KAYANZA March 9th (ABP) – The Provincial Directorate of Education, Technical and Vocational Training in Kayanza (northern Burundi) organized a poetry competition on Friday March 6 in three languages, namely Kirundi, French and English, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
That competition, which saw the participation of 54 preselected competitors in the nine school districts, was organized under the theme: “The importance of school”, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
In his opening speech of the competition, the provincial director of Education, Technical and Vocational Training in Kayanza, Mr. Désiré Hatungimana, said that the said competition comes at the right time because, according to him, it is organized at the time when some ill-informed people start to denigrate the school, arguing that it no longer provides jobs and no longer guarantees employment and social status.
For the same school authority, the school is of capital importance because it seeks to develop autonomy capacities capable of leading to initiative and preparing for life in a society affected by the individual performances necessary and essential to smooth running and progress.
Understanding school differently would lead to excessive dropout, he said, saying the consequences would be incalculable for the country in general and society in particular.
According to Mr. Hatungimana, the choice of the three languages was not made by chance because, he stressed, Kirundi, French and English are official languages in Burundi.
Kirundi was chosen because it is the national and mother tongue of the children of Burundi. French is the language of instruction that allows you to actively participate in learning in all sectors and to actively get started in the public, professional and educational fields. English is an international business language that allows you to integrate into the life of relations with other countries, especially those of the East African community. It is a language of education in the making, added the same school authority. In short, language is an essential instrument of communication, he concluded. Speaking of the added value of that competition, he said that it responds to the concerns of some people, in that case school directors and teachers who are increasingly seeing the drop in language level in general and non-mastery of French in particular. It allows, according to him always, to raise the level in language and to detect talents by a public declamation of the poems.
Contacted in that regard, the competitors and their classmates present at the day’s ceremonies recognized that this competition is of considerable importance to them because it allows them to express themselves in public and encourages them to read. They did, however, request books from school libraries. Note that this competition was organized first at the school level, then between the school networks, then at the level of the nine communal directorates of education, technical and professional training and finally at the provincial level for the final.