Girls in Burkina Faso are Taking Enormous Strides

According to the Poverty Reduction Strategy 2004 (Ministry of Economy and Development), education in Burkina Faso was seen as “worrisome.”

There were meager increases in Gross Enrollment Rates (GERs) between 1998 and 2002 from 41 to 44 percent.

Moreover, 56 percent of children were excluded from the education system. Boys’ enrollment far exceeded that of girls.

The completion rate for girls was one of the lowest in Africa for a variety of reasons, poverty being one of the most prominent.

But the “worrisome” label changed once Burkina joined the Global Partnership for Education in 2002. There was clear
acceleration in access and a strengthened capacity for girls’ education.

Improvement in girls’ enrollment in Burkina Faso by 73 percent, since becoming a Global Partnership for Education partner, is testimony to the goals outlined in the plan, which emphasized increasing coverage of education without undermining the quality of education girls received.

Similar increases apply to the Grade 1 intake and transition rate for girls into secondary schools. In addition, there was a substantial decrease in the percentage of repeaters annually.

Focusing on the low proportion of girls going to school, Burkina Faso’s education sector plan chose special measures to draw girls’ into the system. School meals and comprehensive campaigns on the importance of schooling motivated all children to enroll in school.

Within the overall strategy of encouraging communities to send their children to school, pressure groups, mothers associations, and quotas (50 percent) for girls’ recruitment were set up. Women teachers were sent to areas with low girls’ enrollment to serve as role models.

Within the school system, specialized departments for girls’ education were created, and in addition, teachers were trained to supervise girls’ education.

Stereotyping girls’ images in curricula and textbooks were eliminated, and regular information sessions were conducted on the risks faced by girls in schools. Female students also received incentives such as take-home rations and prizes for attending school.

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