Too dark for us to study, say students amid power failures

Students from the University of Burundi, or l’Université du Burundi (UB), commonly known as Université de Rumuri, have decried ongoing power blackouts on the institution’s campuses and have appealed to the authorities to intervene and deal with the issue.

Students allege that the university management has ignored the problem, which is affecting four of UB’s seven campuses, for months. Mutanga, Kamenge, Kiriri and Zege campuses have been without electricity.

According to the students, they first penned a complaint to the university in February, requesting that the electricity problem be addressed.

“It is dark almost everywhere,” said students, stressing that the electricity outage is affecting all spaces on the campuses, including lecture halls and dormitories.

Students call for help

Jonas Musavyimana, a student representative, said the public university was negligent and lacked accountability.

“It’s been four months since the issue has been in the public domain but nothing has been done so far. We cannot learn because it is too dark for us to do so,” he said.

“It is not clear why the problem has lasted for months at an institution that has, as its main priorities, teaching and research. Besides, we live in fear because thieves take advantage of darkness to steal our property,” he added.

Students threatened to suspend their studies if a solution to the problem is not found.

“I think it is our right to have light for smooth learning and other activities – that we have been experiencing a blackout for months calls for urgent action,” said Musavyimana.

Crumbling infrastructure

According to students, other facilities, such as water supply, are limited and students go for days without it, due to the dilapidated equipment that has not been replaced for years.

The University of Burundi was founded in 1964 and is the oldest public institution in the country. It has about 15,000 students.

“Here at the Mutanga campus, some homes deemed too old have been closed … several latrines are blocked and we are forced to relieve ourselves queuing in other blocks,” said Jean Kabura, a student in the faculty of economics and management.

Alexandre Ndayisenga, a student in the English section of the Institute of Applied Pedagogy protested against the mismanagement that characterises the University of Burundi: “It has been almost a year since the university store has been empty. We do not know what happened because every year there is a budget allocated for this purpose,” he said.

Officials from the Ministry of Higher Learning Education in Burundi declined to comment on the problems, including the state of the infrastructure, saying university managers had to comment.

Several efforts to reach officials from the university were fruitless and the university Rector, Sanctus Niragira, cut the call when he was approached for comment.