Making the most of our varsity graduates

Editor, Diana, thanks for this eye opening article. I hope someone is not busy in meetings to make this part of their IMIHIGO. This is indeed the bigger cause of brain drain in Africa, not the easy answers seeking for better pay. We can`t send people to get world class degrees without a plan on how to put them into productive use for the country. Why waste a precious resource? Government ministries should have such a plan, since empowering education is the key promoted there.Mapendo, Johannesburg--------------------------------------------Editor,This is a great idea where government has a role to play in encouraging the private sector to absorb the new graduates. Government can employ only a few. However, it can set up programmes which provide some incentives for the private sector to hire and train the new graduates. It can also provide financing guarantees through the development bank and micro-credit schemes to assist the new graduates to access loans to start small businesses. Rwanda has proved that one can raise to the occasion when challenged - as your interns did. By the way, serving coffee is great training for humility and service. Keep up the good work of churning out these great thought-provoking ideas.Rurangwa, Kicukiro--------------------------------------------Editor, Great lady, you are one of our brilliant products. It is amazing how young you are but so developed in the mind. Keep it up and do not let up. You will achieve even more. We do not want young graduates to be given loans to start businesses; else they end up selling tomatoes, or being commission agents. We need our young graduates to engage in technical, research and development skills. The spectrum for these possibilities is very wide. This can only be done by a top down organisation and management that understands what needs to be done. Innovation and a bit of copy and paste from fast developing and developed countries would do it.Justin Rwema, Kigali(Reactions to the article, “Let’s uphold brilliance at home” by Diana Mpyisi in the New Times, January 11.)

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Making the most of our varsity graduates