IFC helps enhance private schools capacities

International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group is offering a range of services to Private Schools to help enhance their capacity to provide quality education. These include Operational and Procedure Manuals, Business plan services, Capacity building workshops and REMA certification Advisory Support. This was disclosed, Friday, during the Private Schools Convention that was attended by over 150 owners and managers of Private schools. Ignace Mihigo Rusenga, the Senior Operations Officer said that Private Schools need to have a sense of quality as well. “We are working with the World Bank to enhance the capability of private schools to grow through loans, equity, capacity building and advisory services, among others,” Mihigo said. He stated that this program was put together to provide the capacity to grow and create opportunities for Private Schools. Jane Onoka, the IFC Program Manager for African Schools, noted that one of the problems is that Africa hasn’t invested in quality education. “IFC is going to complement government’s effort to improve education in Rwanda. The Ministry of education in Rwanda recognizes the role played by Private Schools. They even contributed some money to help the private schools,” Onoka said. She added that the African Schools Program under IFC would also help private schools access finance. “We have so far reached out to 128 private schools in Rwanda in terms of capacity building. We’ve made business plans for 28 schools and offered advisory services to nine schools,” said Onoka. Sylvie Murekeyisoni, the Headmistress of International School of Kigali, said that her school benefited from the IFC programs and trainings. “The training has helped us identify and analyze the needs of our clients and to improve our human resource. I also learnt through IFC that schools also need marketing. We started teaching computer and painted our nursery section to market the school,” she said Murekeyisoni added that her school now even motivates its staff and gives them loans as a way of having supplementary income and improving quality education. Ends