South Korea on Tuesday signed an agreement with Rwanda to provide 8.7 billion Rwandan francs (about 9.7 million U.S. dollars) to finance projects aimed at strengthening the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems and structures in the country.
The objective of the financing agreement is to strengthen the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems and structures in Rwanda and develop competent TVET graduates who can meet labor market demands.
The Rwandan Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Uzziel Ndagijimana and the ceputy country director of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Deputy Director Myung Keun Choi signed a financing agreement on behalf of their respective institutions.
Speaking at the occasion the senior Rwandan government official said that technical skills have an important role in attaining increased output, reducing unemployment and poverty, as well as enhancing social development in Rwanda as a country for which industrial base is growing but it does not match skills available at national level.
“It is important that we address the skills gap to ensure that the economy continues to grow and remain competitive and this support will contribute immensely to this goal,” Dr Ndagijimana said.
Rwandan officials describe TVET as a main engine to support employment promotion for youth especially through development of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs).
So far, a Skills Development Fund (SDF) has been established by the Government to support in short term training of youth including employer-led short-term vocational training and apprenticeships,
provision of labor market relevant skills for out-of-school youth, and rapid-response training to address skills gaps experienced by enterprises.
Official reports indicate that during 2018 a total of 4,567 youth were trained under the SDF and a further 9,550 in 2019.
In a bid to strengthen the quality of teaching in TVET 40% of TVET trainers were trained and certified in pedagogical skills in South Korea.
Commenting on the new grant, Deputy Director Myung Keun Choi said that the project builds upon the experience in the TVET sector and success of TVET Technical Assistance Pooled Fund that ended last year.
“This support will create a comprehensive and broad system that will guide the TVET training in Rwanda to ensure the effectiveness of our intervention while sustaining the results in the long term. We have no doubt that the new project will contribute to further strengthening of the TVET sector in Rwanda,” Mr. Myung Keun Choi said.
CU/abj/APA