Cibitoke : pupils subjected to forced labor by a teacher

Taking advantage of having won a construction contract, a 4th year teacher from the Buhayira basic school, in Murwi district of Cibitoke province (northwest Burundi) uses schoolchildren from his classroom to carry out the activity. He orders them to work on the construction site. The provincial director of education said he was shocked to learn the facts and suspended the director of this school for complicity, pending legal sanctions for the teacher. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

At the ECOFO Buhayira basic school, site work is carried out by schoolchildren on the orders of their teacher Obed Biyoborimana who won a construction contract.

It is therefore the kids aged between 10 and 14 who carry rubble, sand, bricks on their heads and carry out other work on the construction site.

“It’s very revolting, the work is done during school hours”, says a parent met on site.

A mother whose 4 children attend this school speaks of a scandal.

“This teacher is a disgrace. He exploits children for his financial interests. It’s scandalous.”

Same story for Obed Biyoborimana’s colleagues who, unanimously, demand severe sanctions against him.

Very upset, a child rights defender based in this province speaks of “pure and simple exploitation of minors under the age required to engage in remunerative work.”

The same protector of children’s rights evokes “an aggravating situation for an educator who exploits children whom he is rather supposed to protect”.

He requests administrative and especially legal sanctions for this teacher who, according to him, has lost all professional ethics.

Joseph Nyandwi, the provincial director of education in Cibitoke, says he is stunned by the attitude of this teacher who tarnishes the image of educators and especially of a school which has a bad reputation and which is often cited for acts of professional and illegal exploitation of children.

This authority immediately suspended the director of this school for complicity while awaiting sanctions against this teacher in accordance with the law.

He asks everyone to stop thinking about making children work at the risk of exposing themselves to administrative and legal sanctions.

This Tuesday, local education officials, the director who was sacked and a parent representative were summoned to the Presidency of the Republic in the commercial city Bujumbura, SOS Médias Burundi learned.