The British Council, the UK’s cultural cooperation charity has opened a branch in Kigali, the first time the country’s leading charity organisation works in Rwanda.

Official ceremonies to launch the British Council Rwanda branch were held Thursday evening at the Kigali campus of the Rwanda Institute of Administration and Management.

The memorandum of understanding baetween Rwanda and the British Council will be evaluated after one year, revealed Education Minister Daphrose Gahakwa.

"Our partnership will be evaluated after a year, but we are happy because the branch will focus on capacity training programmes that are already emphasised by the government," she said.

She went on to say that the British government had been a very active partner in Rwanda’s education sector since the 1994 Genocide and that the British government has been the leading donor to Rwanda’s national budget.

She added that it was a good that the British Council had opened its doors in Rwanda at a time when it has applied to join the commonwealth.

Rwanda invited the British Council in 1994.

The English language programme at the centre has already enrolled 200 students and students have been attending lectures for the last 12 weeks so far, said Tom Hinton British Council Regional Manager for English and Professional Development.

"In July this year, we shall also start a teacher training programme to be co-sponsored with the ministry of education," Hiinton added.

He continued that the charity had sponsored a needs and aspirations research which found that "many Rwandans of 17 to 35 years preferred to study in English to graduate level."

Dr. Gahakwa said government was interested in the findings of the British Council research which showed that students preferred English as their choice language of instruction.

Speaking at the launch, the UK Ambassador, Nicholas Canon, said the British government was firm in its partnership with Rwanda in helping create a knowledge-based economy.

He said Rwanda that Rwanda’s adoption of English as one of the three official languages should not be translated as a preference or identifying with a particular European country, but said English was a language rich in scientific materials and has a global audience.

"The wealth in volume of knowledge in science and other fields is deeper than any other language," said Canon.

The service sector is the most important sector of the economy, raking in Frw 173 billion, the government in turn has aspired to promote capacity building measures across all sectors of the economy.

The opening of the British Councils comes only a year ago since Rwanda joined the East African Community, a majority of whose member states use English as the mainstream official language.

Hinton said the British Council branch in Rwanda will not concentrate on the LSE (Library, Scholarships and English) like the traditional British council branches in other countries would instead promote leadership and school exchange programmes between Rwandan and UK educational institutions.

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