Fire at Nyabigina Technical High School : a dormitory reduced to ashes, pupils distraught

SOS Médias Burundi

Makamba, October 11, 2025 – A fire broke out on Saturday morning around 8:30 a.m. at the Nyabigina Technical High School, in Makamba district, Burunga province, southern Burundi. The fire completely destroyed a dormitory hosting second-year pupils, reducing 30 mattresses, 60 beds, and numerous personal belongings to ashes.

The affected pupils say they have lost everything : clothes, notebooks, tuition money, personal savings, and valuables.

“We have nothing left, even the money we kept for school activities and Catholic Action movements has gone up in smoke,” confided a pupil, still in shock.

According to a school supervisor, an electrical short circuit could have caused the fire, due to the dilapidated state of the electrical installations or the unsafe connection of cell phones by some pupils.

The boarding school director confirmed the extent of the damage and called for urgent assistance to allow the affected pupils to continue their studies under minimal conditions.

The administrator of the Makamba district and the bishop of the Anglican diocese of Makamba visited the scene to assess the damage and coordinate initial assistance measures.

The Nyabigina Technical High School, a school under Anglican convention, currently has 392 boarders. It is already facing a serious lack of equipment and infrastructure. The school has not had a service vehicle for over ten years, complicating emergency management and pupil transportation.

This tragic situation calls for a general mobilization to support the pupils and the school affected by this tragedy.