The State of Israel through the Embassy of Israel in Rwanda has contributed Rwf100 million to purchase computers and other devices for teachers whose schools are being connected to the internet under the Giga project (“smart classes). The Giga project was launched in 2019 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), with the aim to provide connectivity to every school in the world by 2030. As co-chair of the UN Broadband Commission, Rwanda supported the initiative and in 2020, was chosen to lead its implementation in Africa. Speaking about the funding, Ron Adam, the Ambassador of Israel to Rwanda commended the strides Rwandas education sector has made over the years, noting that Israel is pleased to support the country’s ground-breaking goal of universal connectivity in schools. “Education is the foundation of everything, and this goes hand in hand with the quality. In this era, you can’t talk about quality while excluding technology, he said. We believe that this support from Israel will be yet another stepping stone for Rwanda to realize its ambition of universal connectivity in schools and becoming a knowledge-based economy,” he added. According to UNICEF, in the 63 schools where the Giga project is piloted, only 29 per cent of the required computers and other devices are available, hence the need for more effort to provide them. “We are grateful to the Israel Embassy in Rwanda for this generous support to the Giga connect initiative in Rwanda. It will enable the purchase of laptops for teachers in schools that are being connected to the internet across the country. The funding also comes to reduce the funding gap and bridge digital divide in schools, which is a barrier to quality learning,” said Julianna Lindsey, UNICEF Country Representative to Rwanda.
