Burundi: UNICEF pledges $3 million and fundraising support to schools

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) plans to add $3 million to its primary education efforts in Burundi with the goal of doubling the number of children attending school there by next March.

The new push aims to help 250,000 children from the most affected areas, according to UNICEF Coordinator in Burundi Sherif Benadouda. It comes on the heels of an announcement by the new President Pierre Nkurunziza that the country would provide free primary education to all children.

Mr. Nkurunziza made the pledge in late August at his inauguration, which was the culmination of a long regional peace process and signalled an end to the civil war that claimed the lives more than 300,000 people in the last 12 years.

The funds will be used to rehabilitate classrooms, add bathrooms and provide basic supplies. It will also help in the recruitment of 3,000 qualified teachers, and on-the-job training for less-skilled teachers while they are working, Mr. Benadouda said.

In addition to its own contribution, UNICEF is actively raising funds from other donors for the education effort, including the British Department for International Cooperation, DFID which has already allocated some $3.5 million to the effort.

The fresh funding comes in addition to UNICEF's Back to School programme for Burundi. Begun two years ago, that initiative has enabled more than 500,000 children to return to the classroom, including thousands of refugee children from Tanzania.