Schooling
In Niamey and in the large urban centers the vast majority of the children attend school. In the rural areas under half of the children go to school and there are fewer girls than boys. French is the teaching medium but most of the children do not speak French at home. Many children do not complete primary education, the failure rate is high. Nevertheless the percentage of Nigerien children in full time education has risen from 34% to over 60% in the country (53% for girls)
thanks to an intense effort of development of primary education.
Education resources
Several resources inadequate :there is a shortage of teachers, buildings and school books. Classes are overpopulated; some teachers take two classes of fifty children the same day: one class in the morning and a second one in the afternoon.
New education practices based on communities’ responsibility and involvement are essential, and so are refresher courses for teachers.
critical. The Nigerien State has established a ten-year education development program to mobilize the local communities and to get the support of NGOs. Associations such as “Aide et Action“ build schools or help the villages to find community teachers to compensate for the lack of state-appointed teachers.
The progress of primary education will cause an influx of thousands of secondary schoolboys and schoolgirls. So far the infrastructures and the education programs haven’t yet been prepared..
Our actions in education have to fit in this context.