As part of its partnership with Imbuto Foundation, Vivo Energy Rwanda staff visited students at Ecole des Sciences Byimana located in Muhanga, Southern Province Friday, 25th October, 2019 and donated technology equipment including projectors, a Hisense Ultra HD TV, and printers that will be used to enhance education and improve the academic performance of students.
Launched in 2001, Imbuto Foundation supports different initiatives through programs in health, education, youth and economic empowerment. As a way of supporting Imbuto Foundation agenda in promoting girls’ education, VIVO ENERGY Rwanda has for five years now complemented the Foundation efforts, offering scholarships to female students from economically vulnerable backgrounds in their pursuit of education.
As a company that hires individuals mainly with a background in science and technology, VIVO ENERGY Rwanda aims at supporting efforts in equipping students with tools and skills they will need to succeed in the job market. Sarah Doukoure, Vivo Energy Rwanda Managing Director stresses that all businesses in Rwanda including VIVO Energy Rwanda are in need of a proactive, tech savvy and futuristic workforce. “The best way to achieve this is by embracing technology, being less theoretical and more practical by exposing students to real work situations and training them in skills that are directly transferable to the industry”
In a short interview with Cyuzuzo Valentine, one of the students that Vivo Engen Rwanda supports, she recounted how hard it used to be for her mom to pay tuition fees and how she faced suspension so many times before Imbuto Foundation and Vivo Energy Rwanda intervened. “I have always wanted to pursue a career in medicine and thanks to Vivo Energy Rwanda and Imbuto Foundation support, I can maximize my intellectual potential. I am now in my form five in the Physics, Chemistry and Biology combination and I am confident that I will be a valuable addition to the Rwandan workforce.”
Singirankabo Jean Nepomuscene, Dean of Studies at Ecole des Sciences Byimana says using technology in teaching helps break down the barriers of formal, strict learning and allows students to develop a skill set that makes them marketable to employers. “In traditional learning, it is sometimes difficult for students to get a concept; and some books’ contents are too hard to understand or are just not broad enough in scope, making it difficult for students to conduct desk research. Digital simulations and models help students better understand various disciplines and expand ways in which students demonstrate what they have learned.”
“With this donation, teachers will be able to use projection systems and video screening and hence allow students to spend more time focused on the lecture and less time copying formulas from the board,” he adds.
Ecole des Sciences Byimana which belongs to the Congregation of Marist Brothers was founded in 1952 and currently counts eight hundred and three students with more than two hundred thousand alumni. The school strives to equip students with indispensable tools that will help them survive in a rather competitive business sphere once they graduate.
