Rwanda: MTN connects schools to off-grid power, equips teachers with ICT skills

About 10,000 students in eight rural schools will be able to conduct their night studies without fear of power cuts thanks to MTN Rwanda’s annual 21 Days of Y’ello Care. The volunteer drive, which ended on June 30, focused on school electrification this year, according to a statement from the telecom firm.

Gunter Engling, the telecom’s chief executive officer, said the MTN team provided solar facilities to eight schools in underprivileged and rural areas during the exercise.

«Staff installed electrical cables, fixed solar panels and connected batteries to provide electricity to over 10,000 students in the schools,» he said at the end of the 10th Y’ello Care programme last week.

MTN Rwanda staff also trained 120 teachers to enhance their ICT teaching skills, and installed computers in schools. They also participated in the construction of a classroom block in the Eastern Province that will accommodate 500 students, Engling added.

He commended the staff for contributing to community wellbeing through the telecom firm’s annual employee volunteer programme, which supports education initiatives across all its operations. For the past 10 years, MTN employees have embarked on impactful and diverse community projects during the month of June each year.

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«The 10 years of investing in communities is a milestone that the firm is both proud and excited to have achieved,» Engling said.

Chris Maroleng, the MTN Group corporate affairs, commended staff for going the extra mile.

«When Y’ello Care started, we could not have envisioned the kind of difference it would make in our communities. Now, 10 years on, looking at the exceptional efforts being made by MTN staff, from the building of schools for communities in need, to the building of digital skills to better equip future leaders, all these have helped change people’s lives.

«I applaud the MTN staff that selflessly give back, contributing to making communities better, and furthering the cause of quality education for all,» said Maroleng.

Generally, the volunteer initiative has seen MTN staff conduct robotics and coding camps for school learners in Swaziland, as well as establish a computer lab at an orphanage in Afghanistan, and laying of fibre to enable school connectivity in Kenya, among others.