Burundi government urges students on strike to resume lectures

The Burundian educational authority on Friday urged students who have been on strike since March 13 to go back to school and resume lectures as of Monday. "All students at the University of Burundi and at the Teacher-Training School are requested to stop their strike in order to resume academic activities as of May 5, 2014 at 08:00 (0600GMT) in all faculties and institutes," said Venant Ndimurirwo, spokesman of the Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry. Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza on Thursday also urged striking students to resume academic activities "without delay." At least 17,000 students have been on strike for seven weeks. The action was ignited by a reform on the payment of their stipend, with students claiming the change in conditions will block the access of poor students to university education and deprive many of grants.