Visit of Rwandan Delegation
In January 2012, Irish technology syllabi and resources will be used by students in the Central Africa Republic of Rwanda. Recently a delegation from the Republic of Rwanda arrived in Ireland on a specially arranged Educational & Training visit to finalise this programme.
This visit was the culmination of over a year’s work which has seen the Republic of Rwanda Technology Development initiative task force receive guidance from the T4- Technology Subjects Support Service regarding the introduction of the Irish Engineering Technology and Design & Communication Graphic syllabi into Republic of Rwanda schools. The revised Irish technology syllabi were chosen by the Rwandan team because of the high level of technology advancement in the program which includes elements such as Computer Aided Drawing (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM), ICT, Robotics, Computer Control, Pneumatics, Electronics, Project Management, etc.
The Rwandan delegation, which included representatives from the ministry of education, higher level and upper secondary level of technical education, (see details attached) visited Scoil Ui Mhuire in Dunleer, Co. Louth and Sutton Park School, Sutton, Dublin 13, where they were given the opportunity to interact with students and meet with Engineering and Design & Communication Graphics teachers. The delegation then traveled to Galway where they were briefed by T4 staff at The Galway Education Centre, who run the overall programme in Ireland.
Pat Lynch,Regional Development Officer, T4 Technology Subjects Support Service has been working on the project for the last year; “We are delighted that the irish syllabi are recognised for their excellence in another jurisdiction and T4 will hope to continue to develop links which will allow students from very different economic and cultural environments to communicate and interact with each another”.
The Technology Subjects Support Service (T4) was launched in 2006 with a brief to support the introduction of three revised technology syllabi and a new syllabus called Technology. The four technological syllabi are: Architectural Technology; Design & Communication Graphics; Engineering Technology and Technology.
The Rwanda Delegation included:
Name |
Position |
Representing |
Remy Twiringiyimana, |
Director Science, Technology and Research in Educational and Research Institutions |
Rwanda Technology Skills Development Initiative, Ministry of Education, Republic of Rwanda, |
Pascal Gatabazi |
Principal Tumba College of Technology |
Higher Level Technical Education |
John Uwambajimana Sebahana |
Headmaster ETO Nyamata |
Upper Secondary Technical Education |
Also attending was:
About T4:
The support service (T4) has been involved in the delivery of a professional development programme for approximately 1500 DCG and 250 Technology teachers. It is this unique experience in the implementation of technology syllabi and the development of approximately 9,000 support documents and unique individual resources for teachers that is one of the main reasons for the visit to Ireland of the Rwanda delegation. |