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RWANDA: New ProFuturo project provides technology education and equipment to 10 schools benefiting more than 6,000 children

(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries with the Africa Great Lakes province planning and development office are partnering with la Caixa Banking and Telefonica foundations to launch the ProFuturo project. The project will coordinate classes in technology and provide IT equipment that will impact more than 6,000 children in 10 schools in Kigali, Rwanda, according to a New Times article.

More than 1,000 tablets will be distributed with the goal of supporting the Rwandan government in promoting smart classrooms. The 10 schools will receive the tablets in addition to other IT equipment that will aid in teaching, learning and the positive use of information and communication technology in the education system. The project kicked off on Mar. 25 with the distribution of 144 tablets at a primary school.

“This is really good for us at GS Kicukiro (primary school) because it’s going to add to the already existing equipment and I’m sure that we will use them properly and efficiently to provide quality education to our pupils,” said Euzerius Rugasire, head teacher at the school. She also praised Salesian missionaries and other stakeholders for helping to boost technology use in schools.

Before receiving the IT equipment, 20 teachers from the 10 participating primary schools attended a three-day training on the proper use of the equipment that uses advanced technology and on how to conduct digital classrooms with ProFuturo solutions.

Brother Hubert Twagirayezu, the provincial economer in the region of Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, has noted that the ProFuturo project was launched based on the experience of the Telefonica Foundation. The foundation has worked for more than 10 years providing social intervention programs for children in vulnerable environments, contributing to the eradication of child labor and educational progress and training teachers in skills development to meet the challenges of the digital society, according to a New Times article.

“The main aim is to reduce the digital and social gap of children in vulnerable settings through the improvement in education quality and to make changes in the world using digital education, because through technology we will be able to give access to education to all children in the country,” said Bro. Hubert in a New Times article.

Missionaries have been living and working in the Great Lakes region of Rwanda for more than 50 years providing education and social programs to give youth hope for a brighter future.

Many of the country’s orphaned children are the tragic result of a violent civil war. Half of all children drop out of primary school and 2.2 million people—22 percent of the population—face critical food shortages. Rwandans are anxious to move their country forward, but need substantial help to do so.

After bravely overcoming the trauma of the 1994 genocide, Rwandans looking to transform their country have made remarkable progress. Still, much remains to be done. Close to 39 percent of Rwandans live in poverty, according to the World Bank. Rwanda is a rural, agrarian country with about 35 percent of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture and with some mineral and agro-processing.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Rwanda – Salesians in support of Information and Communication Technologies education

New Times – FEATURED: Salesians of Don Bosco roll out project to boost ICT in schools

UNICEF – Rwanda