A thirteen-member Rwandan delegation left for Singapore on Tuesday for a two-week capacity building programme in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system.

TVET is an internationally recommended hands-on practical training approach which integrates all education systems, specifically the technical and vocational aspects.

Relatively new in Rwanda, the system forms the core of tasks the Government handed to Rwanda Workforce Development Authority (WDA), a new institution that seeks to borrow a leaf from their Singaporean counter-parts.

The delegation that left for Singapore is composed of people from public and private institutions which are involved with TVET activities in one way or another.

Led by Deo Harorimana, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) Deputy CEO in charge of Human Capital and Institutional Development, the team includes officials from the Ministry of Education; the Ministry of Public Service and Labour and the WDA.

Others are from Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC) Kigali City; IPRC Southern Province; Rwanda Hotel and Restaurant Association; as well as Rwanda Tour Agency Association.

"The objective of the programme is to ensure that WDA staff members and stakeholders understand the linkages and importance of workforce development with the different components of TVET framework by understudying a fully functional framework in a third country,” WDA Director General Chong Fook Yen, told The New Times.

The mission was jointly organized by the Government of Rwanda and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE), which recently struck a deal with the government to upgrade services in various sectors of the economy.

The programme is expected to equip TVET school managers and administrators with skills and knowledge to manage and implement new TVET curricula in reformed TVET schools.

At the same time, private training providers will learn how to implement training within their industry environment. The delegation is expected back on April 9.

The mission comes hot on the heels of Kivu National Leadership Retreat which called for fast-tracking of skills development in the country, and tasked WDA in particular to urgently roll-out its training programmes.

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