Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente has said that the Government allocated Rwf7.1 billion for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) consumables in the current fiscal year (2021/2022) as it moves to address the shortage of these practical training materials. The allocation for this fiscal year (Rwf7.1 billion) is almost double the Rwf3.6 billion that was invested in the purchase of TVET consumables for use in TVET secondary schools and Integrated Polytechnic Regional Colleges (IPRCs) in the last year (2020/2021). Ngirente made the disclosure on Thursday, July 22, while presenting the Government of Rwanda’s actions relating to the promotion of TVETs and Polytechnics to a joint plenary sitting of both chambers of Parliament. According to experts, in TVET, teaching and learning are done in workshops – through learning by doing method – which requires enough training consumables so that students get required hands-on skills. The premier said that the Government will increase funding towards equipping TVET workshops with consumables, indicating that the Ministry of Education distributes the funding to schools according to their needs. “It is a component in which we are investing a lot of efforts in order to make it effective so that school fees/tuition do not increase for the reason that they [TVET institutions] say they buy consumables,” he said. “Consumables will be purchased by the Government,” he said, adding that, even in general education; it is the Government that covers the cost of laboratory equipment, not the students. The Minister of Education, Valentine Uwamariya said that there is a cost that is paid for industries to receive TVET students so that they acquire skills under the learning by doing approach. However, she said that they are also trying a special approach. She said that, every year, students in level three four and five have to work in industries for a number of hours. But, this year, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, industries that used to receive the students refused to do so because they were employing few workers – sometimes 30 percent, sometimes 50 percent – as they were complying with the guidelines meant to curb the spread of the pandemic. In line with addressing the issue, she said that the funding allocated to TVET consumables helped use the workshops at the establishments, and enabled students to spend more time doing practical works. “We realise that if workshops at TVET institutions are strengthened, they can be helpful and reduce the cost that was being paid in industries,” she said. Narrowing the funding shortage During the budget hearing held in May this year, officials from the Ministry of Education and its affiliated entities said that training consumables for TVET schools were allocated Rwf2.5 billion, while training consumables for IPRCs were allocated Rwf1.3 billion. However, Rwanda Polytechnic officials expressed concern that, with such funding, IPRCs were facing a financing gap of more than Rwf6.2 billion. “We will use the small amount that we were allocated, then, in case of no further funding, consider how we can adjust to teach only theory,” Aimable Nsabimana, Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Administration and Finance at RP told lawmakers during the budget hearing, referring to the insufficient funding for TVET consumables. The increase in funding announced by the Prime Minister implies that the shortage of funding will be narrowed.
