Journal of Education for International Development 4:1 April 2009 Catch-up-Classes in Post-Conflict Burundi: Reflective Notes on Three Constraints Maria Josep Cascant i Sempere Catch-up-Classes (CuCs) and Accelerated Learning Programmes (ALPs) are educational strategies aimed to compress years of formal education into a reduced span of time. These programmes are specifically targeted for young people (ages 10-24) who have had to abandon school due to situations of conflict or natural disasters and aim to “catch-up” students so that they may once again re-enter formal schooling. This article presents conclusions from an evaluation of a CuC programme implemented in Burundi by an International Non Governmental Organisation. It analyses three main constraints that were observed during the course of the study: 1) the lack of livelihood strategies for out-of-school youth; 2) the lack of a preliminary analysis of national educational needs in terms of demand (schools) and supply (students); and 3) the fragile economic and social sustainability of the CuC programme. Using these observations as a basis, the article calls for the debate to further identify the educational contexts in which CuC/ALP strategies can be most appropriate. Keywords: Catch-up-Classes; Accelerated Learning Programmes; Post-conflict Primary Education; Burundi; Young People Education. 1. Introduction The Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction (INEE, 2004) emphasise that the right to education is not limited to those under 18 and call for a prioritisation of young people’s (ages 10-24) education. In Africa, young people under 25 comprise about 60 percent of the population, representing a key force for peace, reconstruction and development (IDS, 2005). Yet, living in conflict times makes people experience forced displacements, food insecurity, breakdown of social protection structures and an increased susceptibility to illnesses. Due to family separations and/or deaths of parents and caregivers, young people often become the heads of households with school-age dependent siblings. Other times, they have already formed their own families. Moreover, precarious school conditions and age differences in the classrooms present further disincentives for youth to re-attend school. Thus, young people living in emergency and post-emergency situations are prone to missing out on the opportunity to attend school effectively twice: first, during conflict or natural disaster times, and secondly, during the period of reconstruction. Catch-up-Classes (CuCs) and Accelerated Learning Programmes (ALPs) 1 are educational responses particularly tailored for these young people. CuCs/ALPs emerge as temporary alternatives to formal schooling by providing young people with intensive and/or compressed classes (for example 1 While ALPs are better known for "compressing" the time of learning (for example, two years of primary school completed in one year), CuCs seem to represent a more general term for the provision of intensive education. Yet, CuCs and ALPs are considered synonyms here. While the programme evaluated is a CuC type, we think that the constraints analysed for it can widely be applicable to ALPs. A subsection in the article will specifically discuss this. Cascant i Sempere 1