On the 22nd February 2019, the Government of Rwanda launched Nyabihu TVET School & Rwanda Coding Academy in Nyabihu District, Western Province.

 Nyabihu TVET School is one of the Presidential pledges and it is located in, and supervised by, Nyabihu District. It has been recently established as a Training Center aiming at increasing access to TVET. This modern school has been established by the Government of Rwanda in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) who contributed to the construction, equipment and training of staff. The school trains young Rwandans from across the country in four trades that respond to the labor market needs of the country, namely; Culinary Art, Food processing, Welding, and Leathercraft. The School is currently hosting 129 students.

 On the other hand, the School is hosting Rwanda Coding Academy (RCA), a special model school that has been conceived by the Government of Rwanda and initiated by partner institutions: Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), Ministry of ICT and Innovation (MINICT), Rwanda Polytechnic (RP), Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA), Rwanda Education Board (REB) and Workforce Development Authority (WDA).

 Rwanda Coding Academy opened its doors for the first time on 4th February 2019 starting with 60 students in total - 30 girls and 30 boys, who were among the top achievers in STEM subjects in last year’s (2018) O’ Level National Exams. This model school will graduate its students in a period of 3 years attended by students who are “Born To Code “determined to pursue a life-time coding career at an early age to emerge as global software engineers. The students from this coding school are envisioned to possess competencies to fit into the industries right after 3 years but also undertake University degree engineering programs specifically designed for them.

 The program aims at addressing 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. The program is deliberately designed and supported by Government to provide students with a conducive learning environment with 50% of software instructors being resident at the site while the other 50% will be coming from the industry sector (local and regional software companies) to allow students to learn from practical software development projects.

 The training of Youth at an early age comes with high energy, creativity, and talents, which are also the key to future prosperity. However, the current education system has not been a solution to equip them with practical skills and experiences needed to access the full range of available employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. Therefore, Rwanda Coding Academy comes to respond to the recommendations of the “Rwanda Digital Talent Policy” as approved by the Cabinet in April 2018.

 The “Digital Talent Policy” calls for initiatives to strengthen a framework of ICT training and qualification in Rwanda, placing emphasis on hands-on and market-oriented ICT skills, specifically introducing software programming to learners at elementary levels in order to address current shortages of software developers on market.