Students from University of Rwanda (UR) have decried lack of ICT equipment and access to labs, a barrier to their academic performance and use of information and communication technology.Presently, there are 80 computer labs across nine UR campuses, with 2,841 computers. Some of the computers are however old and need replacement, according to information from UR.Desire Ahishakiye, a second year student at School of Journalism and Communication (SJC), said they struggle to access computers since ICT labs are hardly available and not open for everyone to access. “Some are no longer operational. We always need laptops or machines for assignments, notes, as well as research. University is about researching,” he said.“It’s not easy doing media production practices when there is no access to machines. A personal laptop is important a lot for you to use it for whatever and whenever you need it,” he explained.Patrick Sonoma, another student, said they need a lot of research and reading materials as journalism students, yet ICT labs are not enough.“It is difficult to practice on your own,” Sonoma said, requesting UR’s management to seek ways of fast addressing this challenge.Dr Raymond Ndikumana, UR’s Deputy Vice Chancellor for Strategic Planning and Administration, said that the ratio of computers to students is not good at some campuses; while some computer labs are short on the required number of technicians per lab.“The other constraint, of course, is the fact that computer numbers are insufficient, [as] the ratio of 1 computer to 10 students is quite unfavourable. Even when the labs are accessible, not every student accesses a computer whenever they need to use one.”He revealed that there is a plan to finalise the recruitment for more computer lab technicians in the coming months. “When this happens, they will be able to work in shifts making it possible for the labs to remain open for as long as students are at campuses. The University has always gradually increased the number of computers, even this year, where more than 8 labs will be set up at UR,” he said.More smart classrooms expectedAccording to Dr Ndikumana, computer labs are only open during working hours, from 8 am to 5pm, while most students use labs late in the evening and during weekends.To mitigate this challenge, UR seeks to increase the number of smart classes to fully support online learning.“There is a plan to refurbish some computer labs and increase the number of smart classrooms rather than traditional ICT labs that do not fully support online learning. For example, there is a plan to establish 10 smart classrooms with the Rwanda Priority Skills for Growth (PSG) program,” he noted.
