MUYINGA September 30th (ABP) – Schooling for preschool children is a very important step for little learners. More than one say that pre-school education opens the horizons for those children to enter the basic school, as said on Thursday September 26, at the Magamba Basic School, in Buhiga parish, diocese of Muyinga (center-east of Burundi), by the vicar general of the Bishop of Muyinga, Mgr. Protais Nkurikiye.
Mgr. Nkurikiye was speaking during ceremonies for the delivery of 12 classrooms rehabilitated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in six parishes, classrooms that had previously been used for literacy training in the Yagamukama centers.
Concerned with the issue of education, especially for preschool children, the diocese of Muyinga, through its diocesan organization for the mutual aid and integral development of Muyinga (ODEDIM), appealed to UNICEF to rehabilitate those classrooms.
In addition to the rehabilitation works, it was noted that UNICEF has equipped the 12 classrooms scattered in six parishes with furniture such as chairs and tables made depending on children’s size. In addition, it has built a two-cabin latrine block on each site and provided a rainwater collection system, all for a value of 200 million.
On that occasion, Mgr. Nkurikiye called on parents to register all preschool children for efficient use of those premises. So, he asked the same parents to make the contribution that the school will ask them to encourage the educators.
The head of the Department of Pre-school Education and Early Childhood at the Ministry of Education, Craft Teaching and Vocational Training, Ms. Corinthe Nzohabonayo, was pleased to see that preschool classes are no longer the affair of urban centers only. “A significant advance that these pre-school centers win the campaign,” she said. At the same time, she thanked UNICEF for its commendable efforts for the well-being of Burundian children.