These articles were posted on the New Times website today.
Kagame explores new education partnerships.
USA – PRESIDENT Paul Kagame, Wednesday, visited the US based Greater Atlanta Christian School (GACS) located in Atlanta, Georgia with an aim of exploring an education partnership between the school and Rwanda.
The President is on a working visit to the US.
In line with the country’s vision 2020, GACS, is set to establish a Central Africa School of Excellence which will be based in Rwanda and Kagame was given an overview of the school’s master plan that will serve about 2000 students when complete.
According to the school’s president, Dr. David Fincher, the next step will be to determine the site of the complex in Rwanda.
In his remarks, President Kagame said that Rwanda is committed to investing in education so that the country can develop based on the knowledge and skills of its people.
“In Rwanda, education is a top priority because we consider it to be the key to unlocking our development objectives. All studies have shown that investments in human capital have invariably produced high economic returns,” Kagame said.
“We have no doubt that education empowers people, enlightens them, and in the end creates wealth for them”.
He added that Rwanda has made it a priority to provide access to quality education.
The President and his delegation were given a guided tour around various sections of the school including classrooms, ICT laboratories and recreational halls among others. The school was founded in 1961.
On the same day, Kagame travelled to Bentonville, Arkansas, where he met 81 Rwandan students who study under the Presidential Scholarship Program.
While addressing the group, President Kagame urged the students to excel in their studies after which they should return home ready to apply the acquired knowledge and contribute to the country’s development process.
The students study at five different colleges and universities in Arkansas under the Hendrix Program that supports top Rwandan students who qualify for the Rwanda Presidential Scholarship.
When it began in 2007, only four students were supported by the program. To-date, the number has grown to 81 and this year, 30 more will be admitted.
The students are pursuing degrees in Science and Technology with the largest group in the engineering faculty.
10 to graduate from Oklahoma University
USA – TEN Rwandan students will today graduate along with 300 classmates at the US based Oklahoma Christian University (OCU).
They will be the first to complete their studies under the Presidential Scholars programme that was signed between President Paul Kagame and OCU, during his first visit to the university in 2006.
Kagame will be one of the keynote speakers the graduation ceremony, and the First Lady,. Jeannette Kagame, is set to receive an honorary doctorate for her significant contribution to the worldwide fight against HIV/AIDS and poverty.
In a phone interview with The New Times, Aline Kabbatende, one of the 10 students, expressed her joy to be finally able to acquire a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering.
“I am very excited to finally come to the end and it will also be a rare opportunity, especially for us who are out of the country, to have our President and First Lady attending this graduation ceremony,” Kabbatende said.
“I believe that there is great need for skills in my country and I am hoping to acquire a job on return and contribute to my country’s development. Certainly, I also intend to go for further studies because I still feel like this is still not enough”.
Four others will also graduate in Electrical Engineering, two in Chemistry, one each in Computer Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and the other in Computer Science.
Kabattende added that from the beginning of last year, the scholars programme was also expanded to facilitate 10 Rwandan graduates to pursue their Masters’ Studies at OCU annually.
OCU’s president, Mike O’Neal, affirmed that Rwandan students have been outstanding performers in class and good citizens in the university community.
“Oklahoma Christian has formed a strong relationship with the leaders of Rwanda to help meet the long-term needs of President Kagame’s Vision 2020,” O’Neal said.
Under the Rwandan Presidential Scholars program, 10 top Rwandan high school students are brought to OC each year and today there are 60 students at the university.
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