Projects

This project aims to improve the quality of education and learning by providing students with textbooks in 16 elementary school in the commune of Nguigmi in Niger.

According to a World Bank report, in Niger less than 30% of school-age children (5 to 14 years old) are enrolled in school. In addition, those who do go to school do not receive a quality basic education and do not acquire sufficient knowledge to continue their studies. Up to two-thirds or more of those who complete primary school do not master reading, writing, and numeracy. Quality basic education is not only about infrastructure, it is also about providing schools with textbooks.

Education is a fundamental right for every child, girl or boy, regardless of the context in which he or she finds himself or herself. IDAY-Niger made a summary study on the schooling of vulnerable children in the commune of Nguigmi. This study highlighted the fact that many of these enrolled children are often expelled due to lack of facilities and livelihood opportunities. They end up leaving school temporarily or permanently during the school year. In thirty elementary school visited, the drop-out rate related to living and studying conditions is 90%. This is the case, for example, of the Bilingue elementary school which, during the 2017-2018 school year, experienced 87 cases of dropouts, including 75 poor children, 59 of whom were girls. A total of 310 children were not present at the start of the 2018-2019 school year, including 185 girls out of a total of 8947.

These children are excluded from schools, deprived of any future prospects and condemned to live in intolerable conditions – forced to work or beg, exposed to multiple dangers, such as early/forced marriage, human trafficking, enlistment in gangs or terrorist groups.

The problem of girls’ schooling is still evident and remains acute in the commune of Nguigmi. In a situation where a parent has several children to care for at school, priority is most often given to the young boy at the expense of the girl who is devoted to marriage and domestic work. Although the Nigerien government asserted that free schooling up to age 16 was effective, this was far from being a reality because parents continued to pay for school supplies.

In addition, most of the children who have difficulties with school attendance are vulnerable children in the following categories:

• Children displaced as a result of the Boko Haram sect’s abuses;

• Children living in a poor host family following displacement due to Boko Haram ;

• Children whose parents are in extreme poverty.

These children are unfortunately potential candidates to join the Boko Haram sect, which holds out the prospect of easy money when they are enlisted, hence the need to keep them in the school system. Many of the young teenagers have left to join terrorist groups because of the money they are given (about 1000 euros per month) and the assured marriage with kidnapped girls and women.

For this project, IDAY-Niger wants to see these children have access to and be kept in school like other children living in normal conditions, because education is on the one hand a fundamental right for all children regardless of their gender or social condition and on the other hand a means to escape the calls of the Boko Haram sect.

General

To contribute to the improvement of the educational offer in the cycle of basic education 1 in the commune of Nguigmi.

Specific

> To equip 16 elementary school, accommodating 8947 children, with textbooks at CM1 and CM2 level in the commune of Nguigmi.

> Improve learning and teaching conditions in the 16 elementary school.

> 16 schools with 8947 students are equipped with textbooks at CM1 and CM2 level;

> Learning and teaching conditions are improved for girls and boys in these schools;

> Families/communities are made aware of the benefits of associative life, their support and contributions to the implementation of the project.