What we need to do to bolster local manufacturing sector

Editor, RE: “Rwanda should have a more efficient manufacturing sector” (The New Times, October 6). There are so many things in the letter. But let’s bundle these into just four tiers; First, I think one shouldn’t assimilate the western type technical level in Ghana and Rwanda. History of European influence, meaning acculturation in these two countries, is so different both in origin, content, length, depth, and effect. Second, specifically on training of engineers, there is not yet a high level tailored training imparted on engineers here in Rwanda. Therefore, those few licensed engineers actually registered and working in this country, have been trained abroad, in contexts and ways neither necessarily similar nor appropriate to the requirements of the specific situation in Rwanda. Alien solutions to alien problems, and yet that is what is generally applied here! Third, and most importantly, the very short history of our schooling system is going totally astray, as reported on recently by The New Times: The curriculum in our schools, at all levels, is geared toward acquisition of abstract knowledge, and exclusively western type knowledge, despising our traditionally rooted indigenous knowledge, both abstract and practical. We don’t reflect enough on President Kagame’s repeated call to devise, since early childhood, more home-inspired and homegrown solutions to actual Rwandan problems, instead of eternally relying on ‘development’ devised and derived from elsewhere. And fourth, on those women working seated while, it is not a concern for engineers or for industrialists. Rather, it is a concern in a branch of knowledge still lacking here in Rwanda, that of ergonomists. I have trained in ergonomics. Broadly, in this discipline, we deal with humans in various working and artifact use situations, aiming at ensuring safety first, then body comfort in the second place. And these two factors lead to working efficacy and efficiency, meaning producing maximal useful work while exerting minimal expenses of all kinds. Naturally, our body structure in all situations tends to adopt the safest posture, which ensures at any moment its integrity. We always seek to avoid accidents, some more or less threatening to be fatal. And we always try to avoid uncomforting situations, that on a relatively long run may result in illness, also leading eventually to premature death. In short, it is not a mere matter of working seated, standing, or in any other body position. Any working body position should be the result of a careful study by knowledgeable ergonomists and product designers and these are two type of experts not yet trained in Rwanda...for an appropriate and “efficient manufacturing sector”! Francois-Xavier Nziyonsenga

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What we need to do to bolster local manufacturing sector