Turkey to open TVET school in Rwanda

Turkish Ambassador to Rwanda, Burcu Çevik. / File

Turkey will establish a new Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) school in Rwanda, the Turkish Ambassador Burcu Çevik has revealed.

The envoy who was speaking to Sunday Times in an exclusive interview on Friday said the school will provide quality education to Rwandans.

"We want to open a school in Kigali to provide technical and vocational training. We believe this is important because Rwanda is also relying on its human resources who require quality skills," she noted.

"This is just a plan now but we hope it will materialize" given the discussions that have already taken place between Turkish and Rwandan officials.

The Maarif Foundation conducts such educational activities on behalf of the Turkish Government. The Foundation is a Turkish institution under the Education Ministry which runs hundreds of schools across the world with the support of Turkish public money.

Maarif wants to open a similar school in Rwanda.

Çevik said a delegation from the foundation will visit Rwanda in December to kick start technical negotiations, which will eventually pave way for the opening of the school.

Rwanda has, for the past few years, embarked on investing in and promoting TVETs as alternative institutions providing hands-on skills required for the job market. 

Turkey, on the other hand, is known as one of the countries that are most advanced in implementing TVET.

The Ambassador said Turkey would contribute its expertise within that area, and that with the introduction of the school, more Rwandans who are unable to go to Turkey would access education.

Currently, Turkey provides scholarships to Rwandan students. Last year, 45 students went to study in Turkey and this year 35 also got the opportunity.

The Maarif Foundation has been taking over the educational institutions of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), after the group orchestrated a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, which resulted in the killings of hundreds of people, and left others injured.

In Rwanda, Hope Kids Academy, which was linked to the group, was closed down in 2017 at the request of the Turkish Government.

The planned TVET School will be completely different from the previous school, the Ambassador said.

Rwanda is attracting international academic institutions that provide a quality education that is desperately needed to position the country into a knowledge-based economy.

Already, it is home to widely recognized institutions like Carnegie Mellon University, African Leadership University, Oklahoma University, and the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and others.

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