Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: Haim Zach/GPO.
JNS.org – Israel’s embassy in Rwanda donated nearly $100,000 to purchase computers and other equipment for schools, the Rwandan daily The New Times reported this week.
Under the UN Children’s Fund Giga project, educational institutions are being hooked up to the Internet, noted the report, adding that the International Telecommunication Union is also a partner in the program to connect every school on Earth to the Internet by 2030.
Rwanda has been chosen by the UN Broadband Commission in 2020 to lead implementation in Africa.
Ron Adam, Israeli ambassador to Rwanda, said his country was pleased to support the program, saying, “education is the foundation of everything and this goes hand in hand with the quality. In this era, you can’t talk about quality while excluding technology.”
“We believe that this support from Israel will be another stepping stone for Rwanda to realize its ambition of universal connectivity in schools and becoming a knowledge-based economy,” he added.
Of the 63 Rwandan schools taking part in Giga, only 29 percent have the needed computers and other equipment, the report said, citing UNICEF.
UNICEF country representative to Rwanda Julianna Lindsey said, “this generous support … will enable the purchase of laptops for teachers in schools that are being connected to the Internet across the country. The funding also [helps] bridge the digital divide in schools, which is a barrier to quality learning.”
