While the province of Gitega is establishing itself as a center for technical training, the funding mechanism for professional internships is failing. With the delay in the payment of compensation and the reduction in days to pay on the part of the supervisory ministry, students, business tutors and supervisory teachers are navigating on sight.
Under a blazing sun, leaving a local garage, the man named Jean-Claude wipes his hands covered in black grease. A mechanics student, he has just spent two weeks learning the ropes of the trade. But, behind his future graduate’s smile, bitterness looms. “We were promised internship fees to help us. But the internship is almost over and our pockets are empty.”he confides. Like him, hundreds of students from public technical schools in Gitega are waiting for the release of internship fees by the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research. A wait that lasts, stretches and ends up transforming a learning opportunity into a financial burden.
The problem does not stop with students alone. Supervising professors and tutors from companies where the internships take place are also affected. For the latter, the disappointment is twofold. Not only are the funds waiting, but also the method of calculation for payment has changed. Instead of counting 30 days of training, we consider 20. “Reducing the payment period to 20 days when they are there for an entire month is telling us that our work has no value in the last ten days.”regrets a tutor in a public company.
According to them, this decision, perceived as “an unjustified planing”, was made without prior communication.
For teachers, whose mission and travel expenses are essential in order to ensure educational monitoring at the internship sites, the situation is becoming untenable.
A climate of mistrust
For students, business tutors and supervisors, every franc counts. Student fees are often used to pay for daily transportation to the company or to buy a lunch. In partner companies, the annoyance is palpable. The tutor, often an employee already overloaded by his own production objectives, devotes time to transmitting his knowledge. According to them, the planned compensation of 160 FBu per trainee per day is modest, even if it symbolizes the recognition of the State.
In this turmoil, directors of technical schools find themselves on the front line. Assailed with questions by parents, disgruntled guardians and their own staff, they have little to provide. “We are the first to come under pressure from those injured just as we do not know the reasons for the delays in payment.â€confesses an establishment director on condition of anonymity. According to him, this creates a climate of mistrust between them and their partners in the private sector.
Nothing has changed
Contacted by telephone, the Directorate of Post-basic Education, Technical and Vocational Training indicates that everything is being done to resolve the situation as soon as possible. Concerning the reduction in the number of days to be paid, the management reassures that nothing has changed. It states loudly and clearly that the internship costs are spread over 30 days not 20. He’s talking about rumors. “These allegations are unfounded. I don’t understand why they don’t seek reliable information from the students and tutors from Buhumuza and Burunga who have already received these internship fees.”declares Fidel Bizindavyi while promising possible increases in internship fees for the coming years.
