Education in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...

is structured in much the same way as in the rest of the world; primary, secondary, and higher education.

Primary and secondary

The Education Act makes schooling compulsory from age 6 to 16. By law, education is also free, but the government does not have adequate resources to provide universal free primary education. Children are required to pay for school supplies, and communities are frequently responsible for constructing primary school buildings and teachers’ housing. Children from poor families can continue to receive tuition-free education through junior high and high school, if their grades qualify. In 2002, the gross primary enrollment rate was 46 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 36 percent. Gross and net enrollment ratios are based on the number of students formally registered in primary school and therefore do not necessarily reflect actual school attendance. In 1998, 26.5 percent of children ages 6 to 14 years were attending school. As of 2001, 66 percent of children who started primary school were likely to reach grade 5.

School

School

A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

 conditions are usually reasonable with very basic equipment. Legally the size limit for one class is sixty-five students, but in many rural

Rural

Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...

 areas classes are much bigger because of the lack of schools. If a school is full, children may get turned away and will have to try again the next year.

There is an International School of Ouagadougou

International School of Ouagadougou

The International School of Ouagadougou is an English-language using international school in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, established in 1976. The school is independent and teaches students from prekindergarten to Grade 12. In 2004 to 2005 there were 146 students...

 for foreign nationals.

School session

A week

Week

A week is a time unit equal to seven days.The English word week continues an Old English wice, ultimately from a Common Germanic , from a root "turn, move, change"...

 runs from Monday to Saturday, with the schools being closed on Thursday. Burkina Faso has a national curriculum

National curriculum

A national curriculum is a school curriculum which is mandated by a government for schools within its jurisdiction.National Curriculum may refer to:...

. The subjects taught include Production, where children may learn to plant maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

 and tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s or keep chickens, on school land. They have a break between noon and 3pm.

Higher education

As of 2004 there are two main universities: The Polytechnic University of Bobo-Dioulasso which focuses primarily on applied sciences like agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, and University of Ouagadougou

University of Ouagadougou

Founded in 1974, the University of Ouagadougou is located in the area of Zogona in Ouagadougou. But in 1995 a second campus for professional education known as University Polytechnique of Bobo was opened in the city of Bobo Dioulasso and a third campus for teacher training in Koudougou in 1996...

. The first private higher education school was established in 1992. Supervision rates are different from one school to another. At the University Ouagadougou there is one teacher for every 24 students, while at The Polytechnic University of Bobo-Dioulasso they have one teacher for every three students.

Administration

The University Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso are composed of five levels of decision making: the board of directors, the university assembly, the university council, institutions, and departments.

Influencing factors

• The number of actual schools (for primary)
• A shortage of qualified instructors (for higher education)
• Families have to pay for school supplies and school fees
• Families have very low income
• By sending a child (or children) to school it is limiting the money being earned for the family
• Many families are only able to send one child to school leaving the others to earn money for the family
  Family
  In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...
  
  . They usually send the oldest abled male.
• Language barrier
  Language barrier
  Language barrier is a figurative phrase used primarily to indicate the difficulties faced when people who have no language in common attempt to communicate with each other...
  
  . Education is mainly conducted in French
  French language
  French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
  
  , which only 15% of Burkinabè can speak, rather than in first languages of the country.

External links

• WikiEducator, "ICT4Africa/Country Report Burkina Faso"