AN ONLINE career guidance system is set to be rolled out in all secondary schools countrywide.

The Rwanda Career Planning System, according to Kuder, the organisation that developed it, is currently operational in 130 secondary schools across the country.

The development was announced at the Rwanda career guidance summit in Kigali yesterday. The meeting provided an opportunity for policymakers, educators, and leading experts to assess the nation’s progress in establishing a formal framework to support Rwandan students’ career development.

The country director of Kuder, Paul Birungi Masterjerb, said career guidance system is a countrywide talent pipeline that can align achievement of education to career goals.

The major objective of the initiative is to help students choose what they like, plan for education, plan for work and find a job.

"Doing a wrong career can result in persistent exhaustions. This system was designed to avoid such loss. It helps children start thinking about future career, especially from senior one giving them the career orientation by following steps in the system to choose a combination to follow based on their inner ability and link them to the relevant careers. Over 30,000 students are using the system now and more than 21,000 assessments have been completed by users,” he said.

Birungi added that they believe career guidance would decrease unemployment and underemployment in the country thanks to the way it links users to human resource offices of companies related to their careers of interest.

The State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Isaac Munyakazi, said career guidance is vital to the development of skilled human capital needed to contribute to national economic transformation.

System already helping students

Deborah Uwase Bella, a senior three student at ENDP Karubanda, Huye District, said that she has already chosen her career, thanks to Kuder system.

"When I logged into the system to take assessments, it helped me to explore occupations, prepare for job search, and to search for higher education and financial aid option. Before entering the system, I thought I would study subject combination leading to medicine course but my choice changed after following the steps of self-assessment through the programme. I found myself oriented to engineering, and I’m really satisfied with the choice I made,” she said.

Diane Uwamahirwe, an agriculture and rural development student at University of Kibungo, said many students are victims of learning their parents’ dream-jobs course when it does not match their ability.

When both parents and students log in the system they can work together and orient students in the right career based on their capacity and aspirations, she said.

"I dreamed of becoming a doctor but my parents told me to study agriculture. I don’t think I made a bad choice but I think I could have been more successful if I followed my dream career,” Uwamahirwe said.

Soeur Helene, the head teacher of Lycee Notre Dame de Citeaux, said the system is helpful for students as it gives a very credible career orientation guide and when students learn what they really love it can contribute to future career success.

However, she said that since the system requires stable and fast internet, the ministry and other stakeholders should work on increasing internet connectivity in schools to make this programme beneficial to all students.

For over 75 years, Kuder has helped nearly 165 million students and adults worldwide to pursue their dreams Kuder started working in Rwanda on career guidance in 2014.

Under the theme, "Bridging Education to Economic Development through Career Guidance,” yesterday’s forum sought to explore ways in which cross-sector partnerships can bring about improvements to skilled human capital, streamline the pathways from education to careers, and ultimately form a Rwandan workforce equipped to compete in the global economy.

Participants were drawn from the public and private sectors, including those working in schools and universities, while careers advisors, employers, and players with an interest in developing and sustaining Rwanda’s national talent pipeline also attended.

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