First Day of School in Burundi amid challenges
RegionWeek Newsletter Vol VI, Issue #221 | Monday, September 12, 2022
President Ndayishimiye’s message on the First day of School
The primary and secondary school system in Burundi was officially launched on Monday, September 12, 2022, marking the return to the classroom for millions of students and their teachers. On this occasion, President Evariste Ndayishimiye released a written message that was broadly shared on social networks.
On this day the children of Burundi will start a new school year, I wish them good health, diligence, and courage for them to learn and succeed, they are the future of our country, and we pray for educators to uphold their roles with professionalism for the sake of Burundi. - He tweeted
A school year with various challenges
On the occasion of the States General of Education which took place from June 14 to 16, François Havyarimana, Minister of National Education, estimated that the Burundian education system is studded with a good number of challenges and asked for an increase in the state budget dedicated to his ministry(currently, 20%, of the National Budget).
Among the challenges are:
Low quality of the teaching given the increase in learners at all levels;
the mismatch between training and employment;
poor student supervision;
insufficient teaching materials
poorly equipped classrooms.
According to Unicef, over the period 2011–2020/2021, budget allocations to the education sector have seen a rising trend, going from BIF 201.7 billion in 2011 to BIF 346.5 billion in 2015, showing an annual average growth of 0.1% between these two years. During this period, external financing through the Education Pooled Fund (EPF) was significant, which provided BIF 87.1 billion in 2015. However, from 2016, with the withdrawal of a number of partners, the budget allocated to education saw a fall of around BIF 100 billion.
From 2017, resources allocated to the sector returned to their rising trend. As such, the budget allocated to education went from BIF 314.5 billion in 2019/2020 (US$160.8 million) to BIF 322.1 billion in 2020/2021 (US$167.3 million) – a rise of 2.4%. The real value of the budget allocated to education, taking inflation into account, shows the same trend. 2 The share of the state budget allocated to education is 19.5% in 2020/2021, compared with 20% in 2019/2020.
Bottomline
Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UN's global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, announced in December 2021, US$12 million in catalytic seed funding to roll out the first Multi-Year Resilience Programme in Burundi.
Delivered in coordination with the Government of Burundi by consortia led by World Vision International and UNICEF, the three-year program seeks to mobilize an additional US$18 million from public and private donors.
The ECW seed funding grant will reach more than 130,000 girls and boys, over half of whom are girls. Fully funded, the program will reach more than 300,000 children and adolescents impacted by the interconnected crises of COVID-19, climate change, and conflict. The program will reach returnees, internally displaced, and other vulnerable children with access to pre-primary (10%), primary (70%), and secondary (20%) education.
Thanks for Reading
Fabrice Iranzi, Editor in Chief, RegionWeek