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Honorable Minister of Education
Vice Chancellor of the University of Rwanda
Esteemed Guests, Development Partners, Policy Makers, Practitioners and colleagues Scholars

It is with profound humility and a deep sense of purpose that I extend to you a most heartfelt welcome to the 3rd International Conference on Reshaping Education for Sustainable Development.
To serve as Conference Convenor for three consecutive editions of this esteemed gathering has been both a professional honor and a deeply enriching intellectual journey. Each iteration of this conference has reaffirmed a critical truth : that education ; when grounded in shared vision, collaborative action, and reflective dialogue, holds transformative power not only within classrooms, but across entire societies.

Organizing a conference of this magnitude is not a small task. It requires not just logistical precision but also intellectual alignment, sustained energy, and collective commitment. Behind the visible success of each session stands a silent army of devoted colleagues ; academics, administrators, and technical teams, whose efforts often stretch into the late hours, weekends and holidays. To each of you, I offer my most sincere gratitude. Your dedication has never been about serving the Convenor, but rather serving a much higher ideal, the pursuit of meaningful and sustainable change through education.

I must offer special appreciation to the University of Rwanda, particularly the College of Education and the Leaders in Teaching (LIT) Project Team. Your enduring support for the research mission and your belief in the power of academic convening have made this forum a recurring and respected space for intellectual exchange.

This year’s conference theme “Empowering Educators to Prepare Students for the Complex Challenges of Tomorrow” is both aspirational and urgent. It compels us to confront long-standing educational paradigms while embracing new possibilities. Our gathering today is not merely an academic exercise ; it is an act of intellectual stewardship and civic responsibility. In this space, we are not simply participants, we are co-architects of an educational future that must be more inclusive, responsive, and resilient.

In effect, these conferences are not episodic events. They are building a scholarly tradition and a legacy that positions the University of Rwanda ; particularly its College of Education, as a nucleus of thought leadership on sustainable development in education. They enable us to critically reflect on practice, to refine our assumptions, and to collectively shape new pedagogical, policy, and research agendas.

Let us seize the opportunity before us ; not only to share knowledge but to co-create it. Let us be generous in listening, bold in proposing, and rigorous in examining the ideas that emerge from our dialogue. The connections we forge, the questions we raise, and the commitments we make over the coming days will, I am confident, vibrate well beyond this conference hall.

Together, let us reaffirm our shared conviction : that education, when reshaped with courage and guided by sustainability, can be the driving force of both national renewal and global transformation.
Welcome, once again, to this critical and timely engagement. Let us make these three days not just productive, but profoundly impactful.

Thank you.