Kigali, September 2, 2021: The Minister of Education Dr.Valentine UWAMARIYA, the Minister of Finance & Economic Planning Hon. Uzziel NDAGIJIMANA and KOICA Country Director Chon Gyong Shik, virtually signed a Record of Discussion whereby KOICA will  support Rwanda Coding Academy with the disbursement of USD 7.1 million.

In accordance with the Record of Discussion, KOICA will execute up to USD 7.1 million for the construction of a new RCA campus in Nyabihu District, Western Province, for the technical assistance, and various training programs designed to develop the capacity of a diverse range of stakeholders involved in the project over a 5-year period from 2021 to 2025. The Government of Rwanda will also provide USD 800,000 for the project, making the total value of project USD 7.9 million.

In her remarks, the Minister of Education Dr. Valentine UWAMARIYA said  “Rwanda Coding Academy Capacity Development project is a special project as the school was designed and established to train young people to shift from the consuming mindset to the producing mindset by providing technological solutions needed at the labour market.”

The Minister of Education further added: “This project will make Rwanda Coding Academy a Center of Excellence in Software Development & will provide our students with high quality practical skills at national &international level and this will contribute to the aspiration of making our country a regional ICT hub’’.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Hon Minister NDAGIJIMANA  thanked the Government of the Republic of Korea for partnering with the Ministry in this important project to enhance software skills development in Rwanda. ‘’This support comes to support our National Strategy for Transformation Pillar, with a focus on making Rwanda a Globally Competitive Knowledge –based Economy”

Mr. CHON Gyong Shik, Country Director of KOICA Rwanda Office noted that KOICA has three priority sectors in Rwanda, agriculture, education, and ICT, emphasizing that this project cuts across the two important sectors, education, and ICT.

Rwanda Coding Academy is a secondary school that was launched by the Government of Rwanda on the 22^nd  of February 2019 in Nyabihu District, Western Province, to address in a more sustainable manner the severe shortage of high caliber software experts on Rwandan market by producing a pool of world class Rwandan software engineers, specialized in the fields of software programing, embedded systems, and cyber security. It opened with 60 students in total - 30 girls and 30 boys, who were among the top achievers in STEM subjects in 2018 O’ Level National Exams. 

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