Improving the Quality of Education in Mali

Mali’s quality of education remains a major concern since students’ learning achievement scores in mathematics and reading are among the lowest in francophone African countries.

According to the 2005 Learning Achievement Assessment (PASEC) only 55 percent of grade two students achieved the average score in mathematics and only 48 percent had the appropriate reading levels.

Therefore, the Second Education Sector Investment Program of 2007, which is financed by a Global Partnership for Education grant and a World Bank IDA allocation, is designed not only to increase access to education, but also to raise the quality of learning.

The government of Mali wants to improve the quality of basic and secondary education by training teachers (both pre and in-service), providing textbooks and other learning materials, installing dedicated reading areas inside classrooms, and transferring direct funds to school to acquire materials locally.

Since the implementation of the program, 1200 classrooms and two teachers training institutes were constructed, which allowed for the training of more than 1,800 additional teachers, and the in-service training of more than 4,000 teachers.

In addition, over 2,000,000 textbooks have been distributed and reading areas has been established in 3,500 classrooms. The program has also supported 1,400,000 students in primary school through direct transfers of funds to decentralized entities.

Babri Gallédou, Director of the Teaching Support Center in the Malian city of Fana said: “These funds helped us begin the school year with fewer problems, especially as they are provided at the beginning of the year.”

Mali’s gross enrollment rate in primary education has reached 82 percent in 2008 from 60 percent in 2000.Despite the large expansion of the education system,  the gender gap is still considerable and more boys than girls attend school, the ratio of 64 students per teacher is still very high, and the learning achievement scores by students are still not satisfactory. 

The government and local Global Partnership for Education partners will continue to work on these challenges in the upcoming years.

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