Fuel crisis: parents and children no longer know where to turn as the school year nears

In Bujumbura, the Burundi’s financial capital, where the United Nations agencies and the central administration are concentrated, the main criterion for finding a school where to enroll your child is no longer the quality of education, but proximity. Misunderstandings between children and parents are many.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

A young student in the 9th grade, a class that ends with an exam on which the continuation of studies depends, reports having lost her temper with her parent when she learned that she had to change schools.

“I’ve only known this school since kindergarten,” sobs C.I. “It’s where all my friends with whom I play are they’ve had the same teachers for years, especially since I’m starting the final year of the cycle that ends with a national exam! I don’t want to change schools,” says the student, very angry.

Claude B. is the father of three children. He lives in the Ngagara zone in the north of Bujumbura. He says that “I was forced to change schools for my children and find them a school close to my home.” His children attended a renowned private school that has a high street presence in the city center.

“But I’m not satisfied with the quality of the training offered by this establishment compared to the old school that my children attended,” he admits.

Claude decided to change schools for his children following the Fuel Crisis that has lasted almost 45 months, the situation having deteriorated since the beginning of the year. He says that his children each failed two exams last year. Their school was far from their home and they could not walk there. This head of household speaks of “suffering”.

“Even if we admire the quality of the education received at this school, we are forced to change and find an establishment close to home where our children can go and return on foot”.

Fighting for your offspring, in vain

Some parents, rather smart, have organized themselves and approached a transport agency for a subscription, thinking that they would solve the issue of transport for their little ones for a long time.

“But since we do not have any Burundian transporter with its own wells to pump fuel, it was a waste of time…”, analyzes a young mother living in a neighborhood in the north of the economic capital.

And as any hope of seeing gas stations have large stocks of fuel has diminished, parents are making the practical choice of enrolling their children in schools located not far from their homes.

In these conditions, parents and students are counting on the adaptability of disrupted schoolchildren, and on a hypothetical reversal of the situation in the availability of hydrocarbons in Burundi, because every night, however difficult, will always see its dawn, believes a mother of children, very resigned.

A student raises her hand to answer a question in a classroom in Burundi (SOS Media Burundi)

The small East African nation has been experiencing a Fuel Crisis for almost 45 months, the situation having deteriorated since the beginning of the year. President Ndayishimiye’s constant promises that “Burundi’s stocks at the port of Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania) are full of petroleum products ready to ‘be transported to Burundi at any time'” are interpreted by some as “the lies of a head of state who infantilizes the Burundian people held hostage by insensitive leaders”.

Activists advocating for good governance have often written letters to President Neva, proposing that he convenes a round table on the fuel crisis and seek help from Burundi’s partners, which he is reluctant to do.

Like the President of the National Assembly Daniel Gélase Ndabirabe, Évariste Ndayishimiye is convinced that the fuel crisis is the result of the actions of “saboteurs within the CNDD-FDD system in power since 2005” and neighboring Rwanda who want to “incite Burundians to revolt”.

The start of the school year is scheduled for September 16, announced last week the Burundian Minister in charge of education, Dr. François Havyarimana.

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City residents including students wait for a bus in the main parking lot in Bujumbura, in vain. Some are starting to walk (SOS Media Burundi)