BURUNDI Library Resource Centers Project (BLRC)
Association pour la Solidarité et l'Assistance Socio-Sanitaire
Knowledge is a more powerful weapon in a nation's arsenal than any missile or mine (Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General, United Nations)
BACKGROUND
In Burundi more than 60% of students (of all ages) go to school without a single textbook in hand. Everyday, students come back from school with homework but no resources to help them learning. If they are lucky enough they might be able to borrow old books, otherwise they have just to do without.
This leads to the following problems:
2. Negative reputation of service teaching at school level and country level, which further leads to poor attendance rates.
3. Lack of motivation and interest and a sense of hopelessness both in teachers and in students.
4. Almost 90% of Burundians have not cultivated the habit of reading to the extent that even the literate are fast losing their reading skills due to lack of reading materials. Consequently, they are unable to keep abreast of current developments in Africa and the rest of the world, completely unprepared vis-a-vis the fast changing environment at the economic, social, environmental and political level, which still strongly impacts the quality of their lives.
5. 53% of the schools in the 121 districts in the country have no classroom supplies and therefore no learning environment. A recent study by the Ministry of Education reveals that among 752 pupils at P6, 43% had little or no reading ability, 40% were reading at the P2 level, while only 15% were reading at P5 level or above. According to preliminary results of the Criterion Reference Tests administered to P6 students throughout the country, only 11% of children have reached the grade level in French and only 1 of 13 in Mathematics.
6. Teachers do not have access to library resources, which therefore are not incorporated in the learning process.
7. Students are not allowed to take textbooks and other reading materials home; thus no learning takes place outside class hours, and parents cannot afford to purchase reading material because most families make less than $1 per day. About 10% of the teachers have no pre-service training while in-service training does not exist. They have very little idea of how to find or use information sources in their teaching.
ACTION
The current situation needs to be tackled from different perspectives. While the Ministries of Education and Urban and Rural Development focus on formal education, there is a need for the local communities and the Burundians who live abroad and grew up in these communities, to initiate programs that address the growing vicious circle of illiteracy and the shortage of educational resources and the widespread poverty in general. The proposed Library Resource Centers are designed to help address Schools Education problems through SERVICE READING.
The Library project aims to encourage communities and schools cooperation for promoting service reading and learning. Instil in students, professors, lectors, and in all human beings the value of curiosity in knowing, long-life learning, creativity, critical thinking, acting and awareness of culture and diversity.
Books will be arranged in a library managed by volunteers, open and available to schools, universities and the population in general, so to start sowing and nourish the seeds of development.
Literacy and education are essential for the sustainable development of present and future generations in Africa and all over the world, help us and free us from the yoke of illiteracy and poverty.