The State of the Burundi's Post-Colonial Education System: Responsibility of the Former Coloniser or of the Local Politics and Governance?

Abstract

This article has examined the current state of the Burundian education system by relating it to the contribution of the former coloniser and the action of Burundi's post-colonial politics and governance in a context where what goes wrong in the field is unofficially linked to colonial action and imperialist influence. Data was collected using the qualitative method through interviews with experts in the field of education, historians, teachers at all levels, professionals, parents, students, and officials of the ministry in charge of education. The processing, analysis and interpretation of the data followed the thematic approach, and the results were confronted with the existing literature to conclude that the educational system in post-colonial Burundi suffers from the decline of the language of instruction, the almost non-existence of critical thinking skills in the curricula as well as the almost non-existence of innovative problem-solving skills. Moreover, after more than 60 years of independence, it has been proven that Burundi has no reason to continue blaming the former coloniser for the difficulties that haunt this sector