As part of its vision to transform Rwanda in knowledge-based economy by the year 2020, and with people being the country’s most valuable resource, the government of Rwanda is committed to provide one laptop to all primary school children within five years.

The free laptops have been well received.

From October 29 to November 22, 2007 the first trial was conducted in Rwamagana primary school in eastern province. The trial aimed at identifying the requirements of the project before implementing it in all schools of the country. It involved 96 pupils and 4 teachers, and about 106 laptops were tried, with overall positive results.

However, during the trial it was noticed that issues of internet connectivity, hardware maintenance, electrical installation and the teacher training were the main challenges for a successful use of the machines.

According to Richard Niyonkuru, the one-laptop-per-child coordinator in the ministry of education, public primary schools will be given these laptops for free, whereas private ones will have to buy them. He further explained that the first delivery started in August 2008, and three public schools were selected to be the pioneer of the project.

These are Kagugu primary school in Gasabo district, which received 3,105 laptops, Nonko primary school with 855 machines, and Rwamagana primary school where 747 laptops were delivered. In total, 4,772 computers were handed out, including those for teachers.

The laptops have been well received. According to Pontien Ugirumurera, a teacher at Kagugu primary school, said the children are very enthusiastic and enjoy learning basic skills on computer.

“We teach them how to start and switch off the laptop, and the basics of using it, but some are showing great promise, considering their age—for instance, when surfing on the Internet they are able to use Google to find all kinds of information,” Ugirumurera said.

He also remarked that the laptops are good learning tools. “For instance, there are tools in the computer that show children how to pronounce words, apart from several other programs that can help pupils develop their reading and speaking skills,” the teacher explained.

A lot of money

Aline Uwimana, 9-year old studying in Primary 3, is certainly won over, now that she and her friends can write and draw pictures on the laptop. “But we hear that those in P5 and P6 can even talk through the machine (she referred to chatting, ed.), and that those connected on internet find it easy to study geography,” she said enthusiastically.

Parents, for their part, find the introduction of the computers a positive development, yet some complain at US$ 205 (about Frw 110,000) it is not easy to buy them.

“Even though we can pay in installments, it is still a lot of money,” said Serafina Mukashyaka, the mother of Emmanuel Niyomugabo studying in Primary 2 at Remera Academy. “We held a meeting between parents and the school management, and we suggested that the school could build a computer lab; but they replied that, whatever the case, in the end every child should have his own laptop.”

40,000 laptops

Another complaint is that, even though in public schools pupils are given the laptops for free, they are not allowed to take them home. The reason is that the computers are property of the schools, which are worried that they may be damaged. Yet parents counter that this prevents them from assessing their children’s progress.

“I would be proud to see my boy coming home with the laptop and show me how far he has come in using it,” explained Vestine Mutirende, whose son Olivier Ndizeye is a pupil at Kagugu primary school.  

In order to reach the goals of the “One laptop per child” project, the education ministry has established a steering committee to help with the sensitization of the concept, and to organize the distribution, logistics and implementation plan.

The objective is to have delivered 40,000 laptops to 120 schools before the end of the year. Moreover, a laptop-related new content module for primary schools should also be elaborated, and trainers on ICT in education should be deployed.