ADB provides US $23 million to build more schools

The African Development Bank (ADB) said on Wednesday it had agreed to provide Burkina Faso with a package of loans and grants worth US $23.8 million to build more schools and equip them with wells and latrines. The money will be used to build 80 new primary schools and 10 secondary schools in the arid north of this landlocked West African country over the next five years. It will also be used to build 100 new classrooms for existing schools that are running out of space as the number of children going to school increases. The government said last week that the percentage of young children enrolled in primary school had risen to 47.7 percent in the 2002/2003 academic year from 38.6 percent two years earlier. The increasing number of children completing primary school in this poor nation of 11 million people has put increased pressure on its secondary schools. Hence the decision to build 10 more. The ADB said a key part of the schools construction project was the provision of wells to provide clean drinking water and proper latrines in order to improve child health. Some of the funds provided by the bank would be used to build housing for teachers and fund awareness programmes about smoking, HIV/AIDS and malaria, it added. The Tunis-based ADB said 64 percent of the overall project would be financed by $16.8 million ADB loan and 26 percent by a $7.0 million ADB grant. The remaining 10 percent would be financed directly by the Burkinabe government.