Photo of the week : over 150 schoolchildren in a classroom

Schoolchildren are sitting on the bare ground for lack of benches, desks and classrooms across the district town center of Rugombo, Mugina and Buganda, Cibitoke province (northwest Burundi). Parents request the construction of other classrooms. The provincial director of education reassures.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The numbers are exceeding the capacity and the situation is alarming.

This is the case of the Karurama 2 primary school in the district administration of Rugombo not far from the provincial office.

Each class has 160 children while the average per class and per teacher is 50 schoolchildren.

There are complaints about the cramped, dilapidated and insufficient classrooms. All parents and educators also speak of “lack of desks, teaching and learning materials”.

This situation is reported in the district directorates of Rugombo, Mugina and Buganda.

The director of Karurama 2 says there are ” 2546 learners for only 16 classrooms and 47 teachers, i.e. an average of 160 children per class. Books for teachers and schoolchildren, colored chalks and laboratories for practical exercises and desks are lacking”.

He urges the government and its partners in the edcation sector to build new classrooms and rehabilitate worn-out ones.

“Children are forced to follow classes sitting on the floor or on stones”.

Consequences are serious

According to school officials, hygiene is poor in schools and teachers struggle to teach well. They claim that several children have already dropped out of school or are deserting public schools for those whose parents have means, to go to private schools.

The further away from urban centers, the average number of children per class, especially between the 1st and 4th grades, is between 120 and 180 schoolchildren, noted an SOS Médias Burundi reporter.

Our photo : an overcrowded classroom in Rugombo, October 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)