Rwanda, Kenya to strengthen cooperation in education sector

Kenyan parliamentarians will continue working closely with their Rwandan counterparts to ensure the proper development of policies and strategies that will promote the sector within the two sister countries.The pledge was made by a visiting delegation of Kenyan legislators currently in Kigali on a one-week study tour to gain knowledge on different government policies that would help inform their legislative work.While visiting Mount Kenya University, Kigali Campus on Wednesday, the lawmakers said that for the education sector to grow within the East African member states, policies need to be harmonised across the region.Sabina Wanjiru Chege, who heads the education standing committee in the Kenyan Parliament, said they are ready to play their role to ensure that best practices in Rwandan education sector. “We want to apply the programme of One Laptop per Child starting next year in our country and Rwanda has succeeded in implementing the project. That is why we want learn and harmonise such policies for the benefit of the entire region,” she said.She observed that her government plans to invest more than Ksh15bn (Rwf118 bn) next year in the programme, adding they have been learning the applicability of the programme from Rwanda. Rwanda rolled out the programme to every sector and there are plans to introduce it in every school across the country.“We have distributed at least 204,000 laptops to 408 public schools. There are also other laptops distributed through private initiatives so the trend is promising,” Patrick Mugabo, the in charge of supplying the laptops in Rwanda told Saturday Times this week. On Monday, the delegation of 30 parliamentarians, visited Gahini Primary School in Kayonza District. The school is one of the schools where the programme was implemented.Wanjiru Chege commended the government of Rwanda for providing a conducive environment for the investors, citing examples of the Kenyan universities in Kigali. Two Kenyan universities Mount Kenya and Jomo Kenyatta have invested in Rwanda and are serving students from the entire region. On Thursday the senators held a closed door meeting with Rwandan Senate president, Dr Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo, in Kigali.Kenya, one of the five partner states of East African Community, with the population of over 44 million, has the largest economy in the region with GDP of over US$37 billion .

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Rwanda, Kenya to strengthen cooperation in education sector