School enrolment in Mayange Millennium Village up

Primary school enrolment in Mayange Millennium Village in Bugesera District, Eastern Province, has reached 98 percent, according to the Project Coordinator of Millennium Village Project Education in Rwanda, John Mugabo.He made the revelation yesterday during the project`s education retreat that took place in Kigali. It brought together representatives from ten African countries as well as a team from the project’s headquarters in New York. “In addition to conducting training for teachers and providing other scholastic materials, we have started 11 nursery schools in Mayange Sector as well as supporting five primary schools,” Mugabo disclosed.The project is an initiative of the Earth Institute of the Columbia University, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Millennium Promise.It also aims at fighting poverty and contributing to achieving the Millennium Development Goals in developing countries.In collaboration with respective governments, the project identified underdeveloped villages to provide support in areas of education, gender equality and health.Mugabo explained that the project, which began its operations in 2006, has not only bridged gaps limiting children from attaining education, but has also enhanced the capacity of teachers.“As a way of promoting childhood development, we established Education Community Development (ECD) centres through which members of the community, or parents, get directly involved and monitor absenteeism in schools,” he explained. He added that localresidents used to be compelled to relocate from the area to neighbouring areas.The retreat attracted representatives from Nigeria, Malawi, Ethiopia, Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. It was held under the theme; “Embracing impact-driven innovative strategies and re-energising existing efforts to fast track MDG 2 indicators by 2015; stocking and moving ahead”.The retreat aimed at sharing experiences on various practical and scientifically proven interventions that have worked in various countries as well as seeking lasting solutions to challenges.Officials from other countries who spoke to The New Times said that while the project was experiencing some challenges, especially culture-based ones, it has significantly enabled children to go to school early and reduced drop-out rates.The Director of Education on Globalisation and Sustainable Development, at the Millennium Villages Project, Radhika Iyengar, said the retreat was a key mechanism through which various village representatives acquire skills to keep it on track,From 2006, the Millennium Villages Project was initially planned as a five-year project, but a second phase was later redesigned to run from 2011-2015.The project has so far benefited about 400,000 people in 79 villages in ten African countries.

National

School enrolment in Mayange Millennium Village up