BUJUMBURA March 7th (ABP) – The International University of Equator (IUE) organized on Friday March 4, 2022, in its premises, an inter-institutional debate-competition in English and the quarter-final of Mr and Miss 2022 of the IUE, with the main aim of promoting the English language in Burundi, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
The vice-legal representative of the EUI, Jean Marie Nduwimana, told the media that the objective of that competition-debate around the theme “Fewer females than males engage in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects” (Very few of women are committed to learning science, technology, engineering and mathematics compared to men), was first to let the various secondary schools and universities in the country know that there is a university that offers programs in English, but at the same time to identify secondary schools or universities which could become future partners of the EUI on the basis of their level of use of the English language.
The officials of the EUI have informed that some 10 secondary schools and 6 universities of the town hall of Bujumbura were invited to participate in that competition-debate in English, aimed at encouraging them to improve their level and to know the challenges that pupils or students face in relation to the English language, in order to propose solutions to be able to overcome them.
The present competition-debate is the third of note, while the EUI intends to intensify these debates in English by organizing two other debates in July and September 2022, added the Academic Director of the EUI, Dr. Andrew Nyakundi.
As for future prospects, Mr. Nduwimana said that the EUI intends to set up nursery, primary and secondary schools that will offer education in English. The EUI also intends to develop training programs for civil servants or anyone wishing to improve their level of English, to enable them to access employment markets both regionally and internationally, given that the Majority of regional and international opportunities are sometimes advertised in English.
Emphasizing moreover that the English language is one of the main criteria for admission to that university without however forgetting other criteria described by the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research, Mr. Nduwimana pointed out that the secondary schools and participating universities were chosen on the basis of the importance that these institutions give to this language.
He called on fellow Burundians to recognize that Burundi is part of the East African Community (EAC) which is predominantly English-speaking, before asking the government to support any institution that works to promote English in Burundi, but without however, forget the French language to be bilingual because, he explained, French has also been recognized at the level of the EAC secretariat.
As for the rumors that have been circulating in recent days, especially on social networks, saying that the EUI is about to close its doors, the officials of this institution have been unanimous in emphasizing that the EUI is at work as well as accustomed and that it has and will never intend to close its doors. This is false information disseminated by ill-intentioned people who do not like the institution and the future of our youth who must benefit from the quality of education offered by the EUI, they added.
Furthermore, the spokesman of the EUI, Hugue Runigabahagaze reported that the World Bank ranking released towards the end of 2021, revealed that the EUI is the 5th among the universities of the country, after the University of Burundi, University of Light, University of Hope in Africa and ENS respectively. He also pointed out that the added value of the EUI is that it has a radio broadcasting on 96.5 Mhz whose programs are mainly based on education, self-creation of jobs, specifying that the EUI already has 485 students and that students who have obtained 50% in the state exam continue to register.
After the presentation of the certificates to the best participants, the envoy of the Ministry having National Education in his attributions, Mr. Jean Burikumana who was also one of the members of the jury, thanked the participants in the competition-debate, especially the organizers of the latter. He further proceeded to the proclamation of the results by order of competence where the first three secondary schools are respectively King’s school, Vugizo high school and Lake Tanganyika high school, while the universities are respectively the IUE, the normal school (ENS) and the University of Burundi (UB).