The Inclusive Education Support Program will be implemented in more than 6 000 schools in Mali. About 1.2 million children between the ages of 7 and 12 are out of the school system in Mali, nearly 50% of the population of primary school age. As for girls, they represent more than half. To reintegrate children into the education system, the Malian government and its partners have just launched a program that will be implemented in 6 000 schools.
It is at the Kodian primary school in Nossombougou (Koulikoro Region) that the Inclusive Education Support Program (PAIS) was launched on Thursday, December 13th. In this town located 55 kilometers from the Malian capital, school fees for girls are 750 F CFA against 1000 F for boys. Lacking financial means, low-income households can not get their children to school.
Among the factors that hinder access to education in Mali, there is the insecurity, the distance of villages and hamlets from the school, the influence of traditions and social norms. “Because of the traditional habits here, people think that sending girls to school doesn’t bring back much because they are meant for marriage. This puts emphasis much more on boys’ education than on girls’”, said Sidiki Diarra, Deputy Mayor.
School canteens
According to Diarra, more and more children, especially girls, are currently pursuing their studies thanks to the support of partners. School meals drive poor households to send and keep their children in school. “Eating bouillon rice at school is an encouragement for the kids”, he says.
At the age of 14, Oumou Diarra is in the 6th grade at the Kodian primary school. Daughter of a truck driver and an apple seller, Oumou could not be educated in time due to lack of financial means. Today, she is clinging to her studies and dreams of becoming a French teacher. “I study because my dad says that during his many trips, he understood that education is very important”.
Sissi Diarra, a parent of a student whom we met in Kodian says to have enrolled his four children in school “because it is time to fight against illiteracy” in Mali. “If you don’t study, you can’t do anything, not even agriculture. I stopped studying in the 4th grade. And if I succeed today in the agriculture field, it is thanks to the small trainings that I received (…) Studies facilitate many things in all areas”, he says.
The Inclusive Education Support Program will be implemented in more than 6 000 schools in the Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso, Segou, Mopti, Gao and Menaka regions, for a total cost of 40 million euros (more than 26 billion FCFA). The program targets 250 000 children, at least 50% of whom are girls.
Sahelien.com