Back to school – parents strangled by soaring prices

SOS Médias Burundi

Gitega, September 13, 2025 – With the start of the school year scheduled for Monday, September 15, anxiety is growing in Gitega households : the soaring prices of school supplies and uniforms are putting parents under severe strain.

Compared to last year, prices have risen across the market. A math set sold for 3,000 Bif is now priced at 3,500 Bif. A school bag, essential for carrying supplies, has gone from 30,000 to 35,000 Bif. Uniforms are subject to even steeper price increases :

1st to 3rd grade primary: from 25,000 to 30,000 Bif

4th to 6th grade: from 30,000 to 35,000 Bif

Secondary (7th to 9th grade) : from 35,000 to 40,000 Bif

Post-basic : from 40,000 to 45,000 Bif

Notebooks, essential for all pupils, are not spared : the 100-sheet model increases from 2,500 to 3,000 Bif, the 60-sheet model from 1,500 to 2,000 Bif, and the 48-sheet notebook increases from 1,000 to 1,500 Bif.

Overwhelmed families

“I still have to buy uniforms for my two youngest children, but the prices force me to buy only one for this year. With the A farming season starting, my husband is already very busy in the crop fields—I don’t know where I’ll find half the money,” confides Marie, a mother of three children in basic school.

Jean-Claude, a construction worker and father of a secondary school pupil, says, “My salary isn’t enough. Last year, I bought the satchel and all the notebooks without spending too much, but this year, I went from stall to stall to find a cheaper price. The 100-sheet notebook cost me 3,000 Bif, now they’re asking me for 3,500 Bif. It’s the low prices that are lacking now.”

For her part, Béatrice, a vendor at a school supplies stand at the Gitega central market, says, “Parents come, but many leave empty-handed or only buy the essentials. They tell me, ‘It’s too expensive, we’ll wait.’ But I too pay more to my suppliers, and fabric, shipping… Everything is increasing.

This surge comes as the start of the school year coincides with preparations for the first farming season, a time when rural families are already seeing their resources stretched.

Traders, for their part, attribute these increases to persistent inflation and supply difficulties linked to the fuel shortage that has plagued the country for several years.