**2. Education objectives of basic education systems in Great Lake Regions**

GLR countries (**Figure 1**) have at different times taken basic education (from pre-primary to lower secondary) as a basic need to their citizens, hence made it fee-free. Basic education (comprising of primary 1 to primary 6 and an additional of senior 3; and the secondary education) in Rwanda was made compulsory and fee-free since the 2010 election campaign of President Paul Kagame re-election and it is now guaranteed in the Rwanda Constitution. Therefore, it has been the duty of the State to take measures to ensure it is inclusive [2]. The objectives of the education in Rwanda are to improve and increase: (1) access to education for all, (2) quality education at all levels, (3) equity in education at all levels, (4) effective and efficient education system, (5) science and technology and ICT in education, and (6) promotion of positive values, critical thinking, Rwandan culture, peace,

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problem.

*Towards Global Peace and Sustainability: Role of Education in Peace-Building in the Great…*

unity and reconciliation. In the DRC [3] the education provision is structured by three strategic objectives: (1) developing access and ensuring equity aiming to ensure the free primary education policy is effectively put in place for all children and implemented by increasing and rationalizing school constructions, and registration and payment of all teachers by 2020, (2) improving the quality of learning by improving quality assurance and monitoring as well as the learning environment across the system, and (3) improving governance and oversight of the system by strengthening the education system through implementing transparent norms and mechanisms for managing resources, and improving management at all levels.

Enrolment trends of pupils particularly in primary schools in the GLR are varied. Importantly, the region sadly contributes high in number of children who are out of schooling. For instance; while it is estimated that 54.6 million African children in Sub-Saharan Africa-SSA of primary- and lower secondary school age (averaging 24% of this age group) were out of school in 2015, accounting for 45% of the global out-of-school population, 3.2 million of the out of school children in the region were from the DRC [4]. Burundi is among the six countries in sub-Saharan region countries with success in increasing number of children enrolled in primary school for the period between 1999 and 2008 [5]. On literacy and numeracy performances, Burundi is ahead of other Francophone African countries as its performance internationally indicates to have lowest proportion of non-readers among African countries (A maximum of 20.4% of non-readers in grade 2 cannot read a word aloud) [6]. In addition, it has been reported that early grade children in Burundi show good learning outcome as in their assessment they observed that over 60% of second-grade pupils could read more than 20 letters per minute with only 3% of them failing to read even a word, hence scored zero [4]. On numeracy, pupils in Burundi had during the assessment attained sufficiency competency in mathematics as 63% of assessed children in the country demonstrated good skills in oral counting and like children in DRC, 60% of them could solve a one-digit addition

Various reasons are associated with Burundi doing well in literacy and numeracy than other countries in the GLR. It is almost linguistically homogeneous with 98% of the population speaking a single language [4]. Kirundi has been the language of instruction from first through fourth grade since 1973 and it is phonetically coded using the Latin script and has stronger written traditions than many African languages. Consistent use of the education policy that has favored a "structured pedagogy" approach is another factor for Burundi doing better in literacy and numeracy

than other countries in the region. The structured approach has caused that:

performance in reading and mathematics in later grades.

to undertake teaching and learning activities efficiently.

run by religious organizations.

• Teaching-learning is facilitated using aids produced in Kirundi that makes it easy to transfer of knowledge and skills of children in reading and mathematics concepts. Introduction of oral French in grade one builds a foundation for

• Ensured government support in school infrastructure by concentrating on financing teachers and teaching-learning materials, also in the schools that are

• Pre-service and in-service training of urban and rural teachers in all contexts

**3. Enrollment trends and literacy rate in basic education**

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

#### **Figure 1.**

*Africa Great Lake Regions. Source: https://reliefweb.int/map/cameroon/africa-great-lakes-region-refugeesand-displaced-populations-8-dec-1997.*

*Towards Global Peace and Sustainability: Role of Education in Peace-Building in the Great… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

unity and reconciliation. In the DRC [3] the education provision is structured by three strategic objectives: (1) developing access and ensuring equity aiming to ensure the free primary education policy is effectively put in place for all children and implemented by increasing and rationalizing school constructions, and registration and payment of all teachers by 2020, (2) improving the quality of learning by improving quality assurance and monitoring as well as the learning environment across the system, and (3) improving governance and oversight of the system by strengthening the education system through implementing transparent norms and mechanisms for managing resources, and improving management at all levels.
