Rwanda Development Board (RDB) yesterday awarded certificates to 362 fresh graduates who completed a six-month internship program.

The beneficiaries were drawn from several universities and vocational/technical institutes around the country. The program was aimed at equipping them with necessary work experience. 

They were deployed in public and private institutions where they practised theories garnered in school.

"This is one of the viable ways of overturning the tendency of our education system being dominated by theoretical classes,” said Apollo Munanura, the head of the internship program at RDB

"The internships will improve the quality of our graduates”.

He added that the interns were taught other life skills like leadership and entrepreneurship to mentor them to become self-employed in future.

"We always have sessions with our interns to help them focus on entrepreneurship instead of targeting to acquire jobs,” he explained.

The interns were positive about the program, saying that it had equipped them with the necessary practical skills.

"I acquired practical skills during these months, which made my course seem different from the theory I carried all along,” commented Jean Damascene Tuyisabe, who worked at the mechanisation and irrigation department of the Ministry of Agriculture. 

"I was able to see the realities of my accounting theory, and obtained contacts...internships really opened our mind,” commented Juliette Bankundiye, who worked with the RDB’s accounting department.

During the same event, 344 other graduates started their phase of internship within several institutions around the country.

Providing internship opportunities is prescribed for under the National Employment Policy which was approved by the government in 2007. It, among others, improves the skills of the youth to enhance their chances of securing jobs or being self-employed.

Over 1,000 graduates have benefited from the program.

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