TVET: Reshaping Rwanda’s future of work

The evolving job market towards technology seems to support the necessity of technical, vocational education training (TVET). All the future top workplace skills are not a mere product of content memorisation, but practical and hands-on skills. The World Economic Forum lists some of the top future skills also known as the fourth industrial revolution skills. They include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), self-driving vehicles, nanotechnology, renewable energy, automation systems and robotics biotechnology. All these technologies have, for instance, inspired the introduction of Japanese trains that drive 500 km per hour, 5G internet, speech recognition devices and 3D imaging among others. This trend is brought about by new forms of work, which are being generated in line with technological advancements, where AI, for instance, is set to drive everything and dominate most sectors of work. The World Economic Forum predicts that 42 per cent of the required skills to perform the current jobs will have changed by 2024, adding that in the next ten years, one billion jobs (a third of the existing ones) will be replaced by technology. The call highlights technical skills as the solution to the above trend, as the only pathway to modern civilisation and surviving in the next generational world. Rwanda now wants to anchor her TVET education on these technologies. “Time for memorisation is now over, it is time for the hands-on skills because they are going to play a leading role in all forms of work,” says Engineer Paul Umukunzi, the Director General of Rwanda Technical and Vocational Education Training Board (RTB). Content related to when, where, how or who can all be answered by Google, added Umukunzi. He highlights that some people have the mentalities that TVET classes are reserved for low-scoring students, which he advocates should change. “People have to understand that TVET courses are in line with the changing modern technology on the international level. So through the TVET curriculum, we are able to prepare our young generation for the future digital needs that we will be having,” he comments. TVET classes are often made up of three sections: technical schools, vocational schools and vocational centres. Technical secondary schools often accommodate students from Ordinary level who want to pursue technologically related courses. Upon graduation, they are eligible to move to higher or tertiary education or just join the job market. Vocational training schools are reserved for young people who did not manage to graduate from ordinary level. In school, they take a one-year course of a certain major and get enough competencies to compete in the job market. For vocational training centres, they receive people who are working as interns, and upon getting the hands-on skills, they also venture into the job market. As of today, there are 456 TVET schools with 76,955 students of which 44 per cent are females.

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TVET: Reshaping Rwanda’s future of work