BUJUMBURA April 20th (ABP) – The Minister of National Education and Scientific Research, Mr. François Havyarimana, proceeded on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, to the presentation of the achievements of the said ministry for the 3rd quarter, financial year 2021-2022.
In his presentation, the Minister of National Education indicated that the main activities carried out revolve around several objectives. He cited, among other things, the strengthening of good governance, the improvement of the efficiency of the education management system by strengthening the management of the education system, the improvement of learning conditions and access to school, improving the quality of learning, promoting technical and vocational education and training, improving the national system for the evaluation of learning, certification and educational guidance as well as the promotion of regional integration and partnership.
As part of good governance, 76 disciplinary cases were processed and forwarded to the Ministry of Public Service, Labor and Employment. Regarding the improvement of learning conditions and access to school, Mr. Havyarimana indicated that a lot of actions related to the construction, rehabilitation and equipment of school and academic infrastructure have been made. According to him, contracts for the construction of 100 classrooms have already been signed. In addition, Estates General on Education to diagnose the challenges of the education sector and propose possible solutions have been organized.
In terms of contribution to the implementation of the PND 2018-2027, more than 7,000 seedlings of native species have been grown on Zege Campus as part of the government’s environmental program “Ewe Burundi Urambaye.”
With regard to the development of highly qualified human capital and the promotion of research and development, 8 doctoral students were welcomed into the center of excellence in nutrition science (EANSI) and 80 doctoral students were admitted to the graduate school of the University of Burundi.
Concerning the entrance examination in the university poles of excellence, 4361 candidates had been registered for that competition including 1650 girls / women and 2692 men and the participation rate of 87%. He did not forget to point out that the centers of excellence concerned by the competition are medicine, engineering sciences, agricultural sciences, biological engineering and statistics. Candidates for the medical examination represent approximately 60% of all candidates.
For the Faculty of Medicine, the Minister announced that the first 100 will be admitted to the University of Burundi and the next 200 will be shared by the University of Ngozi and the Hope Africa University. The minimum score for admission to medical school is 64.22%. However, for the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Burundi, the minimum score is 73.11% for graduates from schools of excellence while it is 75.89% for graduates from other schools.
The Minister of National Education also indicated that out of 100 students who will be admitted to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Burundi, the finalists of schools of excellence are among 40%. The minimum mark retained for the latter is slightly lower compared to that of the others, the minister explaining that it is to promote equity between the different regions of the country (center, south, east, west, north).
For the faculty of engineering sciences, which will have a figure of 150, the minimum score retained is 55.33%. For the Faculty of Agronomy and Bioengineering, which will have a figure of 150, the minimum score retained is 42.78%. For the Institute of Statistics which will have a figure of 100 students, the minimum mark to be retained is 50% while the first had 80.89%.
During the question session, the journalists asked why the presentation of the internship report and the costs related to this activity in private universities, while this is no longer the case in public universities. The Minister replied that a meeting of exchanges will be organized for the leaders of private universities to see the modalities of abolition of the presentation of the internship report, arguing that the internship is a course like so many others and that the related costs should be included in the school fees.
Concerning the private schools which provide lessons according to the national program but which have not complied with the ministerial ordinance with regard to network assessment during the second term examinations, he specified that the Ministry of National Education has canceled the results of the exams prepared by those schools to force them to proceed like the others which have done network exams.
He pointed out that during the third term, there will be no network exams, schools will have the right to choose the exams for their pupils themselves.