KIGALI, Rwanda, April 26, 2022/ — “eLearning Africa Conference is the opportune moment for Africa to reflect on challenges facing African education systems and provide sustainable solutions by outstandingly stimulating African talents.”
According to Rwanda’s Education Minister, Dr. Valentine Uwamariya. Rwanda’s Minister of ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire, added: “we need even greater mobilisation of all levels of Government and private sector organisations to develop impactful solutions that will ensure equitable and affordable access to broadband connectivity, in order to achieve the targets, set for 2025.”
Both ministers were speaking to eLearning Africa ahead of the conference as political leaders, education experts, and investors from all over the world prepare to head to Rwanda for eLearning Africa, one of the continent’s first major global, in-person conferences since the start of the Covid pandemic, scheduled to take place in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, from May 11-13.
Rwanda’s Education Minister, Dr. Valentine Uwamariya, said:
“Rwanda is a resilient, forward-looking country with a vision of becoming a globally competitive knowledge-based economy. Embracing competitive technology-assisted learning is one of the key enablers towards improving the quality of education and promoting independent and lifelong learning at all levels of education. We have seen the vital significance of eLearning during the Covid-19 pandemic as schools were forced to be temporarily closed.
However, the pandemic has also revealed that science and technology provide sustainable solutions to mitigate its impacts not only in developing countries but the whole World. Therefore, eLearning Africa Conference is the opportune moment for Africa to reflect on challenges facing African education systems and provide sustainable solutions by outstandingly stimulating African talents.”
“We have seen tremendous collaborations during the pandemic to enable greater access to digital services. Moving forward we need even greater mobilization of all levels of Government and private sector organizations to develop impactful solutions that will ensure equitable and affordable access to broadband connectivity, in order to achieve the targets, set for 2025.” said Rwanda’s Minister of ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire.
She added that she was delighted that the first eLearning Africa conference after the pandemic will be held in Rwanda.
“eLearning Africa and the opportunity it brings for dialogue between key stakeholders is so important. This conference, and the ministerial roundtable taking place at it, will give us a chance to focus our attention on how we can all work together, as a continent and as a global community, to use technology-assisted learning to boost growth and bring lasting change and prosperity.”
Conference founder Rebecca Stromeyer said that the conference is attracting “huge” levels of interest and support:
“People are delighted that we’re going ahead again. For our network of experts and professionals from all over the world, it’s going to be like a giant family gathering! They’re all looking forward to seeing each other and to making new friends and contacts. And we’ve had an enormous amount of interest from the corporate sector, including some of the biggest names in global edTech. Africa is the place to be right now for investors in education and technology.”
Ms Stromeyer said that it had not been difficult to persuade people to come to the conference, in spite of their experience over the past two years.
“There is widespread awareness of the fact that Rwanda has coped really well with the pandemic. Our participants will be well looked after in a superb conference location and we’re looking forward to seeing them for what promises to be a very significant conference.”
eLearning Africa is accompanied by an exhibition, featuring products, services, and courses offered by some of the world’s leading producers and providers. The conference itself offers a wide variety of opportunities for discussion, knowledge sharing, and networking, in the form of plenary sessions, workshops, seminars, and debates.
It also hosts a ministerial roundtable, at which ministers of ICT and education, together with officials and advisers, discuss emerging themes with experts, academics, and representatives of companies and organisations from around the world. The theme for this year’s roundtable is “A New Purpose for Education” and it will consider the practical challenges facing African countries, the implications of a single market, and the contribution Africa can make to global learning and providing solutions to global problems.
“Africa has so much to do and so much to give,” says Ms Ingabire. “We are looking to welcome everyone to Rwanda for this historic conference.”
