GATSIBO- An Italian NGO operating in Gatsibo District, Associazione Volontari per il Servizio Internazionale (AVSI), has disclosed plans to open a vocational school in Muhura Sector for school dropouts.

An official in charge of the project, Emmanuel Higiro, said the vocational school will specialise in carpentry, tailoring, welding and other technical works, among others.

Authorities in the area have provided a building where the school will initially operate from.

The NGO opened a similar school in Kamonyi District in the Southern Province.

"We discovered that most of the students we admit at the school in Kamonyi come from Gatsibo. That’s how we decided to extended the school to this district as way of reducing transport costs for the students,” Higiro said.

"All these professional fields will enable school dropouts to be job creators instead of roaming in the streets looking for jobs”.

Of the 167 students who recently completed from Kamonyi, 56 hail from Gatsibo District.

Delphine Iradukunda, a carpentry graduate from the school, said that they have transformed their lives through technical education.

"I dropped out of school six years ago. I had no hope of getting back to school due to poverty, but with the skills I gained from Kamonyi vocational school, I can now work and earn a living,” she said.

Timothy Hitimana, in charge of social affairs in Muhura Sector, said that if fully completed, the school would contribute a lot for the sector’s social welfare.

"We used to have a high number of school dropouts, but once this vocational school starts operations, we shall have fewer cases,” he said.

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