Kigali,  26 August 2021:  The Minister of Education Dr Valentine Uwamariya officiated the virtual wrap-up meeting with the World Bank team led by Rolande Pryce, Country Manager in Rwanda, to wind up the Mid-Term Review Mission for Rwanda Quality Basic Education for Human Capital Development Project implemented jointly by the Ministry of Education and Rwanda Basic Education Board.

The 10-day World Bank Mid-Term Review conducted from 17th to 27th August 2021 intended to review the mid-term progress of project implementation; review the progress of each indicator in the overall Project Results Framework; reconsider the feasibility of project targets in light of new contextual developments and project implementation achievements so far.

In her remarks, the Minister of Education Dr Valentine Uwamariya cherished the World Bank team for convening the mission to evaluate progress made on agreed milestones and assured that their efforts will not be in vain.

"I thank the WB team for conducting this mid-term review to assess progress made on agreed milestones and for the continued support in the education sector especially interventions that target to improve learning outcomes in basic education.  I give assurance and commitment that this project will continue to be monitored to ensure that the objective of improving teacher competency and student retention and learning in basic education is achieved within the remaining period despite COVID-19 disruption".

The World Bank Country Manager in Rwanda Rolande Pryce appreciated the project progress and results. “We are really at a crucial moment because the Government of Rwanda did something fantastic by being able to accelerate the delivery of infrastructure component and this is going to bring tremendous benefits in terms of achieving learning outcomes". She said.

Rwanda Quality Basic Education for Human Capital Development Project is the World Bank financed project with a total loan amounting to 200 Million USD and is implemented jointly by MINEDUC and REB. Its implementation started in March 2020, following the financing agreement signed by both Government of Rwanda and the World Bank on 1st August 2019.

The project’s development objective is to improve teacher competency and student retention with the main focus of reducing overcrowding and long distance to school in basic education by constructing 11,004 classrooms and 14,680 latrines across all districts out of the total 22,505 classrooms and 31,932 latrines constructed by the Government of Rwanda in mass construction activities. Other areas of intervention of this project include enhancing teacher effectiveness for improved student learning through improving teachers’ English language proficiency and digital skills, support professional development of mathematics and science teachers, strengthen the preparation of new teachers, developing model schools to support innovative instructional practices as well as developing institutional capacity to strengthen teaching and learning.

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