The Rwandan Minister for ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire, has unveiled the country’s ambitious plan to provide internet connectivity to 3,000 unconnected schools by 2024, which represent 44.4% of all schools in the country. The initiative is part of the Smart Education Project, which is being funded by the China Exim Bank and the World Bank.
“We have the Smart Education Project, which has been set up with $30 million financing from China Exim Bank. The project is already underway and aims to connect at least 1,500 schools”, the minister revealed. By leveraging the funds from the China Exim Bank and the World Bank, it is expected that the project will extend internet access to the 3,000 schools that are not yet connected to the internet by 2024.
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Rwanda currently has a relatively low internet penetration rate of 31% and over 3.54 million internet users. However, once the initiative is completed, it is expected that more Rwandans will gain access to the internet, thereby improving internet penetration.
In addition, Rwanda is also currently implementing the Rwanda Digital Acceleration Project, which aims to provide last-mile internet connectivity. The project is being funded by the World Bank, and its total cost is estimated to be around $200 million, according to the minister.
