Schoolchildren are sitting on the bare ground for lack of benches, desks and classrooms across the communal capitals of Rugombo, Mugina and Buganda, Cibitoke province (north-west Burundi). Parents request the construction of other classrooms. The provincial director of education reassures.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The numbers are exceeding the capacity and the situation is alarming.

This is the case of the Karurama 2 primary school in the municipal administration of Rugombo not far from the provincial office.

Each class has 160 children while the average per class and per teacher is 50 students.

There are complaints about the cramped, dilapidated and insufficient classrooms. All parents and educators also speak of « lack of desks, teaching and learning materials ».

This situation is reported in the municipal departments of Rugombo, Mugina and Buganda.

The director of Karurama 2 say there are  » 2546 learners for only 16 classrooms and 47 teachers, i.e. an average of 160 children per class. Books for teachers and students, colored chalks and laboratories for practical exercises and desks are lacking ».

A teacher in a classroom crowded with students, some of whom are forced to follow lessons sitted on the floor, October 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)

He urges the government and its partners in the education sector to build new classrooms and rehabilitate worn-out ones.

« Children are forced to follow classes sitting on the floor or on stones ».

The consequences are serious

According to school officials, hygiene is poor in schools and teachers struggle to teach well. They claim that several children have already dropped out of school or are deserting public schools for those whose parents have means, to go to private schools.

The further away from urban centers, the average number of children per class, especially between the 1st and 4th grades, is between 120 and 180 students, noted SOS Médias Burundi reporter.

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An overcrowded classroom in Rugombo, October 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)