In recent years, Rwanda is undergoing major political and economic changes. The state is being strengthened and all figures point to economic growth. However, this growth does not expand proportionally for rich and poor, in the city and on the countryside. 70% of the population remains dependent on agriculture and due to the population growth in recent years, the pressure on agricultural land increases. Next to this, youth unemployment jumps out as a pressing social problem. Through the School Management and TVET programme (Technical and Vocational Education and Training), VVOB and its partners hope to improve the quality of education in the cities, but especially in rural areas.
VVOB School Management leads to uniform financial reporting in all schools in the country
2009 is a crucial year for the VVOB School Management programme in Rwanda, executed in close collaboration with the Rwandan Ministry of Education (Mineduc). Regardless of the major educational changes in 2008 and 2009, which brought enormous challenges to nearly every school in Rwanda, the Ministry continues to clearly focus on good school management. The Ministry also defines this unambiguously as a priority in its strategic and action plan.
In 2009 they raised the compulsory six years to nine years of free primary education. This entails a major reform of both the primary and the entire secondary education. Moreover, the language of teaching in schools changes from French to English. It is an immense task, and is not simply implemented in the short term. This intervention already meets a variety of difficulties.
The School Management Expertise Centre, located in the heart of the Ministry of Education, is actively being visited by schools. It assists them with advice and teaching materials. The Centre also takes part in weekly and monthly meetings with Mineduc and the partners. Moreover, it has an education database that is very valuable for the Ministry of Education. This increasingly makes it an important reference in the country and is now well embedded in the Teacher Service Commission, the national pedagogic service for teachers. A whole series of official documents such as the ESPS (Education Sector Policy and Strategy 2009), ESSP (Educational Sector Strategic Plan), SCR (Country Status Report of the World Bank) and official publications of the Belgian Embassy, refer to School Management as ‘best practice in the country’. Thus VVOB is leading in the education sector in Rwanda.
Throughout 2009, training courses on school management and ICT are held for all head teachers in the country. 635 directors, 578 accountants and 440 management secretaries are being trained. Thanks to this comprehensive national training, there now is a standardised financial reporting for all secondary schools. The 30 School Management pilot schools (one per district) take up their management functions as true role models. Since the beginning of the programme, most of them participated in the elaboration of strategies on good school management. In 2009 they start with a peer-learning system, whereby knowledge is shared with colleagues in other schools. This means that they visit each other and exchange tips about good management practices. Consequently, they attempt to integrate these within the reality of their own school. These impressive results are achieved with both VVOB funding and substantial financial support from the Capacity Development Fund of Mineduc itself, that reimburses the costs for accommodation, food and transportation for participants of all School Management courses.
The big challenge for the coming years is to institutionalise the accumulated expertise within Mineduc, so the work of VVOB finds sustainable embedding within this Ministry.
TVET: Technical and vocational education in the fight against youth unemployment
For the Rwandan government Technical and Vocational Education is a priority in poverty reduction. A national Workforce Development Authority (WDA), established in 2008, gets a clear outline in 2009 through the development of a strategic plan for 2010-2013. In 2009, the WDA is not yet fully operational, mainly due to a lack of experts and clear management. The TVET stakeholders take knowledge of this strategy by means of a seminar, although the implementation is still far from reality.
Decentralisation of the TVET policy translates into the development of provincial ‘Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centres’ (IPRC) of which the IPRC in the Southern province (IPRC South) will function as a pilot institute. VVOB advises this institute. A study that maps the current state of the various centres (public and private) in the Southern province shows a lack of: uniform curricula, significant licenses, well-equipped workshops, internship opportunities, connection with the labour market, and opportunities to participate in the economic process because of insufficient investment capital... There is a minimal attention to vulnerable groups and it is also a general trend that the students are being taught through lectures, while they should be taught skills in practice rooms. These issues indicate that a wide range of interventions is required. To correct this situation VVOB organises, in cooperation with BTC and SYNTRA Flanders, an educational training on active methodology, as well as technical trainings in electricity, plumbing, home economics, construction, auto mechanics, and mechanics. Both training sessions are connected with each other. In several pilot centres, including the training institute Kavumu, that for years has been a partner of VVOB, curricula have been adapted in order to organise more practical lessons, much to the contentment of teaching staff and students. At the end of the workshops, all participating schools and training centres for technical education receive a kit with basic materials to match the learnt skills to the teaching practice.
Rwanda has a lot of prospects in the tourism sector. To adapt to this trend, the Tourism and Hotel Management curriculum, A2 level, is being elaborated. Function profiles, as well as different modules, are being developed. The teachers affiliated with schools that offer these studies, take a training, which afterwards is also available as a video documentary.
In 2009, the joint Belgian programme of APEFE, BTC and VVOB was formulated for more than € 7.5 million. There is no doubt that this harmonised intervention will definitely bring value to the support of the TVET reform in Rwanda. The three partners will be able to further develop their expertise, but moreover, this intense cooperation will constitute a fundamental building block for the reform of vocational education in Rwanda.
