The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Ngirente Edouard, officially kicked-off the 5^th Regional Forum for the Partnership in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET). This three-day forum is taking place in Kigali Convention Centre, from 20-22 May 2019.

The Premier started his remarks by recalling that this forum is focusing on the Implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and Digital Economy on Higher Education and Skills Development in Africa.

The Prime Minister says that this forum will help Africa to benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and to build all required skills to produce relevant technologies for Africa’s innovators, entrepreneurs and future leaders.

The Premier highlighted the consideration of quality and relevant education, trainings and research as core for technological innovation and entrepreneurship, as well one of the key principles of Africa’s Education Strategy.

“As Africans, our ambition should be to consider mathematics as an important tool that will help our students to develop their analytical thinking. In doing so, we should ensure that pupils who complete their primary schools are well equipped with relevant basic numeracy skills while those who complete their secondary schools have a minimum proficiency in Mathematics.” Premier Ngirente states.

PM Ngirente insisted that in Africa much was done, and countries are making efforts to promote the teaching of mathematics. He adds that it is high time that all African countries as they have done in promoting literacy also set up strategies that will guarantee teaching of mathematics at all levels of education. He commanded that languages should not be put aside as they are also the medium through which mathematics and other sciences are taught.

The Prime Minister called for a continuous investment in education and skills development because a highly educated labour force is the significant catalyst for transforming Africa’s economies.

The Premier indicated that this will move up the value chain into more job creating manufacturing and service sectors while increasing these sectors productivity levels. He further reminded that today, many African countries including Rwanda have been fully committed to their membership to PASET, as one of their key strategies to achieving the goal of quality relevant skills in higher education and research.

The Prime Minister also commended some of the initiatives undertaken by PASET, and one of them is the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) which will play a key role in training a critical mass of highly skilled scientists, professionals and innovators. This will be done through capacity building for research, innovation support and scholarships for at least 10,000 PhD trainings, doubling the number of PhDs in Sub-Saharan Africa in the next decade.

He further urged all African countries and their partners to support PASET in achieving its objectives. He ended his remarks by reiterating the commitment of the Government of Rwanda to support all initiatives of PASET.

Source: www.primature.gov.rw