Up to 143 specialist educators from Zimbabwe are set to arrive in Kigali on Sunday, December 21, for deployment under a teacher exchange programme between the two countries that is already playing a vital role in Rwanda’s education reform journey. 

Their deployment is being carried out under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed three years ago between Rwanda and Zimbabwe. The MoU provides for the exchange of skilled personnel in critical sectors such as education, health, and information and communication technologies.

The Zimbabwean education specialists underwent a comprehensive pre-departure orientation programme in Harare to prepare them for their assignment in Rwanda. Zimbabwe’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Simon Masanga, said: “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.”

Zimbabwe dispatched the first batch of 154 specialists to Rwanda three years ago. The Zimbabwe government says the specialists are excited about their stay in Rwanda.

Apart from educators, Zimbabwe also deployed health practitioners and ICT specialists to Rwanda.

Masanga said their impact has been widely acknowledged by both the government and communities in Rwanda.

“We have health-related professionals and ICT specialists, but the majority are education specialists and they have done wonders in Rwanda,” Masanga told Zimbabwe’s state-run daily newspaper, The Herald.

He said the specialists are excited to be working in Rwanda.

“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,” Masanga said.

Relations between Rwanda and Zimbabwe continue to grow as the two countries signed over 30 cooperation agreements across various sectors, including police cooperation, correctional services, energy, health, tourism, and education, during the Third Joint Permanent Commission on Cooperation (JPCC) held in August in Rwanda.

Speaking recently on the sidelines of the Africa-Nordic Foreign Affairs Ministers’ Meeting in Victoria Falls, Rwanda’s foreign minister Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe commended the contribution of Zimbabwean teachers, describing the collaboration as a model for successful South-South cooperation.

“The impact is positive on our education sector. We have 154 Zimbabwean teachers who are currently in Rwanda, mostly in teacher training centres, where they teach English and mathematics. Others are at the University of Rwanda, teaching health sciences,” Nduhungirehe noted.