Alarming figures of pupils giving up studies

Nowadays, pupils give up studies very easily due to many factors. An Educational Psychologist proposes a national debate to give an appropriate sense to school.-By Diane Uwimana

Leonidas Barakamfitiye: “Sustainable development must pass through youth education.”©Iwacu

It is unbelievable. For the first term of this school-year (2013-2014), many pupils have given up studies. In Ngozi Province, 6007 out of 154, 880 pupils have abandoned schools. According to Constantin Niyonzima, Educational Director in Ngozi Province, pupils quit studies due to many factors: “poverty, rural exodus, death, diseases, premature wedding and pregnancy.” The same view is shared by his colleague Guillaume Kwizera from Ruyigi Province where 4647 out of 99,500 pupils have abandoned schools in this first term of the year. In Cibitoke Province, 906 out of 118,901 pupils in primary school have left their studies. “Field, market and mine exploitation activities as well as ignorance and pregnancy are some of the causes which constrain pupils to give up”.
Salvator Bigirimana mentions that there is a particular reason which pushes pupils to quit schools in his province. “Pupils run to Tanzania to look for jobs. Many of them state that their neighbours come back home with a lot of properties and money. So, they also leave their studies and go to look for capitals to start business”, points out the Educational Director in Cankuzo Province while 2156 have already left studies. He also notes that there are some pupils who abandon studies during the rice season. It is worth indicating that in Makamba Province according to Yared Nyandwi, 1.5% of pupils abandoned schools while in Mwaro 1093 have already quitted classes as it is noted by Simon Ngendakumana, the Educational Director.

“A bill obliging pupils to stay at school is needed”

Leonidas Barakamfitiye, an Educational Psychologist, notes that there isn’t any bill or law which obliges pupils to stay at school; that is the reason why they do whatever they want: “In other countries, for instance, in Europe, everything is well planned. Pupils are obliged to stay at school.” The Educational Expert indicates that pupils are going to lose the sense of school. “A sustainable development must pass through youth education. Unfortunately, there isn’t any bill which regulates this domain”, underlines Barakamfitiye. For the moment, he mentions that they can’t do anything: “The government should organize a national debate to study cases of abandonment carefully and analyse the main and true causes of this alarming situation very deeply. The cases reported in different Educational Provinces are superficial. Behind those causes, there are others which remain unknown though they contribute to worsen the case if nothing is done”, states Barakamfitiye. For him, once this national debate is organized very carefully, the results and recommendations will be highly considered in schools. Consequently, studying will be an obligation. “With this measure, any quitter will be punished accordingly”, he insists on. For achieving this, he suggests a following alternative response: teaching should really be free by offering good atmosphere at school and assistance to pupils.