Rising Capacity
China’s funding helps boost Rwanda’s technical and vocational education and training
Gikundiro Shaffi Omar, a third-year university student majoring in electrical engineering, is bullish about his prospects in the job market after gaining the needed hands-on skills which was made possible by the extension of his school supported by Chinese government funding.
“We now have eight labs and four workshops for research and manufacturing, while before the extension, the entire school had only one lab and two small unequipped workshops,” said 24-year-old Omar, one of the students enrolled at the extended school.
“The number of students living on campus has almost doubled to 560 from 282 as a result of the addition of 28 hostels during the campus extension project,” said Omar.
The Integrated Polytechnic Regional College (IPRC) had the main campus in Kigali and another in Musanze with limited facilities. The China-aided extension of the Musanze campus in Northern Province of Rwanda greatly improved the school’s conditions, enabling the school to introduce new programs and departments, and double its capacity.
Some students who talked to Chinafrica said that they used to trek over 100 km from Musanze to Kigali to use labs and workshops, which cost them a lot in terms of transport, accommodation and other travel expenses.
Musanze students say that they now have everything any student at a modern technical school would need, and that they never expected the school to be fully equipped with classrooms, labs and equipment in such a short time. In addition, with the Chinese aid, travelling to Kigali to use the labs and workshops there has become a thing of past.
Improved learning environment
The extension project, built from a grant by the Chinese Government, included a multi-function hall, an administration office building, a comprehensive classroom building, student dormitories, training workshops, outdoor training shed, auxiliary functional rooms, and a parking lot.
Students are not the only beneficiaries of the extension project, though. It has also led to an improved teaching environment for the faculty.
“Honestly speaking, I am excited about the great improvement the Chinese government aid has brought to our school, for instance, changed campus view, staff offices, laboratories and workshop rooms,” said Ishimwe Vivia, Head of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department at IPRC Musanze.
“Before, we didn’t even have an electrical engineering lab; but now, the school has been equipped with eight labs for scientific research and workshops for manufacturing,” said Vivia. “Teaching has positively changed.”
She said that previously the classrooms were small and used to get overcrowded with students, for instance, over 50 students studied in one classroom that was meant to accommodate 20.
“This had an impact on us when we had to teach for long hours. Today, teachers are happy about teaching at IPRC Musanze due to the positive changes in teaching environment with enough facilities and more practical equipment,” said Vivia. She noted the school had only one lab before; while now, there are another seven laboratories equipped with apparatus, equipment, tools and materials.
Emile Abayisenga, Principal of IPRC Musanze, said the extension has increased teaching programs to 13 from eight and the existing programs have been improved. The new ones include highway engineering, water and sanitation, which are part of civil engineering, and information technology and e-commerce.
“Under the extension, we received enough equipment for not only the new programs, but also the existing ones, which is improving the learning environment,” he said.
Abayisenga revealed that they used to have a high demand but no capacity to accommodate many students who wished to study at the Musanze campus. With new facilities, the number of students has increased from 900 to 2,100.
He further said the Rwandan Government’s policy target toward technical education is to absorb 60 percent of students into technical schools and polytechnics. IPRC Musanze being able to host more than 2,000 is a huge contribution to this agenda, he noted.
The new labs are for motor drives, power system, home appliances, measurement, digital electronics, programmable logic controllers, and pneumatics and hydraulics.
Inside the nice-looking smart classrooms at the Musanze campus, technical students enthusiastically shared how the extension has transformed the learning and living environment at the school.
“Four years back, there were many students who wanted to study at the Musanze campus because of its natural environment, beautiful sights of the volcanoes and lush green vegetation; but because of limited classrooms and hostels, they didn’t get a chance,” an IPRC Musanze student told Chinafrica from inside his classroom.
He said that Musanze is an expensive city for the students to be able to afford off-campus housing, and with additional hostels at school, students are happy and many are applying to reside in the school hostels every day.
Support for education
Claudette Irere, Minister of State in charge of information and communications technology (ICT) and technical vocational education and training (TVET) in Rwanda’s Ministry of Education, said that Rwanda is very thankful to China for the continued support in the education sector.
“I am touched by the generosity of China in providing us the grant of this magnitude as a symbol of good friendship between Rwanda and China,” Irere said while addressing the press. “The extension of the campus is one of the achievements that will allow Rwanda to learn from China effectively.”
She added that Rwanda has a lot to learn from China’s development in manufacturing, construction, clean energy, ICT, business, hospitality, agriculture, and the food industry.
“Funding of the construction of both phase one and two of IPRC Musanze is one of many great achievements and there is more to come in the field of educational cooperation between our two countries,” said Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda Rao Hongwei.
Rao said that both phases of IPRC Musanze have been constructed on Chinese donations and phase one was inaugurated in 2015, which has made it the second-largest campus among the eight government TVET colleges in the country.
The IPRC Musanze started in 2015 with 170 students and later the number increased to 900 students. According to the school administration, by 2024, the enrolment capacity will reach 2,500 from the current 2,100 students.
The extension of the campus is one of the achievements that will allow Rwanda to learn from China effectively.
CLAUDETTE IRERE Minister of State in Rwanda’s Ministry of Education