Digital skills for quality TVET in Rwanda

Context

The project responds to Rwanda’s urgent need to strengthen technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and improve youth employability. 

With the ambition of increasing vocational enrolment and becoming a knowledge-based economy, Rwanda faces challenges such as high training costs, limited digital tools, weak online learning capacity, and poor alignment of training with labour market needs. The Covid-19 crisis has exposed these limitations, especially in TVET.

This initiative promotes blended learning by combining classroom and online instruction, thereby helping to improve education quality, resilience and skills relevance. It enhances ICT infrastructure, trains teachers in digital pedagogy and strengthens data systems for monitoring. Students gain practical, digital and soft skills; teachers build their technological capacity; and employers benefit from a better-prepared workforce. By modernising the system and empowering key actors, the project reinforces national capacity and lays the foundation for scalable, future-ready TVET.

Objectives

The project’s overall objective is to modernise Rwanda’s TVET system by integrating digital technologies and promoting blended learning to improve education quality and better prepare youth for employment. Specifically, it aims to: 

• strengthen ICT infrastructure in technical schools to enable effective online instruction;
• equip and train teachers to deliver blended learning;
• improve data systems for quality monitoring and informed decision-making.

By piloting innovative methods in select schools, the project establishes a scalable and inclusive model to enhance student outcomes, increase motivation and digital readiness, and ensure stronger links between education and labour market needs.

Beneficiaries

Primary beneficiaries are students in TVET, who receive a better education through blended learning. TVET teachers benefit from digital equipment and training. The private sector gains access to more skilled graduates, while technology companies can expand by offering services to support digital learning. The Rwanda TVET Board, the Rwanda TVET Trainer Institute, and 11 technical secondary schools also benefit from stronger data systems for informed policy-making.

Target geographical area

The project operates across Rwanda, targeting 11 technical secondary schools located in 11 districts distributed throughout all five provinces. Schools are selected based on their alignment with industry needs and their potential to enhance employability, gender balance and social inclusion. This nationwide approach ensures equitable access to quality vocational education and supports skills development in key economic sectors.

Stakeholders

The project is implemented in partnership with Rwandan institutions, notably the Rwanda TVET Board and the Rwanda TVET Trainer Institute, under the overall strategic oversight and policy guidance of the Ministry of Education. These local actors play a central role in strengthening vocational education by supporting teacher training, curriculum development and system-wide improvements, ensuring that the initiative is rooted in national priorities and responsive to local needs.