More than 5,300 students wrote their exams on Wednesday in the capital Bangui when the explosion occurred and panic arose as students and staff tried to avoid injuries.
AFP's journalist on site testifies that the injured were taken to hospital by, among other things, motorcycle taxi and on the back of trucks.
"The hospital became overcrowded with people," says a source within the country's health department according to AFP.
The Central African Republic is one of the world's poorest countries and has been affected by both coups and civil wars since its independence from France in 1960.
The country's president Faustin-Archange Touadera declares three days of national mourning and expresses solidarity with the deceased, their parents, staff and students in a video on his party's Facebook page.
