The Ministryof Education (MINEDUC) is considering a loan scheme for needy students in secondary schools and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.

Albert Nsengiyumva, the state minister in charge of TVET, announced this, yesterday, during a workshop organised by the Workforce Development Authority (WDA) in conjunction with the World Bank in Kigali.

Represented at the meeting were public institutions, development partners, NGOs, international experts, private sector, micro-finance institutions, and schools.

Participants discussed how best to tackle TVET financing, which is still a hurdle to its development, especially in agri-business and mining sectors.

The scheme, which could be unveiled by 2017, is intended to give chance to poor students and attract more of them into vocational training to boost national employment programme as well as the government’s job-creation agenda, according to the minister.

"The same way university students benefit from the student loan scheme, we are considering a similar model for secondary and vocational schools where the most vulnerable will get a chance to study. There are students who cannot afford the fees,” he said.

According to the director of planning at WDA, Desire Nimpano, infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges to TVET development.

He said, for example, building one polytechnic centre takes at least Rwf8 billion and a TVET institute Rwf3 billion.

Funding mechanism

The budget allocated to TVET rose from Rwf4 billion in 2010 to Rwf60 billion in 2013 but the external financing is decreasing, meaning there is need for domestic financing, officials said.

There are 365 TVET schools, of which 239 or 60 per cent are private.

Nimpano said the traditional mindset of undermining TVET and poverty are still among the challenges to be addressed, adding there is need to address financing mechanisms.

Nsengiyumva called on the private sector to embrace TVET funding.

"We look to the sector to reduce poverty through the national employment programme. We expect that out of 10 people to get jobs, seven of them wll come from TVET,” the minister said, stressing the need  to improve quality of training.

Among other proposed financing mechanisms include unconventional financing approach such as community-based homegrown solutions, donor financing approach, comprehensive private sector mobilisation as well as having production units or departments in TVET schools to meet budget gaps.

Jean Pierre Uwizeye, director of programmes at the Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR), said they hope to work closely with schools on financing as well as encourage students to start early saving.

"We support the loan scheme for poor students in TVET and we are encouraging our institutions such as Urwego Opportunity Bank to initiate loan schemes for secondary students. There should not be fears about repayment as the students, through our support, will get jobs after studying and then repay the loan,” he said.

Carolyn Turk, the World Bank country manager, said they have provided more than $30 million since 2012 in rehabilitation of TVET centres, improving curriculum as well as capacity building training.

"The support is to build the future of Rwanda. Mining and agribusiness are some critical sectors in poverty reduction that must be supported by TVET,” she said, adding that government needs to prepare different financing models for that.

The ministry said seven schools in tourism and construction sectors were built in collaboration with the World Bank and the partnership is expanding to cover other areas such as agri-business and mining.