Focus on new plan for basic education

Responding to low levels of basic education and a high rate of illiteracy, the West African country of Burkina Faso last week launched a programme to raise school enrolment throughout the country from 40 to 70 percent by 2010. The 10 Year Basic Education Development Plan is projected to cost 235 billion francs cfa (US $346 million), and to raise the literacy rate from 22 to 40 percent, officials told IRIN in the capital, Ouagadougou. About 43 percent of Burkinabe children of school going age attended the first primary school class this year; of these only 58 percent may reach secondary school, according to government projections. "Despite tremendous efforts made by the government in allocating reosurces for education, a lot of children are still not in school," said Prime Minister Ernest Paramanga Yonly in launching the programme on 16 September. "Many other children abandon school or are forced to give up school too early, at times very early," he added. A quarter of the country's 450 billion francs cfa ($662 million) annual budget went to the education sector but attainment levels remained unacceptable- partly because educational policies were not focused, according to Yonly. "If this huge amount of money was invested with coherent policies, the results would have been incomparable," he said. Clear focus on Basic Education In the new programme, 82 percent of funding is to be allocated for basic education at primary school level, and mainly in rural areas, according to officials. An incentive system is also to be introduced, which will involve the free distribution of 4.5 million books to schoolchildren and meals for students in school canteens. Such canteens had previously disappeared as a result of tough economic reforms. Priority is to be given to 20 of Burkina Faso's 45 provinces with the lowest enrolment and literacy rates, including: Banwa province, Bougouriba, Ganzourgou, Gnagna, Gourma, Ioba, Komandjari, Kompienga, Kossi, Namentinga, Noumbiel, Oudalan, Poni, Sanmantinga, Seno, Sissili, Soum, Tapoa, Yagha and Ziro. The enrolment rates in these provinces are as low as 10-20 percent among school-age children, according to government statistics. Many also lie deep in rural areas where 80 percent of the country's 11 million people live. Education officials and the leaders of nongovernmentalorganisations (NGOs) say that high levels of poverty, public attitudes and heavy rainy seasons in rural areas are some of the factors that have negatively affected school enrolment. "There is no harvest until 15 September, yet it is the agricultural produce that is sold to get income for paying school fees and buying school books through the year," Raymond Ilboudo, a teacher in the village of Tangayi in the north, told IRIN. "At the end of the day, the parents get discouraged and not only withdraw their older children from school but also not enrol new ones," he added. According to Benoit Ouoba of Tin Tua, an NGO carrying out basic literacy and sensitisation activities in the far eastern region of the country, where enrolment rates are about 10 percent, the removal of free books to schools in recent years also discouraged some of the parents. Welcoming the new basic education plan, the National Council of Primary School Parents' Associations (CNAPEB) said the proposal to have meals provided at school canteens should ensure that most children got two meals a day (one at school and the second at home afterwards), which was important for their health. "The school canteen will help the child not just to return to school everyday but also to keep in good health because a hungry child has no ear to understand," Andre Compaore, president of the CNAPEB told IRIN. Ilboudo agreed. "In rural areas," he said, "some children set off for school at 5 am without breakfast. The school is 4 km away. By around 10 am, the child is likely to start sleeping due to fatigue and hunger; as a teacher, you cannot stop that." The basic education programme also contains proposals to build 20,000 school rooms and recruit 20,000 teachers. Most of the new school rooms are planned for rural areas but some 200 are also to be built in the cities of Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso, to support private education promoters. "The problem of distant school locations, which makes children walk or ride donkeys for up to 7 km or 10 km to get to school, will be eased by constructing more schools in rural areas," Ouoba told IRIN. Girls' education Bringing the schools nearer should also solve unique problems associated with the education of girls, according to Ouoba. "The father who fears that his 15-year-old daughter could be abused by a man on her way to school will certainly be reassured and have no reason to prevent her from going to school or joining a literacy campaign centre," he said. Authorities hope that female school enrolment - which is currently as low as five percent in some provinces and averages 38 percent countrywide - can be raised to 65 percent by 2010. "Once the economic problems are resolved, the cultural aspects tend to fade away," Monique Napon of the Female Education Promotion Department at the Ministry of Basic Education told IRIN. "Things will change because people will see some girls graduating from school and being more helpful to their families," she added. To complement the programme, the government plans to expand the Educational Mothers Association (AME) initiative throughout the country. This tries to organise mothers into groups that promote education by ensuring that all their daughters are enrolled in school. "Mothers in rural areas tend to be inclined to keep their daughters with them to do domestic chores," said Napon. "That is why we want to make them accountable in the education of their own daughters through AME." The concept of AME started in the south of Burkina Faso in 1992, and it has proven successful there. As part of the initiative, some 18,000 school kits that contain basics needed by a school child, are supplied free to girls in 10 provinces with the lowest enrolment rate. Under the new plan, some 7,000 literacy centres are to be built, mainly in rural areas. These are intended to ensure that girls and boys are recruited on an equal basis in literacy activities. "In the past when seats in a classroom were not enough, the only available seat was given to the boy," Napon said. Tackling teachers' problems Ineffective teaching and lack of facilities for effective study are blamed by the government for the fact that 6,000 primary school children repeat their classes each year. Many teachers also find it hard to work and live in rural areas. "We have told our partners that it is unacceptable that young people who have experienced electrical power, Internet and drinking water from taps be sent in remote areas where they do not have decent housing and where they work in the darkness or with kerosene lamps," Minister for Basic Education and Literacy, Mathieu Ouedraogo, said last week. "Working with a kerosene lamp all life long is not possible any more. We must avoid a situation where the school teachers are disoriented," said Ouedraogo, adding that they must be at the heart of the country's education concerns. Within the basic education plan, the government of Burkina Faso plans to install solar power systems in rural areas to provide power to schools and ease disaffection among teachers. Rural electrification also help attract children to study at night and support evening literacy activities, according to government officials. "In all villages, the light will not only help locate the school at night but will also be seen as a symbol of the light from which knowledge is coming," Ouedraogo stated. Education for poverty reduction At least 45 percent of Burkina Faso's population live in poverty but the country is, at least, following prudent policies towards poverty reduction, according to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The Bank recently lauded the government's efforts in raising enrolment for girls and primary school registration in rural areas, increased the budget allocation for education, and built 159 schools, 342 latrines and 206 housing units. In April, it qualified for "exceptional debt relief or topping-up" amounting to US $129 million under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC). "The country's eligibility for debt relief under the enhanced HIPC initiative underscores recognition by the international community of its continued progress in implementing sound macroeconomic and structural policies, and of the overall quality of its poverty reduction strategy," the World Bank stated. The 10-year basic education plan is part of the country's poverty reduction strategy, endorsed by the Bank, government officials told IRIN. It will be funded by the European Union, Islamic Development Bank, World Bank, Canada, Nertherlands, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), assorted NGOs and the private sector.