Demystifying Brain Drain: Why Rwandan Scholars Are Returning Home, a KT Press Report

USA - English

• India - English

KIGALI, Rwanda, March 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 23, 2010, Jean Leon Iragena, 24, received a phone call from Rwanda Education Board officials informing him that he had been awarded the Presidential Scholarship to study in the U.S.

He had to undergo an English proficiency test together with 120 other students from which only 30 were selected. 

Iragena passed and was admitted at Millsaps College, where he graduated with bachelor's degrees in Applied Mathematics and Quantitative Economics.

Desire Gacinya, head of scholarships department at REB, says Iragena is among 411 students who have benefited from the Presidential Scholarship Program.

In 2006, President Paul Kagame travelled to United States to receive his honorary doctorate degree at the Oklahoma Christian University in recognition of his exemplary role in transforming Rwanda.

While there, Kagame launched the program. Since then, top German, U.S. and UK universities started admitting Rwandan students to pursue Science and Technology studies. Gacinya says the program targets students who opt for courses that address the country's priorities.

The program is part of Rwanda's pursuit to become a middle-income economy under its Vision 2020.

Key to this vision is a scholarships program President Kagame introduced in 2005, aimed at skilled labour.

All those that graduated under the scholarship come back to Rwanda to serve their country. "They are all over serving the country in different capacities," Gacinya told KT Press.

For instance Iragena, a vulnerable orphan of one mother, is now CEO and founder of Isaro-Foundation, a charity that empowers young Rwandans to improve the culture of reading and writing. He ships books from the U.S. and distributes them in schools across the country. He also sponsors young writers to publish.

"When I arrived in US... I struggled to read and write English," he told KT Press. "After mastering the language, I decided to take it back home for young Rwandans to benefit," he added.

Another beneficiary of the program, Aloys Zunguzungu, with a bachelor's degree in computer engineering, has established an NGO-Rwandans4water, which installs boreholes in the country's rural areas of Gasabo, Gatsibo and Nyagatare districts.

He has established 70 boreholes serving 350,000 families with access to clean water. "His work is exceptional," says Gilbert Rumanzi, a resident of Nyagihanga sector in Gatsibo District.

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