Announcement of Rwanda to Undertake Second Education Project with Ten Million US Dollars IDA Credit on June 17, 1982

f" ....... " . .. ;· IMM.EDIATE R~~~~SE .. W rldBank ·1 s1 s H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-'1234 IDA NEWS RELEASE NO. 82/88 CONTACT: Pamela Brennan Jun® 17, 1982 (202) 477-5344 RWANDA TO UNDERTAKE SECOND EDUCATION PROJECT WITH $10 MILLION IDA CREDIT Rwanda's efforts to meet acute shortages of qualified teacher~ will· be ~~sisted through an SDR 9 million ($10 million) credit from the International Development Association (IDA). The World Bank's affiliate for concessionary lending will support an $11.6 lil!dllion project to expand secondary school facilities for training in commerce, nur§ing,and primary teachingo This is the second IDA-supported education project in the country, the first credit of $8 million was approved in 1975. The project will improve training standards in these disciplines and implement curricula reform to meet the country's needs. Emphasis will be placed on increased educational opportunities for girls and the development of local pedagogical and administrative expertise. Under the project, the output of the Commerce Training College at Muramba, 100 kilometers northwest of Kigali, is expected to double to about 140 graduates annually and eventually increase to 170, A new training school for nurses will also be established at Gisenji providing 100 student places. Two extensions of 330 student places each will be built to increase teacher training college enrollment at Save and Zaza. An increase in trained teachers is vital to improve the high proportion of unqualified staff now in the system. Technical assistance for the project will be provided to assess teacher tr~ining needs to the year 2-000 and to evaluat,e paramedical teaching methods with a vi~~ to revising them to meet Rwandese requirements. The IDA credit is for 50 years, including 10 years of grace; it carries no interest but bears a small annual service charge of 0.5% on the undisbursed balances of the credit, and 0.75% on the disbursed balances. NOTE~ IDA credits are denominated in SDRs (Special Drawing Rights), which are vBJ.lued on the basis of a "basket" of currencies. The U.S. dollar eq•li valent of the SDR amount of the IDA credit reflects the exchange rates existing at the time of negotiation of the credit.