Burkina Faso Education

Female genital mutilation, child labor, child trafficking, and social exclusion of accused sorcerers remain serious problems, although the government has taken steps in recent years to combat these phenomena. Workers and civil servants generally have the right to organize unions, engage in collective bargaining, and strike for better pay and working conditions. Few Burkinabe have had formal education. Schooling is in theory free and compulsory until the age of 16, but only about 44% of Burkina's primary school-age children are enrolled in primary school due to actual costs of school supplies and school fees and to opportunity costs of sending a child who could earn money for the family to school. The University of Ouagadougou, founded in 1974, was the country's first institution of higher education. The Polytechnical University in Bobo-Dioulasso was opened in 1995. ... [Read More]

Millennium Challenge Corporation Announces Grant for Burkina Faso - US Department of State

He identified education as a “crucial component” to fighting poverty. The program will fund construction of schools and teacher incentives in 10 provinces with the lowest girls’ primary education completion rates. ...

The education completion rate for girls stands as one of the key indicators used in determining eligibility for the Millennium Challenge Account, a supplementary aid program launched by President Bush to reward poor nations that invest in the education and health care of their citizens, fight corruption and promote good governance. ... [Read More]

Burkina Faso 2000 Post Report

Ouagadougou is home to the UN’s world headquartersfor the eradication of River Blindness, and several U.S. and European Universities havestudy programs bringing students or researchers to Burkina Faso. Burkina also has severalspecialized research centers within the country, many with connections to Frenchorganizations. One of the most important tropical disease research centers in West Africais headquartered in Bobo-Dioulasso. L’Organization de Coordination et de laCooperation pour la Lutte Contre les Grandes Endemic (OCCGE) operates jointly with theMedical Entomology Center and the Muraz Medical Center. Several other institutes inOuagadougou carry on social science studies and work in agricultural and economicdevelopment. Public education is compulsory under law, but even the relatively low feesare prohibitive for much of the population. Schools are nonetheless overcrowded and thereis a shortage of teaching personnel. Private education is permit ... [Read More]

Burkina Faso

Children The Constitution nominally protects children's rights. The Government demonstrated its commitment to improve the condition of children by continuing efforts, in cooperation with donors, to revitalize primary health care by focusing on care for nursing mothers and infants; vaccination campaigns for measles, meningitis, and other illnesses; and health education. The Government allotted approximately 25 percent of the national budget to education, and the law provides for free compulsory education; however, the Government lacked the means to provide universal, free primary education. If a child qualified on the basis of grades and social condition (that is, the family was "poor"), tuition-free education could continue through junior high and high school. In practice the family condition requirement often was ignored, giving many children a tuition-free education through high school. Children still were responsible for paying for school supplies, an ... [Read More]

Press release of September 22, 2003

Access to quality education will be the centerpiece of a$3 million, 4-year U. S. Department of Labor grant to fund a Child Labor EducationInitiative project in Burkina Faso. The project, undertaken to help eliminate exploitativechild labor, will complement and expand upon existing activities to improve the quality ofeducation in several communities. ...

The education program will work to reduce child labor inBurkina Faso through: improved community awareness on the importance of education forchildren engaged in exploitive child labor; strengthened quality of educationalopportunities in government and alternative schools; increased ministerial and NGOcapacity and inter-institutional coordination; and improved resource mobilization. ... [Read More]

They talked about the numerous universities in the U.S. versus the two local national universities. They mentioned the existence of community colleges and the many private universities in the U.S. Versus the few emerging private colleges locally. They also talked about accreditation institutions, the diversity of curricula, the extensive use of new technologies, the organization of student life on U.S. campuses, the funding of U.S. universities by not only state resources but by the private sector and universities alumni, the educational advising systems, and the financial aids and scholarships. All these aspects have no common ground with what is going on in the local higher education system. Burkina Faso has a lot to emulate from the U.S. higher education system and they are in the process of doing so. It took as much time for the speakers to make their presentation and to answer to commen ... [Read More]

Burkina Faso

A radio campaign first raised the issue of FGM/FGC in 1975, demanding that the practice cease. In 1985, a recommendation was made during "National Week for Women" to abolish it. The people of Burkina Faso began to discuss this formerly taboo subject. Since then there have been numerous campaigns, seminars, etc. aimed at informing the populace about the harmful effects and eradicating the practice. Much emphasis has been placed on the improvement of health care and education, participation of women in society and economic and social improvement of the position of women and children. ... [Read More]

Burkina Faso

The Government allotted approximately 25 percent of the national budget to education, and the law provides for free compulsory education; however, the Government lacked the means to provide universal, free primary education. If a child qualified on the basis of grades and social condition (that is, the family was "poor"), tuition-free education could continue through junior high and high school. Children still were responsible for paying for school supplies, and many parents could not afford to lose a child's labor in the fields or at other remunerative jobs; as a result, overall school enrollment was approximately 52 percent (46 percent for girls). The Government has taken steps to promote primary education for girls through encouragement of donor scholarships, school feeding programs, and information campaigns to change societal attitudes toward educating girls. Girls made up slightly more than one-third of the total student population in the primary school system. Schools in rural a ... [Read More]

Press release of October 3, 2003

 PRESS RELEASEU.S. Military Donates $190,000in Materials to the Ministries Of Health and Basic Education and Literacy ...

In a ceremony on October 3, 2003, the U.S. Ambassador toBurkina Faso, J. Anthony Holmes, marked the donation of $190,000 of equipment to theMinistry of Health. A portion of the materials were also donated to the Ministry of BasicEducation and Literacy for use in Burkina schools. The materials, which included desks,chairs, mattresses, beds, examining tables, and medical consumable supplies, were donatedthrough the U.S. Department of Defense Humanitarian Assistance Excess Property program incoordination with European Command (EUCOM). The Humanitarian Assistance Excess PropertyProgram donates non-lethal excess property to foreign recipients for humanitarianpurposes. ... [Read More]

Country Commercial Guide

The U.S. provides humanitarian assistance to Burkina Fasowith food and modest levels of regional and bilateral development assistance. In 1995, theUSAID in-country mission closed; in 1996 Peace Corps volunteers returned after aneight-year absence. As of July 1999, the Peace Corps is working primarily in the sectorsof health, sanitation, and education. ... [Read More]