The use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Rwanda's education system is undeniably playing an important role in enhancing the quality of education--with the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) pushing for strategies to use ICT as an enabler to achieve quality, equitable, and accessible education relevant to the job market.
MINEDUC is currently gearing up to roll out the 'Smart Education Project' and will reach a total of 1,500 sites (schools, all universities, and research centres included). The framework is a concessional loan of $30 million (approx. Rwf38.5 billion) from China's Exim Bank, to contribute to the digitalisation of the education system in Rwanda.
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Leo Mwumvaneza, the Smart Education Project Coordinator at MINEDUC, said the project aims at revolutionising not only the way schools/universities are connected to the Internet, but also how they are connected to the digital education content locally produced.
"We want easy access to this content which makes the Internet so important in our schools and universities. The project will establish an education and research network to enable easy sharing of locally produced digital education content and education management information systems through an intranet-- a computer network for sharing information, operational systems, and other computing services without necessarily passing through the internet.
"As schools and higher learning institutions will always need to access internet resources, through the facilities of education networks, the Smart Education project will provide a stable and reliable internet connectivity at a more affordable cost to both public and private schools/universities", he noted.
"Smart Education project will initially put up the network and data centre infrastructure capable of connecting all schools and universities country-wide and connect to an education network of 1,500 sites which include all higher learning institutions and schools. By July, all selected schools and higher learning institutions will be connected," he noted.
Since 2008, initiatives like One Laptop per Child (OLPC) in primary schools and smart classrooms since 2016 in secondary schools have enhanced access to technology. The current ratio stands at 8 students per computer in secondary schools and 10 pupils per computer in primary schools, which remains high--hence, the ongoing focus to increase availability of connected computing devices in schools.
According to Mwumvaneza, the penetration of devices in Rwandan schools underscores the necessity for reliable internet connectivity to support education effectively. Collaborative efforts led by MINEDUC, and various stakeholders have resulted in initiatives deploying diverse technologies such as 4G, Fibre, Satellite, and point-to-point connections.
Presently, over 75 per cent of secondary schools and 55 per cent of primary schools have access to the internet, and the growing integration of ICT in teaching and learning demands increased internet bandwidth for research and content creation.
Furthermore, a stable and high-quality internet is essential for administrative functions, including management systems and operations.
In this regard, Mwumvaneza emphasised the increased number of connected devices in schools, highlighting the inadequacy of current connectivity speeds to meet the demands of daily tasks such as accessing education management information systems (SDMS, CAMIS, e-learning platforms, etc.) in schools and universities.
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Leon Mwumvaneza said that much as a lot has been done to ensure schools are facilitated to use ICT in teaching and learning and other management operations, the cost of the internet is still very high. Therefore, the more bandwidth needed, the more expensive it becomes.
He noted, "With the constant need for higher bandwidth that can't be sustained due to high costs, MINEDUC looked for a more sustainable solution by implementing the education and research network."
"We expect schools to leverage the usage of these facilities so that we can see the improvements in our schools, witness students excelling on the global level because they will be accessing anything equitably like other learners in developed countries," he said.
He added: "We expect schools to be responsible. We're deploying expensive equipment in those schools. They should be responsible in terms of security so that they can keep connected."
