At least 140 specialist educators arrived in Rwanda from Zimbabwe over the weekend under a teacher bilateral exchange programme by both governments in education and human capital development.
The arrangament is being carried out under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed three years ago between Kigali and Harare, which provides for the exchange of skilled personnel in critical sectors such as education, health and information and communication technologies.
Zimbabawe Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Simon Masanga, said the teachers underwent a comprehensive pre-departure orientation programme last week at a local school in Harare to prepare them for their assignment in Rwanda.
“We have an MoU with Rwanda focusing on the exchange of specialists between the two countries, but at the moment Zimbabwe is the one sending specialists to Rwanda,” Mr Masanga said.
He said Zimbabwe dispatched the first batch of 154 specialists, the majority of them teachers, to Rwanda three years ago, and their impact had been widely acknowledged by both the Rwandan Government.
“We have health-related professionals and ICT specialists, but the majority are education specialists and they have done wonders in Rwanda,” Mr Masanga said.
“We were in Rwanda a few weeks ago to assess both the living and working conditions of our specialists. I have never seen such excitement. They have mastered the local language, integrated into the community and the Government of Rwanda is extremely pleased with the contribution they are making,” he said.
Zimbabwe is known for training professionals that are on demand the world over.
