Creating an ecosystem for IT education from primary school to first job in rural Rwanda

No banana software

The challenge:

In rural areas, many young people face an uncertain future. Due to population growth, there is not enough land for all the children in a family to become farmers. In addition, many young people are very interested in vocational training outside of agriculture.

The contraints:

Fortunately, Rwanda is pursuing a determined digitalisation strategy. There is no nationwide postal service, but even the most remote villages have internet access, which can be used to apply for an identity card online. The IT sector offers great employment potential.

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The solution:

To ensure that young people in rural areas also have the opportunity to benefit from this development, we are working on systematically establishing an ecosystem for IT training in the rural Juru sector in Rwanda with the following projects.

• Construction of kindergartens (to prepare children for primary school)
• Construction of additional classrooms for schools
• Electrification of schools with solar panels, electrical installations and lighting
• Setup of smart classrooms with modern computers, projectors, multifunction printers and internet connection
• Teaching teachers IT and English
• Supporting ‘coding clubs’ where pupils learn programming after school by providing highly qualified mentors.
• Supporting the establishment of two three-year vocational training courses in IT at the ES Juru TSS vocational school
• Support for the renovation and expansion of the dormitories

The lighthouse project:

One flagship project is the support provided to the ES Juru TSS vocational school in the construction of a new school building and the establishment of two smart classrooms, which are scheduled for completion in December 2024. ES Juru TSS, located in the market town of Kabukuba with a population of 8,000, began a three-year training course in computer systems architecture with 30 participants in these rooms in September 2025. The ‘Software Development’ training course is scheduled to follow in September 2026. The existing training courses in construction trades use the IT infrastructure to learn CAD programmes. As in Germany, this is a dual training programme, but school lessons and in-company training are organised in blocks. The vocational school has a boarding school, as the distances to the students' homes are too long for daily commuting. The next major challenge is to renovate the existing dormitories and expand them so that they can adequately accommodate approximately 600 students. Currently, almost all beds are double occupied.

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The focus of our fundraising efforts is on financing the dormitories, which we estimate will cost between €160,000 and €180,000. We are aiming for mixed financing from subsidies and private donations, as 100% funding from public or private donors is unrealistic. We also need financing for the coding clubs (the third coding club will start operating in January 2026) and for the scholarship holders for whom we have not yet found ‘sponsors’. Together with you and our members/regular donors, we can achieve this goal and move step by step closer to completing the integrated ecosystem for IT education at all ten schools in the Juru sector.