As the government seeks to scale up the quality of education and skills obtained by young graduates in the education sector, the new Minister for Education, Valentine Uwamariya has said that, with teamwork, transparency and accountability, the quality of education will become better. Uwamariya said this on Friday evening during a handover ceremony from the outgoing minister Eugene Mutimura, who assumed the position in December 2017. Valentine Uwamahoro was named Minister of Education on Wednesday, February 26, following a mini cabinet reshuffle by President Paul Kagame. The reshuffle also saw the creation of Minister of State in the Ministry of Education in Charge of ICT and TVET Education with Claudette Irere assigned to the task. In the last few years, improving the relevance of education to address the labour market demands, big number of low skilled graduates, are among the major challenges that face the sector. Uwamariya, in her remarks, congratulated the outgoing Minister for the work accomplished and promised that her team will work even harder because there is a lot to expect from them. “The outgoing Minister and his team (which I was also part of), has done a lot. And with this background, I believe that we have no excuse, or obstacle that stops us from taking the education sector to a higher level.” Additionally, the new minister urged her team to work towards addressing the existing challenges in the sector. She argued that one of the new leadership’s immediate challenges is to find solutions to issues that have been raised by the public. “As you all know, this ministry has been receiving many concerns from the public, even though some of them are not realistic, there is a need to consider each of them because these are problems that are on the ground,” she pointed out. “We have all it takes, ranging from a youthful team, to this foundation laid by the outgoing team. With strong teamwork and prioritizing the quality of education obtained by our children, I believe that we will contribute to the socio-development of this country,” Uwamariya urged her team. Mutimura, the former minister was appointed as the Head of Science and Technology Commission in the same reshuffle. In the same ministry, Gaspard Twagirayezu was appointed Minister of State in charge of Primary and Secondary Education, replacing Isaac Munyakazi, who resigned recently following corruption-related charges. Appointed on the promise of working towards enhancing the quality of education, Twagirayezu echoed the same sentiments, citing that, more efforts should be gathered to address the current challenges faced by students. The reshuffle also saw the creation of state, in the ministry of education in charge of ICT and TVET education, a position that will be held by Claudette Irere. Uwamariya, who lauded the development, highlighted that, the state created, comes as an apt response to TVET education because there is a need to scale up a hands-on curriculum and skill development in the sector. Claudette Irere, state minister in charge of ICT and TVET education said TVET graduates will be equipped with the necessary skills to cope with the current job market. “I believe that based on my (little) experience, from the ICT field, there is a lot I look forward to share with young TVET students. And I am confident it will contribute to the quality of education in general,” Irere said.
