As a result of President Paul Kagame’s visit to the Witwatersrand University (Wits) in South-Africa , Rwanda and the university have partnered in promoting human capacity development in the education sector.  

While in South Africa , the President met with the Vice Chancellor of the University, Loyiso Nongxa, and the two agreed to champion cooperation between the university and the government of Rwanda in capacity building initiatives.

Education Minister, Daphrose Gahakwa, and the head of Wits School of Education, Mary Metcalfe, last Friday agreed on a joint project that will support the capacity of the ministry as well as its affiliated agencies. 

Gahakwa said that the ministry will now be able to build its capacity and that of their agencies.

"This is an opportunity for the Ministry of Education to take advantage of this relationship to implement the project in order to fill the existing capacity gaps that the ministry and its agencies are facing,” she said.

She also said that officials from the ministry and the agencies will gain from the short courses in the Education Policy and Planning.

"Wits is deeply committed to working with the people of Rwanda and will do whatever it takes, together with its partners, in supporting the development of education in Rwanda,” Metcalfe said. 

The University last week sent a team of professors to the country who met with various stakeholders in the education sector to build consensus on how to operate the project. 

Based on the discussions, it was agreed that Wits University will provide places in its Masters of Education course, Education Policy and Planning/School Leadership; e-learning and Adult Education, for officials in the Ministry of Education. 

It was also agreed that Wits will work closely with both senior and junior faculty members to support the goals of the Kigali Institute of Education in building research capacity. 

The Wits team which arrived in Rwanda on October 26 returned to South Africa on November 1.

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