Rwanda and the World Bank have signed an additional financing agreement worth $129 million (over 134 billion Rwandan francs) to, inter alia, support the government’s efforts to improve teacher capacity and student retention.
Funding from the Quality Basic Education for Human Capital Development (QBE) project includes a $50 million loan, a $50 million grant, and co-financing of a $29.062 million grant from the Global Partnership for Education ( GPE).
Over the past three years, the initiative has recorded gains in access to schools, as well as improved teaching and learning conditions.
For example, the steering committee that met on Tuesday, August 16 to, among other things, monitor the progress of the project, highlighted that among the 22,505 classrooms built, a total of 11,004 units were funded under the initiative.
Officials estimate that this has resulted in about 2.07 million school-aged children living within a 2-kilometer radius of home, and has reduced the student-to-classroom ratio at the primary level from 73 in 2019 to 49 in 2021.
More than 100,000 workers were employed, and there was a socio-economic crisis at the time.
“In 20 years, approximately 46 percent of Rwanda’s workforce aged 20-65 will be people who were in school or under the age of 5 during the pandemic, underscoring the importance of investments and reforms made today to ensure and improve learning,” , said Rolanda Price, World Bank country manager for Rwanda.
“This additional funding is a continuation of the World Bank’s support to the Government of Rwanda’s Vision 2050 program. It aims to play an important role in addressing the learning losses incurred during the Covid-19 pandemic,” she added.
The funds, officials said, will also be invested in providing innovative audio-visual programs as well as educational materials for the elementary school.
