Rwandan Minister of State for Education Claudette Irere (second from left), Ambassador to Rwanda Jeong Woo Jin (third from left) and Kim Jin-Hwa, country director of the KOICA Rwanda Office (second from right), on June 19 take a photo at the closing ceremony for a project to raise the ICT education capacity of Rwandan teachers and prospective educators and a completion ceremony for smart classrooms at Groupe Scolaire Dihiro in Rwanda.
By Wu Jinhua
Photos = Korea International Cooperation Agency
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is leading the information and communications technology (ICT) education revolution in Rwanda.
KOICA on June 29 said it held a closing ceremony for the project to boost the ICT education capacity of Rwandan teachers and prospective educators and another event to mark the completion of smart classrooms at Groupe Scolaire Dihiro (Dihiro School Group).
Launched in 2017, the program to bolster the ICT education capacity of Rwanda has provided USD 7.3 million in support over the past seven years.
KOICA has set up ICT education smart classrooms at 69 schools in the African country. It has also provided classroom refurbishment and provision of laptop PCs, LCD projectors and screens, and sound equipment.
The agency said, “We established a student-centric education system by adopting ICT in all classes, and this was highly significant in leading students toward self-directed learning and active class participation.”
Officials from both countries attended the ceremony including Ambassador to Rwanda Jeong Woo Jin, Kim Jin-Hwa, country director of the KOICA Rwanda Office, and Rwandan Minister of State for Education Claudette Irere. They were also joined by students there.
Ambassador Jeong said, “The Korean government will continuously boost cooperative relations for human resource development in Rwanda’s science and technology sector to ensure that the country’s rapid growth can be called another miracle in Africa.”
Minister Irere thanked the Korean government and KOICA for their dedication to improving the base of Rwanda’s ICT education, adding that Rwanda will further expand the project’s results.
In a joint statement announced at the Korea-Africa Summit in Seoul early this month, both sides agreed that raising the digital capacity of African youths was essential for sustainable development on the continent.
Students on June 19 attend a class at the newly opened smart classroom at the school Groupe Scolaire Dihiro in Rwanda.jane0614@korea.kr
