The Minister of Interior, Hon. GASANA Alfred urged the inmate trainees who graduated from different technical and vocational training trades offered in prisons to use the skills   they have gained for their development when they will be released from prisons.

 He encouraged them to combine both the skills and the good values they have gained to create jobs and be exemplary community members when they will be reintegrated into the community. 

He also reassured the RCS that the Government of Rwanda will continue to support them to professionally discharge their responsibilities to rehabilitate, reform and reintegrate the criminals handed to them by the courts.

The minister made the remarks on Thursday 26th May 2022 when speaking at the first graduation of the RCS TVETs at national level, which took place at the Nyarugenge prison, commonly known as Mageragere.

The ceremony  was graced by representatives from Government institutions, security organs , Non Governmental Organizations and the Embassy of the Netherlands among others. Among the 209 inmates who graduated, there are 106 women and 103 men.

Isaac IYAKAREMYE, one of the graduates who has already completed the four-year jail term handed to him for robbery, said that he currently lives a decent life that he owes from the IT skills he gained from the RCS TVETs Programme when he was serving his sentence. He now owns an IT business. He urged inmates that are still in prisons, especially the youth to tape into this invaluable chance granted to them.

The RCS TVETs programme was launched on 10th March 2021. The TVET training are scattered in five prisons namely Rubavu, Huye, Nyanza, Nyarugenge and Rwamagana. The training centers worth Frw4 Billion were constructed in partnership with the Kingdom of Netherlands, through its embassy in Rwanda. They offer trainings to inmates in ten (10) different technical trades. The training centers are composed of 12 workshops and classrooms which have been well equipped to enable inmates acquire skills in masonry, plumbing, motor vehicle mechanic, electricity, construction, tailoring, carpentry, leathercraft, ICT, hairdressing and beautification as well as welding.