School is great. It opens one’s mind to new possibilities, opportunities and horizons. A person’s perspective of life is widened and not limited to the place of their birth. One is able to travel the world by just reading about it.

No need to actually go to Europe or America. That’s the power of education. With it, one is not afraid to face the world. One learns to socialise, too.

However, in many parts of the world, some people only get the informal home education. Others may go up to University.

However, there are those who might drop out of school usually due to financial limitations or failure to pass written exams.

In many parts of the world, especially Africa, those who fail to make it through the usual academic structure are either doomed to stick to manual labour and subsistence farming or just a life of total misery.

Then there are those who are sent to technical or vocational schools as a last resort. It’s however high time people realised that these vocational schools are as important, if not more important than, as ‘regular’ schools.

In developed nations, these institutions are actually held in high regard because they offer hands on knowledge which is practically used to transform so many lives.

People are proud to be masons, plumbers, engineers, and so much more. This is because they opt for these careers. They are not in them because they had no better option.

In today’s feature, you will read about how vocational skills are being transferred to ordinary Rwandans. Hopefully, the culture will catch on.

Editor