CIBITOKE September 20th (ABP) – Burundian Prime Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca officially launched the 2023-2024 school year on Monday, September 18, 2023, in the capital of Bukinanyana commune, in Cibitoke province.
The new school year was opened under the theme “Parents and educators, let’s work together for the education of our children, for their integrity and love of work, the source of sustainable development.”
The Prime Minister, in his speech, specified that the content of this theme is very important, and called on all educational leaders to make it their hobby horse, to preach by good example. He insisted that the implementation of that theme will produce competitive intellectuals from the sub-region, and leaders of integrity, who will be at the service of the Burundians of tomorrow.
He said that in the inclusive education program, all children must be in school, both girls and boys.
The Prime Minister revealed the government’s priorities for this school year, including raising awareness among partners for the construction of many classrooms, a need in several provinces.
The Burundian government also plans to support school networks by providing them with sufficient educational materials and laboratory equipment for physics, biology and chemistry, he added. He also plans to continue providing solar panels to schools, training teachers for the new program, increasing the number of technical schools, creating preschool schools within all ECOFOs, to name just a few.
Mr. Ndirakobuca did not forget to thank all educational partners, such as the Chinese People’s Embassy, UNICEF, the World Bank and others, for their support to the government.
Speaking about the achievements of the previous year, the Minister of National Education and Scientific Research, Dr. François Havyarimana reported the construction of 905 classrooms, the rehabilitation of 1098 classrooms and the recruitment of 2912 new teachers for the 2023-2024 school year.
He also mentioned the construction of 49 computer rooms and 19 biochemistry laboratories, and declared that his ministry plans to provide all municipalities in the country with computer rooms, for the promotion of ICT, by the year 2027.
As for the Chinese ambassador, she again reaffirmed the important attachment that her country reserves for the education of Burundians. As an example, she indicated that since 2018, China has annually offered financial assistance to around fifty indigent Burundian students enrolled in Masters Courses. This year, 10 pupils from the Batwa community are benefiting from this type of assistance.
In relation to that new school year, the representative of the People’s Republic of China, in collaboration with UNICEF, presented the Government with a donation of 520 desks.
The UNICEF representative, for her part, gave the Prime Minister the keys to a Hilux vehicle for the supervision of a project aimed at the health and well-being of adolescents. UNICEF has also provided 600,000 notebooks for this school year and plans to donate more than 2,000 sheets and accessories for resilience against disasters.