Date & Time: Friday, November 16, 2018 4:00 - 5:30 pm

Venue: Room 322, Research and Lecture Building, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

Speaker: Prof. Samuel Irungu Njau
(Chairman, Summit International Institute, Burundi)

Theme: Issues and Challenges Facing Burundi: From the Perspective of Higher Education

Report:

Professor Samuel Irungu Njau, from Burundi, delivered a short public lecture organized by African Studies Center on November 16, 2018 on the theme: "Issues and Challenges Facing Burundi: From the Perspective of Higher Education." He began his presentation with a brief historical background of Burundi, where he stated that Burundi is a small and landlocked country. The speaker mentioned that Burundi is neighboring with the Republic Democratic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania and the population is approximately around ten million people, with French and Kirundi as the main language. Burundi has three ethnic groups, Hutu, Tutsi and Twa, and the country is considered as one of the poorest countries in the world. Professor Njau also informed the audience that, in Burundi, Hutu is the biggest ethnic group in the country and currently, it controls the present governance system. He said that Burundians love drumming and the country has very good teas.

Professor Njau's main message during this conference was that he wanted to promote peace in Burundi through education, and he established a private university for this purpose. He said the university currently has about 400 students and ten faculty members. Out of the 400 students, 250 are pursing engineering. He also stated that the university is providing a training for people to serve as tourist guide.

On the other hand, Professor Njau pointed out several challenges faced with the educational system in Burundi. He said that students gaining admission into universities in Burundi must have a score of 50% in the exams and above, otherwise the university regulations cannot accommodate below this percentage, as a result, he stated that this has led to large number of students deprived of university entrance. He also mentioned the problems regarding the quality and the quantity of teachers; lack of innovation within the educational system; limited skills in communication system; lack of classrooms; lack of learning materials and the exclusion of children who are physically challenged; wrong gender; distance to schools; hunger and poor nutrition and ignorance etc.

In addition to the issues highlighted by Professor Njau, he chronicled a few thematic areas as possible solutions in refining the educational system in Burundi, they includes: improved monitoring and evaluation; developing a managerial capacity and making system more accountable; developing an inclusive education system; improving the number of trained teachers for quality improvement in education, improve on information and communication, science and technology and finally, improvement in the school and classroom environment. In conclusion, the speaker mentioned that these factors would help to transform the educational system in Burundi once the country is able to adequately address them, and which in turn would eventually lead to a pathway towards peace for the country. The session was climaxed with Q and A.