Gasorwe: School dropouts skyrocketing and raise concerns among education officials

At least 764 school dropouts were recorded in the commune of Gasorwe in the province of Muyinga (north-eastern Burundi) this only first quarter. This triggers worries among school authorities who acknowledge similar situations over the past. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The report was done after the start of the second quarter and raised concerns of the communal education officials of a high rate of school dropouts.

“We recorded 764 cases of dropouts for the first quarter alone. The highest number of cases is found in fundamental level with 450 cases. The rest are from post-fundamental schools”, details the direction of education in Gasorwe.

It indicates the main causes are poverty in the families, illnesses among young schoolchildren in the first years of primary school, domestic work which monopolizes the time of young girls in Gasorwe, but also elsewhere in other communes of the same province of Muyinga. Another reason is ignorance of parents of the profits of schooling.

Some cases of unwanted pregnancies and early marriages are reported for post-fundemental students.

During 2021-2022 school year, Gasorwe commune recorded the highest number of school dropouts out of a provincial total of 18,000, followed by Mwakiro commune.

In several provinces of the small East African nation, the rate of school dropouts worries school officials who speak of an unprecented situation.

Household poverty remains the main cause, as SOS Médias Burundi has found out, for example in the province of Bubanza in the west of the country.