The Rwandan government is not relenting in making the country a technological dreamland and develop into one of the top destinations in Africa for innovation. A better way to improve on the initial initiative is what the country’s government just did.
The government of Rwanda launched its first publicly backed coding school. The school accepts students who would have shone in STEM courses (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics).
Reason for this is not far-fetched. The country is seeking to do away with foreign labour on tech jobs in the future, according to Rwanda’s ICT Minister.
This is a big deal because it is rare to see an African government devoting $4 million for a coding school, especially when you can count the number of governments embarking on similar initiatives.
In 2018, the Rwandan government in its effort to bolster technology education joined forces with software education and developer placement company, Andela to train Rwandans developers. They also unveiled an innovation fund that caters for the country’s youths with their tech research and innovation. This fund will also help create an enabling environment to learn, train and develop tech talents in the country.
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More recently, Nigerian based Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) announced launching a Design Lab in Rwanda’s Capital in the coming weeks. The Hub’s CEO, Bosun Tijani said the Design Lab will be the ‘first of its kind’ in Africa.
As the Public Coding School project kicks off, sixty students across the country have been selected to begin their studies in software programming and will be hosted at Nyabihu Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) School, in Nyabihu District.
Rwanda’s Ministry for Education will link the students with companies in their respective fields – both locally and internationally – for them to go on with their training and compete at a global level. Top performers will also receive scholarships to continue their studies in some of the leading ICT schools across the globe.
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