The Government has unveiled plans to scale down the number of students enrolling in the standard education system and, instead, put more effort on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). According to the Minister of State in charge of Primary and Secondary Education, the Government wants to increase the proportion of the TVET student population from the current 40 per cent of the total secondary school student population to 60 per cent by 2017.TVET is a hands-on labour-oriented training system that prepares students for the work and industry. Traditionally, Rwanda has had vocational and technical schools, but they largely operated in isolation, without any policy guidelines, proper coordination or institutional framework. To reverse this, the Government set the Workforce Development Authority (WDA) to coordinate, regulate and support TVET programmes. A national TVET policy is now in place and helped streamline the subsector.Rwanda, an ambitious developing country, needs a strong and relevant TVET system that will provide the local workforce with sufficient capacity in various technical areas including, construction, plumbing, hospitality, agro-processing and electronics. It is through such skills that the country and its people can achieve their development targets. With a pool of skilled labourers, investors will not need to spend high costs on expatriate workers. And, Rwandans too will be able to easily access or create jobs.But to achieve that, parents, guardians and the children will need to embrace TVET. The world has changed and it is those with practical skills that will remain relevant in the increasingly competitive labour markets.
