Free schooling starts with huge logistical problems

Teachers and administrators of Burundi's primary schools faced logistical problems on Monday as hundreds of thousands of primary school students lined up to enroll for the first time for the 2005-2006 school year which the president promised would now be free. "We will not be able to cope with the increases," Donat Hatungimana, a primary school teacher in the capital, Bujumbura, said. There were already 150 children in her class in 2004, he said. On Thursday, the new minister for education and culture, Saidi Kibeya, said 500,000 new school children might enroll in the first year of free primary education. The ministry projects that some 2,400 extra teachers and 2,400 new class rooms will be needed. During his presidential inauguration speech on 26 August, Pierre Nkurunziza announced there would be free primary school education during his tenure. The UNICEF spokeswoman in Burundi, Barbara Jamar, told IRIN Monday that UNICEF and its partners planned to increase their contributions to education to help parents pay for school uniforms, textbooks and other school materials. UNICEF currently allocates $4.2 million for education in Burundi.