Two separate but related events took place between Friday and Sunday, both underlining the government’s continued interest in raising the profile and quality of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes in the country.

The Friday event saw the laying of the building blocks for a Rwf3.6 billion TVET complex in Kigali’s Kicukiro District which will serve as an ultramodern training centre for vocational and technical instructors in several aspects, covering both pedagogical and technical skill areas. 

And then, on Sunday, the Foreign affairs minister and her visiting Zambian counterpart inked a bilateral deal under which Rwanda will receive English language teachers from the Southern African nation who will be deployed in TVET institutions to help raise the level of English proficiency in vocational training centres, technical schools and polytechnics across the country.

Both developments speak a lot about the importance the government attaches to TVET programmes and will reposition this form of education in a way that will make it more competitive and attractive to society, especially parents and schoolchildren.

The move is consistent with the recent trend whereby Government and development partners have increasingly provided more funding for the sub-sector, which has gone into installation of key TVET infrastructure across the country, such as Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centres (IPRCs), acquisition of state-of-the-art training equipment; introduction of new technical courses and building stronger synergies between training institutions and the industry, among others.

However, TVET infrastructure should not be allowed to lie idle, rather there should be a deliberate effort to make every penny spent count.

One way to achieve that is to ensure that TVET schools have access to adequate qualified instructors (both in technical and pedagogical skills) and their curricula are regularly reviewed – in collaboration with the private sector – with view to keep them responsive to the needs of the labour market. That’s why the move to improve English proficiency and the construction of a teacher training institute is commendable.

These strategic investments will raise the profile of TVET among Rwandans, and subsequently help deliver on the ultimate goals of promoting this competency-based, hands-on education system: skills, jobs, entrepreneurial acumen and economic growth.