Berna Namata
26 June 2011
Nairobi — Rwanda has lined up Rwf11 billion ($185.4 million) to upgrade its technical learning institutions and set up dozens more this year as it seeks to grow its human capital to drive economic growth.
The government intends to expand the capacity of the existing Technical Vocational Training Institutions (TVET) from the current 600 students to 10,000 from next year, to bridge a growing shortage of technical skills in its labour market.
In a move expected to increase enrolment in vocational training by 10,000, the government plans to construct 14 additional vocational training centres to supplement the existing 33 while 24 restructured technical schools are expected to focus on offering TVET-specific courses to beef up the existing 60 technical secondary schools.
Currently, enrolment in both technical secondary schools and vocational training centres stands at 14,000. The country aims to increase the absorption rate of TVET graduates from around 25 per cent in 2006 to 75 per cent in 2012.
While the country currently depends on outsourcing from the region and abroad to bridge the existing gap, developing local manpower is critical for it to meet its development goals and also be competitive in the regional market.
Analysts say despite the huge improvement in the country’s business environment, the skills gap is a disincentive for private investment as it increases the cost of doing business in Rwanda with most businesses having to incur additional costs of outsourcing labour.
Low skill levels
According to 2008 statistics, the Rwandan workforce of around 4.6 million is characterised by low skill levels, while the country’s demand for skilled workers is expected to rise as the economy becomes more oriented towards exports and services. By 2010, manufacturing and services had already become dominant in the economy, with services expected to generate about 60 per cent of the gross domestic product, up from 37 per cent in 2001, according to the World Bank. Fatina Mukarubibi, deputy Director General of the Workforce Development Authority, told The EastAfrican that the government is increasing investment in TVET to accelerate skills development, specifically targeting the youth. According to the July 2006 final report on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper I, about 170,000 young people start their working life each year without sufficient qualifications and therefore have only a limited chance to integrate successfully into the economic cycle.
“More investment is needed to increase access and also improve the quality of training. We will be focusing on building and rehabilitating the existing workshops that we have and constructing new schools,” Ms Mukarubibi said.
In the financial year 2011/2012, the government has increased the overall budget for education by 10 per cent to finance programmes including scaling up TVET to provide necessary equipments to 16 vocational training centres.
Practical training
Ms Mukarubibi pointed out that in sectors like construction, TVET graduates remain unemployed because they have not acquired practical hands-on competencies. “The government is targeting to have at least three TVET schools at each district while at the same time improving the quality of training offered by these institutions, for instance by putting emphasis on practical training that allows students to acquire skills immediately.”
TVET will also be critical in absorbing the country’s nine-year basic education graduates expected to top 130,000 next year. “We want to equip them with skills that will allow them to be competitive in the labour market. If they are well trained, they will be able to get jobs easily,” she added.
Statistics show that secondary schools with technical courses accommodate only 32,792 students while post-primary vocational training schools have the capacity to accommodate only 7,366 trainees.
Ms Mukarubibi said the TVET programme has been reformed to allow those with a certificate to upgrade up to university level, unlike before where their certificates were not recognised by universities.
A key feature of the new approach to technical and vocational education and training is greater involvement of private sector representatives in such areas as curriculum development, placing of interns and assessment mechanisms.
Ms Mukarubibi observed that skilled graduates were in high demand in the construction, hospitality, technical servicing and ICT sectors.
Leandre Turayishimye, Director of Labour Research and Employment Promotion at the Ministry of Labour, observed that the labour market cannot absorb the country’s increasing number of graduates from institutions of higher learning. Enrolment in higher learning institutions continues to grow with the number of students in public Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) increasing from 20,967 in 2008 to 31,565 in 2010 and the number of students in private HLIs increasing from 26,441 in 2008 to 31,171 in 2010.
“Our private sector is still small and underdeveloped. It cannot absorb all the graduates from universities,” he said, emphasising the need for post-graduate training in “hands-on skills.”
To address the critical shortage of unemployment among graduates, in 2009 the Ministry introduced an internship programme that allows graduates to undergo training for six months.
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