Musasa : schools at a standstill, teachers abandoned, pupils left to their own devices

SOS Médias Burundi

Kiremba, April 27, 2026 — At the Musasa refugee camp in Butanyerera province, northern Burundi, school activities have been severely disrupted after teachers decided to suspend classes. The cause : several months of unpaid salaries, in a context of reduced humanitarian funding.

Classes have stopped at the camp’s secondary school, where teachers have ceased work to protest repeated payment delays. This situation has plunged hundreds of pupils into uncertainty and highlights the growing difficulties facing the education sector in humanitarian settings.

At the root of the movement is the regular non-payment of teachers, who receive a monthly salary of 115,000 Burundi francs, deemed insufficient given their workload. According to several reliable sources, the arrears date back to last December. After pressure was exerted on the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), the organization in charge of education in the camp, a partial payment was made at the beginning of March. Since then, the situation has remained at a standstill.

This crisis is part of a broader context of reduced humanitarian funding. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), like other agencies, is facing a significant decrease in its resources, linked in particular to reduced contributions from some donor countries, including the United States.

As a direct consequence, only graduating pupils continue to attend classes. These are pupils in the 8th grade of the orientation cycle and the 10th grade of secondary school, who are preparing for national exams. The others have been sent home until further notice.

Parents are increasingly worried.

“Our children are now spending their days at home with nothing to do.” “We fear they will fall behind in their studies or be exposed to negative influences,” says Joseph, a refugee in the camp. “We are asking JRS and the UNHCR to find a solution quickly.”

Among teachers, the unease runs deep. A Burundian teacher, speaking on condition of anonymity, describes a difficult situation :

“Unlike my refugee colleagues, I do not receive food assistance from the World Food Program (WFP). I depend solely on this salary, which arrives late and remains insufficient. I have a family to feed. Under these conditions, it is becoming almost impossible to continue teaching.”

The crisis is also affecting primary education in the camp. While classes are not completely suspended, they are significantly reduced, with pupils attending only a few hours a day, due to the demotivation of teachers facing the same difficulties.

The Musasa secondary school, which has more than 500 pupils, thus finds itself at the heart of a major educational crisis. So far, the JRS (Jesuit Refugee Service) has not officially responded to the teachers’ decision, leaving uncertainty surrounding a possible resumption of classes.

Meanwhile, pupils, parents, and teachers remain anxious, hoping for a swift resolution to avoid a jeopardized school year.