Villages in Senegal Lay the Cornerstone for Their Children’s Education
With ever more students completing primary education in Senegal, the government has turned to meeting the demand of all the eager learners climbing the academic ladder. Less than 70% of Senegalese elementary school students go on to middle school, preventing them from gaining skills needed in the country’s evolving economy.
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| A youth representative presents the results of the Ndiongolor youths’ plan for supporting the middle school in their village. [Photo: USAID/PAEM staff] |
To fill this gap, as a subcontractor to the Academy for Educational Development (AED), RTI is mobilizing communities around construction and management of neighborhood middle schools. This is an added component to the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Projet d’Appui à L’Enseignement Moyen (USAID/PAEM), which began in 2003 when RTI helped the government formulate and implement school decentralization policies.
A major hurdle for Senegal is the clustering of middle schools in cities, which draws talented youth from the villages, is costly to families, and handicaps rural development, said RTI home office project manager Dan Gerber. Moreover, parents often dislike sending their daughters to a distant school, fearing for the girls’ safety.
Working with the Ministry of Education (MOE), USAID/PAEM is helping nearly 60 villages in the poorest regions of Senegal—Fatick, Tambacounda, Kolda, and Zinguinchour—build their capacity to effectively invest money and sweat equity in a neighborhood middle school that meets their needs.
“The key challenge is to raise awareness of middle school ownership in beneficiary communities and involve them in school management,” said RTI management component coordinator Oumar Diong.
USAID/PAEM launched this effort in May with workshops led by Diong and RTI community mobilization advisor Rokhaya Ndoye Thioune in the village of Ndiongolor. Over four days, staff from the MOE and a local nongovernmental organization took part in activities in which more than 60 villagers—including 28 youth—laid out a plan for preparing the site for the USAID/PAEM-built school, connecting utilities, providing security, and maintaining the grounds.
“All these activities in Ndiongolor will transform a former warehouse used as a temporary school building into a school that’s better equipped, safer, and more hygienic because of the partnership between the government and the community,” said RTI community mobilization specialist Dan Goetz.
More information:
Jennie Spratt, e-mail spratt@rti.org
Dan Gerber, e-mail dgerber@rti.org
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