Education in Burundi

Burundi is recovering from 11 years of civil war.  It is estimated that over 400,000 refugees fled Burundi to neighbouring Tanzania during the conflict. Now they are coming home.

Cord is working in Rutana Province in the South East of Burundi, where the Giharo commune has welcomed back some 20,000 returnees.

The chronic need for schools to be built or restored and teachers to be trained is high on our agenda, so that the children of Giharo can enjoy an education- key to a long term peaceable future.

In 2008 we will begin by building four new primary schools with 19 classrooms to educate 2,400 children. Water and sanitation are an integral part of our plan.  Cord works in partnership with local parents and teachers associations in all its endeavours, believing that ownership leads to sustainable success.

Despite free primary education, only 25% of girls go to school; the pressures of domestic duties and work in the fields are too demanding for poorer families to spare their women. Many men are not keen to have an educated wife.

Cord is running an awareness programme aimed at encouraging education for girls; 6,000 parents and their daughters will be involved via their local community, so that the mothers and decision-makers of the future can have the chance to learn.

Currently there is only one permanent and one temporary secondary school, which are vastly inadequate for the population it serves.  Working in partnership with Giharo Catholic Parish, we aim to build and furnish a new secondary school, serving up to 400 children a day.

As part of Cord’s holistic approach to sustainable peace, we also plan to work with the local community to educate them about HIV and AIDS, Malaria prevention and other important health issues.