Members of the Pan-African Parliamentary Committee on Education, Culture, Tourism and Human Resource have been impressed by Information and Communication Technology development in Rwanda’s education sector.

They aired out their satisfaction on Tuesday during a visit to Kigali Independent University (ULK).

The seven-member delegation arrived in the country on Sunday for a study tour of the education system and will leave on Friday. The aim of their visit is to obtain information on the education system, how it works and what needs to be done to improve it to better address its challenges.

They will also be briefed on the achievements of the country in education during the post Genocide era.

"Information technology in the education sector is one of the improvements in the sector that would help African countries better address the socio-economic challenges confronting African economies," D.Mohamed El Houderi, one of the visiting MPs said.

He added that Rwanda has shown tremendous improvement in the education sector following the 1994 Genocide.

El Houderi said that the country’s emphasis on ICT would help foster developmental research which would catapult proper planning.

He pointed out that girl-child education was a major achievement by the country.

The head of the delegation and chairman of the commission, Madagi Allambaye, said that they would use information obtained from the country’s education sector to advise other countries on how they could improve the education of children.

"The idea of making students speak more than one international language is very important if Rwanda is to compete favourably with other African countries on the labour market," he said.

Lawmaker Elysée Bisengimana, the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies’ Standing Committee on Education, Culture and Youth, said that the MPs’ visit would help the continental Parliament know how far the country has reached in promoting education.

He said that promoting education goes hand in hand with assisting private institutions of higher learning to accommodate the growing number of students who enrol in universities. The delegation was due to visit various education institutions including universities, NGOs working in the education sector, and United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) country offices.

Ends