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BURKINA FASO ISSUES

Burkina Faso has one of the highest levels of poverty in the world. Almost half the country’s population lives below the poverty line. The country appears at 134th place out of 137 countries ranked in the Child Development Index. Although many social and economic indicators have improved in recent years, they remain below the average for low-income countries as a group.

Poverty can disadvantage a child for life, causing irreversible damage to their learning, health, earnings and happiness as adults, thereby perpetrating the cycle of poverty through the generations. It is important to emphasize the multidimensional aspects of poverty and particularly to understand the linkages between income poverty and non-income poverty. While the figures show little change in income poverty in Burkina Faso in recent years, a number of non-income indicators, such as access to schooling, have gained ground.

Burkina Faso has the lowest literacy rate in the world. Burkina Faso has a literacy rate of about 20% which means only about 20% of the total population above age 15 can read and write which is very bad. The female literacy rate is even worse. This worst literacy rate also explains the high teenage pregnancy rates and the extremely high levels of poverty in Burkina Faso today.

Economic growth has been sustained over the last few years before the economic crisis but it is not clear that this growth is having a significant effect in reducing the proportion of the population who live in poverty. The level and prevalence of poverty is far higher in rural areas than urban ones; but urban poverty has increased dramatically in recent years. More than one in every 13 poor people now lives in urban areas.

 EXPERT'S OPINION ABOUT EDUCATION

IN BURKINA FASO

UNICEF says that the percentage of children in full-time school and the literacy rates are amongst the lowest in the world. Significant progress has been made over the past five years. The gross enrolment rate has increased by 15% and today 60.1% of school-aged children attend school, as against 45% between 2001 and 2002. The literacy rate has increased by 30% in 2001 to 32.5% in 2005 (source : DEP-MEBA, Aide mémoir, 8e mission conjointe). However, the overall state of education still remains a cause for concern.  

The education system is characterized by geographical disparities both in terms of enrolment rate and in infrastructure coverage. There are also disparities related to gender – 65.7% of boys attend school against 54.5% of girls. Dropout rates and the numbers of children repeating grades are also very high. The pre-school situation is far from brilliant with only 1.17% of children in preschool in 2005.

According to a study carried out between 2005 and 2009, 45% of the Burkina’s children weren’t educated. However, it is necessary to point out the effort of the Burkina’s Government designed in the last decade to change this situation. In this line, there has been a breakthrough especially in regard to the gender equality in schools. However, the educational material is very poor and the buildings that serve as schools are deteriorated.

 

In Burkina Faso, the percentage of children in full-time school and the literacy rates are amongst the lowest in the world. 

Education System in Burkina Faso

Primary Education : It is compulsory for children aged between 7 and 14, but this is not enforced. It is baed mainly on the French model and the teaching language is French.

Middle Education: Only a very small proportion of young people study further. Junior high school takes 4 years during which time the curriculum includes languages, geography, history, mathematics, and sciences.

Secondary Education: The academic trend continues for students who proceed on to senior high school (and who are among the very few).

Vocational Education: Junior high level vocational schools offer 2 to 3 year professional training for occupations including primary schoolmaster, nurse, midwife, police person, customs officer, and public administration clerk.

Tertiary Education: There are three institutions of higher learning in Burkina Faso, namely the Polytechnic University of Bobo-Dioulasso, the Teachers Training College of Koudougou, and the University of Ouagadougou.

Solutions

Then of look the experts opinion, we propose some solutions such as:

1. Working in partnership with the local community, the first solution is to build a school that will be sustainable, where every child will have access to a good education and this will be possible with the financial support of government This vídeo shows consequences of this solution:

2. A solution for the problem of the educational material and the buildings deteriorated is to carry out a notice around the world. It will take place two times a year by social networks. This, for people in different parts of the  world who are interested in the education of these children. They can attend different schools for a month, teach and help in various activities of integration.

On the other hand, in the stages of the volunteers the idea is look for help by social networks where anyone can adopt a child from Burkina Faso and month-to-month allocate for helping the child adopted. Funds for the education of children will be achieved in this way.​

3. A solution that propose the World Bank is the IDA's Approach proyect

1. Establish a basket of coordinated funding for education reform from various donors. (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the European Commision, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and other NGOs)
2. Improve access to primary education in rural areas – particularly in the 20 provinces with the lowest enrollment rate, by additional construction and rehabilitation of schools, and financing of equipment, teachers and facilities.
3. Support curriculum development and teacher training, and focusing particularly to financial management, budgeting, and donor coordination.

Here is the resulst of IDA's Approach proyect:

• Additional 550,000 kids have been enrolled in primary school
• Additional 7000 classrooms were built (mostly in rural areas)
• More than 5 mil textbooks were purchased and distributed to students and schools
• Additional teacher recruitment and their assignment to rural areas, the number of public teachers have increased 8% since 2000.