It is an annual meeting that is going to take place for the sixteenth time, discussing the general health of the country. Here, participants get to give their opinions and make decisions that should be implemented to improve the state of affairs.
As Rwandans prepare for the 16th national dialogue, IGIHE went back to look at how eight decisions made during the previous one have been implemented.
Education
The 15th edition of Umushyikirano made the decisions including to “continue setting strategies and reforms aimed at promoting the quality of education at all levels of education, evaluating academic curriculum, enhancing languages teaching, increasing the number of schools offering science and vocational courses, and fighting causes that make children to abandon school.”
Among what has been done about this decision, the Ministry of Education announced that primary and secondary schools’ curricula are being assessed, such that in 2020, the academic year will start in September.
In enhancing languages teaching, in March this year, it was announced that there was an ongoing strategy consisting of a prerequisite English test for teachers so as to identify their skills levels and assist them accordingly to deepen their knowledge. Those who fail to improve will be dismissed.
This approach will be used for students who have graduated in each level of the secondary schools, colleges, and universities, where someone who fails the English test will not be able to graduate from one level to another.
Regarding increasing the number of vocational and technical schools, Minister of Education Dr. Eugène Mutimura, when he recently launched the exams ending secondary studies, said that some things have been achieved and that the process will be continuous.
“We target to have achieved 60% of children attending vocational and technical schools by 2024. We have achieved nearly 45%. There are some 10 schools that we are going to build in partnership with the Government of India,” he said.
Health
In health, a decision was made to increase infrastructures and continuously build the capacity of health workers, making efforts in dealing with various diseases and providing better services.
In terms of increasing infrastructures, the Government of Rwanda in the 2018/2019 national budget, announced that it would build and rehabilitate six hospitals on a district level, which would cost up to Rwf30 billion.
The hospitals include Byumba Hospital in Gicumbi and Munini Hospital in Nyaruguru District.
There are also new hospitals that will be built including Nyarugenge District Hospital, Nyabitekeri Hospital in Muhanga District, Gatunda Hospital in Nyagatare District and Gatonde Hospital in Gakenke District.
In terms of building the capacity for health care workers with an emphasis on epidemic diseases, in November 2018, the Ministry of Health launched training programs for doctors to empower them to cope with and prevent Ebola.
It came after the epidemic claimed more than 200 lives in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The meeting also made the decision to encourage parents and imparting the skills about children’s development, taking care of healthy eating, hygiene and developing early childhood development centers (ECDs).
A campaign was conducted in all districts about early joint childhood development services including healthy diet as well as child and mother health.
The campaign focused on 13 districts with a large number of stunted children including Rusizi, Karongi, Rutsiro, Nyabihu, Ngororero, Rubavu, Kayonza, Bugesera, Gakenke, Ruhango, Huye, Nyamagabe and Nyaruguru.
Economy
In economy, the decision to work with the private sector has been made to ensure that industries and citizens have access to electricity at an affordable cost in a bid to facilitate investments.
In facilitating, people to access electricity, Rwanda Energy Group (REG) in April announced new reforms to enable its customers to access better services and to deal with the challenges they used to face including frequent power failures.
Among the reforms that REG started, include enhancing the capacity of the power supply system, a technological system of tracking the frequency of blackouts, buying electricity online and reducing the time it takes for someone to get power.
In August, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), announced new electricity prices that significantly facilitate industry owners.
RURA said that industries will be charged for electricity depending on the period of time it is in use, with high cost during peak and low cost during off-peak hours.
It was also decided to increase saving awareness and support domestic products (Made in Rwanda, Start in Rwanda, Grow in Rwanda and Beyond), with the aim of creating and improving jobs and reducing the gap between imports and exports.
In reducing the gap between exports and imports, the Central Bank (BNR) in August announced that Rwanda’s export exports increased by 23.2% in the first six months of 2018, to $463.16 million from $375.91 million in the same months last year.
Rwanda’s import-export deficit reduced by 2% in the first six months of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017.
In promoting the products made in Rwanda, industries such as Volkswagen in June 2018 started assembling cars in Rwanda.
The promotion of products made in Rwanda involves encouraging Rwandans to buy them, especially public servants who have recently been required to wear, at least one, one clothing made in Rwanda per month.
Culture
Culture, as a major pillar of national health, was not forgotten in the 15th edition of Umushyikirano. It was decided to maintain the values of our culture and to further educate young people and Rwandans living abroad in order to help us accelerate our development.
Rwanda Academy of Language and Culture (RALC) in October published a book that incorporates the nation’s values and customs. It is aimed at helping parents, educators and students to understand the values of traditional culture and how to use them while abroad.
RALC says that the book is being sent to schools and working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to give it to Rwandans abroad.
There is also a decision to reinforce the collaboration between government institutions, parents, civil society and religious organizations and churches in a bid to enhance teaching English in the family, schools, and media programs.
RALC says that it has carried out different campaigns aimed at increasing knowledge in Kinyarwanda. In September this year, in all secondary schools that have an advanced level, there was started a Kinyarwanda essay competition for students. It is done by students competing to write poems and short stories in Kinyarwanda.
The final decision was to set up a retreat program to enable the youth to work together.
The retreat started from May to June this year. It replaced ‘Itorero’ which was meant for secondary school graduates.
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