Since one month that the post-basic school system has begun, some challenges are still there like the lack of sufficient textbooks and large classes.
post-fundamental school
At “Lycée Municipal de Musaga”, in southern Bujumbura the capital, two sections compose the post-basic school, i.e. languages and sciences. Each section has about 200 students dispatched to two classrooms where three students sit on one bench. “We are aware of the high number of pupils and we don’t have any other choice”, says Théogene Nzeyimana, the headmaster of the “Lycée Municipal de Musaga”.
Concerning the textbooks, there is a serious problem. “We still face a severe shortage of books at school. Even if we photocopied some textbooks, learners must sit together to use the few books we have,” he says.
The same view is shared by Jacqueline Ndimurukundo, headmaster of “Lycée Municipal de Bwiza”, in Mukaza central commune of Bujumbura the capital. “Graders of post-fundamental system do not have any textbooks. Teachers are obliged to write on the blackboards,” she says. There are three sections of sciences, social sciences and languages but students of social sciences do not have any textbooks. “They haven’t yet learned courses of information, communication technologies (ICT) and French due to the lack of textbooks. We are trying to do our best to make copies but we don’t think that we will succeed”, she says.
“Lack of means … lack of textbooks”
Emmanuel Mashandari, the chairman of the teachers’ union –CONAPES, says the government tried to distribute the textbooks to different schools but they are still insufficient. “Teachers need to have their own reference books”, he says. This is an uncomfortable situation and there are very few ICT textbooks in various schools. “The latter are very expensive given that different schools don’t have laptops. During the ICT class, teachers need to have enough teaching materials so that pupils learn various part of a computer machine. From now on, students need more practice than theory”, he says.
Beside this lack of textbooks, Mashandari indicates that teachers are not also qualified to teach such courses. “All teachers of post-fundamental school system did not receive any training before teaching the courses”.
Juma Edouard, spokesperson of the Ministry of education says the Ministry is aware that there are serious challenges but there isn’t any immediate solution. “There are no funds allocated to the purchase of books in 2016 annual budget. We must wait until next year budget after we have known the exact number of students so as to plan the number of textbooks accordingly ”, he says.
Juma says the Ministry is developing a national policy to tackle all the issues related to education in support of the latter.
The government set up the new system of basic school in 2013. It included early primary and basic education, teaching crafts and literacy. The basic education will extend up to nine years. The post fundamental school system receives students who have completed the basic education. It provides general education, educational, technical and professional training. It aims to train middle managers and skilled workers to meet the need of the country. It also prepares candidates to universities.
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