The Ministry of Education yesterday released the first draft on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy that will govern the use of ICT in the country’s education sector.

The draft was developed with assistance from the Jordanian Education Initiative (JEI) and was funded by Global Education Alliance (GEA).

"The major aim for this draft is to guide ICT implementation in the education sector which will be promoted in schools from primary level up to institutions of higher learning,” said Claver Yisa, the acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education.  

The draft whose design was launched last November outlines the ministry’s ICT strategy from 2008-2020.

According to Yisa, while they were preparing the draft, MINEDUC consulted different experts in the ICT industry.

"ICT will provide a better option in preparing the education curriculum and other programmes needed in the education sector such as students accessing their results online,” he added.

Recently, the Rwanda National Education Council (RNEC) announced that results for the national examinations for 2008 which are expected to be out before the end of this month will be accessed electronically.

Promoting and giving special attention to ICT is one of the main objectives of the global education sector policy which was launched officially in 2003 by the Global Education Alliance.

GEA chose Jordanian Education Initiative to help developing countries excel in the education sector using ICT, and Rwanda was first choice in the region.

According to Dr. Osama Obeidat the representative of the JEI, Rwanda is copping very fast.

"We started our work in November but what we have achieved is a lot and we hope to achieve more,” Dr. Osama said.

"ICT is the way forward for both developing and the developed countries in formulating education policies, it’s the only way a country can excel and achieve development,” he added.

According to the draft, MINEDUC’s vision seeks to transform Rwanda into a middle-income country by the year 2020 but might not succeed unless Rwanda moves from being a subsistence agricultural economy to a knowledge-based one.

The objective of the ICT sub-sector is to promote investment and the growth of the ICT industry. Efforts are being made to widen access to ICT among the population and to promote ICT for e-Governance, education and capacity building in the private sector. 

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