Donate nowAdma, a schoolboy in Burkina faso
In Burkina Faso, 44% of the population lives below the poverty line. Since 2016, the country has had to face recurrent attacks from armed groups on practically all its territory. This growing insecurity puts the local population in a precarious situation and causes the displacement of many families and children.
As well as having to deal with armed conflicts, the Burkina Faso education system struggles to offer its children a quality education. A large proportion of pupils does not possess the basic knowledge and skills requested at the end of their school curriculum. In order to close the gaps in the schoolchildren’s knowledge, bilingual primary schools have been set up, with the aim of improving the education quality and satisfying the pupils’ needs.
Adma*, aged 11, lives in Ouagadougou and is lucky enough to attend one of the 30 bilingual schools supported by Enfants du Monde in Burkina Faso. As he is learning both in the official language and in his native language, Adma makes more progress than if he was learning in French only.
It helps me to be able to use Mooré, my mother tongue, too, especially when reading. When I grow up, I would like to be a teacher.
Adma, 11 years old,a schoolboy in Burkina Faso
© Adrien Bitibaly/Enfants du Monde/Fairpicture
The bilingual primary schools teach the same contents as the other state schools, but with a few differences, such as: using national languages beside French for teaching various subjects and adapting the teaching materials to the local context, in order to meet the population’s needs.
© Adrien Bitibaly/Enfants du Monde/Fairpicture
Enfants du Monde supports the Burkina Faso teachers’ training, through which they get familiar with bilingual teaching techniques and active learning. They learn to stimulate the children’s participation in the school activities, putting them at the centre of the learning process. The pupils therefore gain knowledge which will make them more independent and which will be useful to them in their daily lives.
In the past, I used to behave like a policeman! Now, I understand that the child should be at the centre of the learning process. In maths, I do a lot of group work and I let the children manipulate coins as if they were at the market. They all join in. This training has really helped me to improve my teaching.
Group work in a school in Burkina Faso
© Adrien Bitibaly/Enfants du Monde/Fairpicture
Support our actions
Change a child’s fate by giving him or her the chance to learn to read, write and count both in his or her mother tongue and in the country’s official language. Your donation will go towards supporting our education programme and giving children like Adma access to quality education and the opportunity of having a better future.
By donating 100 Swiss Francs, for example, you could provide 7 children in Burkina Faso with a bilingual textbook which will allow them to make real progress.
*assumed name used to protect the identity of our beneficiaries
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