More Burundian refugee children in Rwanda get school 

Over 7,000 Burundian refugee children are set to enroll in school following the Monday evening inauguration of new classroom blocks at Mahama camp in eastern Rwanda.

The 81 classrooms worth 853,790 U.S. dollars were constructed by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in partnership with Rwanda's ministry of disaster management and refugee affairs, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and UNICEF to serve Primary One and Two pupils.

At the inauguration, Sara McGinty, the UNICEF's chief education officer in Rwanda urged refugee parents to enroll children into school, saying it's their basic right to help shape their future.

Refugee children have right to education to prepare their future, she said, adding that the UN agency would continue to offer and support all the initiatives that ensure all children are taken to school and learn in a conducive environment.

According to the camp officials, the new classrooms are in addition to those which were constructed earlier in the vicinity of Mahama Refugee Camp where almost 20,000 students study.

The number of Burundian refugees in Rwanda has increased to 84,194, with about 52,520 refugees living in Mahama camp, according to UNICEF Rwanda Humanitarian Situation Report on Burundi refugees for January 2017.

In the last two weeks of December 2016, the rate of arrival of new refugees ranged from 22 to 80 per day, most of whom were women and unaccompanied or separated children. Endit