The Task: Equipping Technical Colleges

For over a decade, from 1993 to 2005, Burundi’s civil war raged and almost totally paralysed the national education system. Many schools were destroyed or neglected. Technical workshops in particular were plundered and destroyed. Since the end of the conflict, the Belgian government has been investing, via aid organisations, in the reconstruction of the former colony. Schools and universities have been given top priority in this project.

Lucas-Nülle was awarded one of the largest BTC (Belgian Technical Cooperation) contracts - the company was commissioned by the Belgian aid organisation to equip three technical colleges with new laboratories.

The Solution: Installation and Training on Site

One key factor in the selection process was the fact that Lucas-Nülle always installs its teaching and learning systems on site and offers comprehensive training for teaching staff. For each version, Lucas-Nülle provides a tried and tested project handbook which explains the configuration and installation options in full.

“It is not sufficient to just deliver the teaching systems and leave them in the schools. Intensive teacher training is required to enable the schools to make use of their new facilities in the proper way and to ensure that the pupils really benefit from them”, explains Lionel Hemme, project manager at Lucas-Nülle, who supervised the handover of systems on site. Together with colleagues from sales partners Phywe-Lüttich he visited the three Burundian cities of Kiganda, Kiramba and Bubanza, which are home to the country’s technical colleges between 9th and 24th January 2009.

The Result: Hope for New Skilled Specialists

In addition to UniTrain-I hardware and software, Lucas-Nülle also provided the colleges with practically-orientated experimentation systems focusing on the topics of “electrical machines” and “SPS and control technology”. Using these modern systems, the pupils can learn about technology in a practical way, so that they are later able to apply this knowledge directly in their work. There is hope that such trained specialists will provide Burundi’s industry with the growth that it urgently needs. Until now, the facilities have not been available for practical training.

Teachers, parents and pupils want to promote change and they see great opportunities for young people, who have until now been poorly educated, to really take part in current technological developments by means of modern training and learning systems. This enthusiasm is shown in very practical ways – pupils and teachers were keen to help unload the containers, which also had to navigate some very difficult roads.

“The teaching staff was just as interested in the new facilities as the pupils. In the seminars which we later held in the capital, all the participants were very keen to understand how the systems work,” reports Lionel Hemme.

Lucas-Nülle is also available on site to help with any questions or problems following the installation of equipment and the introductory seminars.