Rwanda Polytechnic (RP) in partnership with Rwanda TVET Board (RTB), Education Development Center (EDC) and the MasterCard Foundation will create The BRITE program (Building Resilience in TVET Through E-Learning), an e-learning platform for TVET students and trainers.

The e- learning materials that were launched on Thursday October 21, will benefit more than 4,000 students, all 8 IPRCs and 16 TVET schools from across the country.

The first part of the materials include audio tools that help students transform their acquired skills to employability skills, the second set provides reinforcement to TVET educators in integrating e-learning, and the third set prepares the students for industrial attachment and also serves as self-learning materials to  students.

Presiding over the launch of the program, Claudette Irere, State Minister in charge of ICT and TVET praised the program saying it will help many students.

"Due to Covid-19, TVET schools declined the most because they always learn practical work and they had no way to e-learn, unlike other school programs, so a platform like this will tremendously help the students even more now that they have resumed classes,” She said.

Irere added that the ministry is committed to finding solutions to the shortage of materials, internet and challenges that most TVET schools have in accessing e-learning, and smart classrooms.

"Already having this platform for our students is a big step, but we cannot say we are directly going to provide the materials, but we are working hard towards providing them to the TVET schools that need them” she added.

Alejandra Bonifaz, EDC Country Director said: "One of the strengths of the BRITE project is that these e-learning materials are co-developed with trainers and students of TVET schools and IPRCs, building on their knowledge and direct experience in the real teaching and learning context, while introducing a blended approach to teaching and learning that is new for the sector”

René David Nsabimana, a teacher from Nyabikenke TVET school, said the program will always help them in teaching the hard subjects.

"for example in nutrition subjects it is not everyday we have food to show our students how to process them, but with the new materials we are able to show them videos of how it is done and they can learn from there and do practices later,” he said.

"These materials are also fun for our students, because students prefer digital things and are always interested in learning through IT rather than the normal traditional ways” he added.

Nsabimana added that the biggest challenges for most TVET schools is lack of computers, internet and low level of teachers and students’ digital literacy skills.

Marie Mireille Ingabire, an IT student from IPRC Kigali, who participated in the making of the materials said that as a student it has helped her in acquiring skills beyond what she learns in class and believes it will help other students too.

"Part of the of materials teach us is team work, communication skills, planning for our future and staying healthy, among others, which are things that we will never learn in class yet we need them in workplaces, and they were prepared in an interactive way that keep us students really interested” Ingabire added.