Mining sector set to get a boost thanks to a Technical and Vocational Training and Education (TVET) school that is in final stages of construction in Rulindo District.

It is expected to train many people in the mining sector.

According to officials from the Workforce Development Authority (WDA), the new TVET school will be inaugurated in March with the first intake of trainees.

Speaking to The New Times last Friday, Jerome Gasana, WDA director general, said the school would help transform artisanal mining to modern techniques, professionalise the sector.

"Our wish is to improve mining activities, people still use manual and rudimentary materials while others die in mines as a result of poor mining methods, and some minerals get lost in the process. We want mining to be done professionally,” said Gasana.

"We want to ensure that miners are trained and do geological tests before undertaking the activity. We will start with training those who are in the profession already to ensure that every miner has a certificate but the programme is designed to offer formal training, the youth who want to join mining school can join,” he added.

He explained that the school will mainly target training people who completed O-Level as it would be complementing the school of geology, which is at Integrated Polytechnics Regional Centre (IPRC) Kigali.

Those already in the profession would undergo short course training.

"We are finalising the curriculum in collaboration with mining association and the ministry in charge of mining,” he noted.

Gasana said that the school was constructed in Masoro Sector, which is a mining zone.

Prosper Mulindwa, the Rulindo vice mayor in charge of finance and economic affairs, said the school would help modernise the mining sector and boost incomes.

"We expect to get skilled graduates who will practice professional mining unlike the current artisanal mining, which is less productive and is prone to accidents,” he said.

"The mining school will help the local population, especially the youth, acquire hands-on skills so they can do the job professionally unlike currently where the task is carried out by expats and locals earn peanuts yet they use more energy,” he said.

The mining school is being constructed at the same time with other TVET schools in Muhanga and Nyabihu districts of Southern and Western provinces, respectively, each costing about Rwf3bilion. Construction of the two other schools is also ongoing, according to Gasana.

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