The Minister of Education, Eugene Mutimura, yesterday appeared before the Senate where he provided a status briefing on where government is in implementing the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme.  

Mutimura told the senators that government has made strides and the target to have at least 60 per cent of students completing ordinary level of high school (Senior Three) joining TVET by 2024.

"Our target is not only students completing Senior Three, we are expanding the scope of eligible students and we feel that the number of students, the institutes hosting them, and the capacity will continue to rise,” he said.

To encourage more students to join TVET, Mutimura said that all efforts were being put into building state-of-the art institutes that are equipped with modern infrastructure which will give students a glimpse into what awaits them upon graduation.

Practical training

Mutimura told senators that the institutions were being supported to move from complete dependence to self-sustenance.

"You cannot continue thinking about financing all the time, instead there should be innovation and sustainability of these schools so that they can sustain themselves.

"For instance, the Mpanga TVET has different activities which include packaging wine bottles for their French client,  the Musanze College is actively working with the Chinese and others,” he said.

Incubation centers

Senate vice president Jean d’Arc Gakuba reminded underlines the value of incubation centres and why there was need to continue promoting them.

"There was a time when incubation centres were being talked about more often. I even saw one in Masaka. They have the potential to help our youth to create their own jobs,” she said.

Senator Chrysologue Karangwa pointed out the need to push more children to the incubation centres from the time they are young.

"The Government’s TVET policy is great and the strides that have been made in that area are commendable but we need to promote incubation centres where children can get permanent training,” he said.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com