” Munyampundu said while launching the service yesterday at MTN head offices in Kigali.

"We are also removing the inconvenience of parents having to wait in queues at banks,” he added.

To pay school fees using the service, one dials *182# and chooses the ‘Pay Bill’ option, then selects their school from a list of the 21 partner schools.

The schools registered on the payment service will have unique pin and identification numbers for each student, Munyampundu added.

The sender receives notification messages on their phones when a transfer is made.

"We have also provided the schools with a reliable interface to be able to monitor all transactions,” he noted, adding that more schools would be included on the platform soon.

Theogen Kayumba, the director of Information Communication Technology (ICT) at the Ministry of Education, commended the initiative, noting that MTN was integrating the use of ICT platforms in the education sector.

"Not only is this fees payment facility another important milestone, but other initiatives by MTN, like setting up of computer labs in schools under the MTN Foundation, help improve the quality of education in schools. MTN’s investment in education for all has had a significant impact in Rwanda,” he said.

business@newtimes.co.rw