EDPRS II – Giving young people the skills they need to propel Rwanda to middle income status

Given Rwanda’s ambition to become a middle income country by 2020, a variety of specialised competitive skills are required. In addition, young people need to have decent jobs when they graduate.

Rwanda is planning, through the second economic development and poverty reduction strategy (EDPRS II) to be launched this week, to provide economic opportunities to young people through skills development programs and investment in ICT.

The first EDPRS program focused on providing Rwanda’s children universal access to school. In five years, 98% of primary children had access to school, free of charge. Special emphasis has been placed on making sure girls have equal opportunity to study, especially in science and technology.

EDPRS II focuses on increasing high school enrolment as well increasing the quality of education through curriculum reform and the integration of technology. While university enrolment numbers are increasing, not everyone can and should go to university.

The government introduced Integrated Polytechnics Regional Centres (IPRCs) and Technical Vocational Education and Training institutions (TVETs) to increase Rwanda’s technical and vocational capacity as well as providing young people competitive labour market skills that meet growing demand.

Minister of Labour and Public service, Anastase Murekezi said that there is strong evidence of a causal relationship between skills and growth in incomes. “This evidence reveals that it is not just the years of education that contribute to economic growth, but the quality of the quality of the education that is received and the skills that the people acquire,” said Minister Murekezi.

To make sure Rwanda is addressing both things, quality of education and competitive skill set, it has been given prominence in EDPRS II. This means the provision of scholarship opportunities to address gaps in the labour market while at the same time having job creation programs that make sure young people have decent jobs when they graduate.

Not just young people The thematic area doesn’t just address job creation for young people, however. Priority has also been placed on the creation at least 300,000 off farm jobs per year for the next five years.

This will see farm workers transitioned into microenterprises and SMEs, as well as growth and formalization of existing small businesses and the growth and expansion of the formal sector. As with all the thematic areas of EDPRS II, giving young people opportunities helps reduce poverty, propels the economy and secures the sustainability of Rwanda’s progress.

Source:www.gov.rw.