Education in Niger

Last updated

Education in Niger
Flag of Niger.svg
Educational oversight
Ministry of National EducationRabiou Ousman
General details
Primary languagesFrench
A primary classroom in Niger Niger primary school MCC3500.jpg
A primary classroom in Niger

Education in Niger, as in other nations in the Sahelian region of Africa, faces challenges due to poverty and poor access to schools. Although education is compulsory between the ages of seven and fifteen, with primary and secondary school leading into optional higher education, Niger has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. With assistance from external organizations, Niger has been pursuing educational improvement, reforming how schools utilize languages of instruction, and exploring how the system can close gender gaps in retention and learning.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) [1] finds that Niger is fulfilling only 59.2% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country's level of income. [2] HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education. While taking into consideration Niger's income level, the nation is achieving 71.5% of what should be possible based on its resources (income) for primary education but only 46.8% for secondary education. [3]

Organization of formal education

Children in Niger enter primary school is at age seven. Schooling is then compulsory until age fifteen, at end of the 1st cycle of secondary school. [4] [5] The education system of Niger is organized as such: [6]

Primary education

Primary education is composed of six grades: [6]

Names of classes starting with CP come from the French system. CI was added to "initiate" students to the French language, which is the language of education in most schools.

Completion of primary school is sanctioned by a national exam. Successful candidates at the exam are awarded a certificate of completion of primary education or CFEPD (abbreviated from the French certificat de fin d'études du premier degré). [7] [8] [9] The World Bank cites the UNESCO Institute for Statistics' current estimate of primary school enrollment at 71%, though this figure is inflated because it counts the many overage children who are still in primary school. [10]

Languages of Instruction

French was adopted as Niger's only official language in its first constitution in 1960, and was therefore the only language permitted in schools for a decade after independence. [11] While the number of recognized national languages expanded to include 8 local languages in 1989, and 2 more in 2001, Niger's schools have been slow to implement multilingual education. This created educational barriers for students in Niger who spoke other regional languages and often had a limited grasp of French, leading to difficulty understanding materials taught in schools. [12] Following a 1965 world conference on education in Tehran, where evidence from around the world showed failings in literacy education not conducted in the learner’s fluent language, Mali demonstrated greatly improved outcomes in literacy using local languages as part of mother-tongue-medium-education (MTME). Programs like this one gained global traction in this period, leading Niger to begin using local languages for school instruction in some schools as early as 1972. [11] In fact, Niger was among the first to incorporate such programs in West Africa. [13]

Bilingual education reform

Even with early efforts being focused at multilingual and bilingual education in Niger, more consistent and widespread implementation of these methods has been decades in the making. In a 2005 study, experimental schools showed an exclusion or drop-out rate about 14 percent lower than traditional schools, and successful completion of primary education without repeats at a rate 17 percent higher than traditional schools. [11] Following a 2008 curriculum reform initiative, Niger's Ministry of Education piloted a program in 500 schools featuring local languages for instruction in early grades and introducing French gradually in later years. This pilot was expanded to 5,000 schools for the 2017-2018 school year. Studies showed student performance was highest in bilingual schools and lowest in traditional (Francophone) schools. [14] While evidence indicates favorable outcomes, bilingual and multilingual education has developed gradually in Niger, despite support for these programs originating in the early 1960s. [11] Many complications remain in further implementing multilingual education in Niger, such as exclusively French-language national exams, French involvement in the language policy of former colonies, political motivations hindering more expansive programs, and financial limitations to successful implementation. [15] [12]

Gender Inequality

Niger is ranked close to the bottom of the Human Development Reports' Gender Inequality Index, placed at 151 out of 189 countries. Access to education makes up part of this index's criteria, with figures showing educational disparities among an already undereducated general population. [16] While only 23 percent of boys complete secondary school, the figure is even lower for girls at just 17 percent. At all levels of schooling, girls attend less than boys. [17] Literacy rates also reflect educational inequality, with 23 percent of girls over the age of fifteen demonstrating literacy, compared to 39 percent of boys of the same age group. [18] This inequality can be attributed to several factors, including safety concerns, long distances and lack of access to schools, cultural norms that prioritize education less for girls, and child marriage. [17] [19] The impact of gender inequality in Niger, which is partially driven by unequal access to education, extends beyond just the educational sphere. The World Bank estimates that by giving women more equal spending and earning power––specifically through investments in girls' education and reducing child marriage––Niger's GDP per capita could increase by up to a fourth. [20] Gender inequality in education is therefore more than just an issue of principle for the nation, since it impacts the economic well-being of all.

Efforts to close the gender gap

Both educational authorities in Niger and international organizations have taken steps to address gender inequality in education. For example, the United States Agency for International Development and UNICEF have both pledged to assist Niger's government in making education more accessible for girls. [17] [21] And Niger's government has laid out a ten-year plan for the education sector from 2014 to 2024 committing to, among other things, incentivizing girls' enrollment and retention. [22] [23] While it remains to be seen exactly how successful implementation of these strategies will be by 2024, the program has been endorsed and supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. [24]

Tertiary education

There are five universities in Niger. The first and biggest, the Abdou Moumouni University in Niamey was founded as the University of Niamey in 1974. The Islamic University of Niger in Say was opened in 1986. In 2008, two public universities, the University of Zinder in Zinder and University of Maradi in Maradi were created. In 2010, the University of Tahoua or Universite de Tahoua was created in Tahoua. In 2014, it was announced that four additional universities will be created in Agadez, Diffa, Dosso and Tillaberi. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Cameroon</span>

Cameroon is a Central African nation on the Gulf of Guinea. Bantu speakers were among the first groups to settle Cameroon, followed by the Muslim Fulani until German domination in 1884. After World War I, the French took over 80% of the area, and the British 20%. After World War II, self-government was granted, and in 1972, a unitary republic was formed out of East and West Cameroon. Until 1976 there were two separate education systems, French and English, which did not merge seamlessly. English and French are now considered the primary languages of instruction with English being more preferred. Local languages are generally not taught as there are too many, and choosing between them would raise further issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Uganda</span>

The system of education in Uganda has a structure of 7 years of primary education, 6 years of secondary education, and 3 to 5 years of post-secondary education. Education in Uganda is administered in English. All throughout the levels in the education structure, modules are taught and assessed in English. The government of Uganda recognizes education as a basic human right and continues to strive to provide free primary education to all children in the country. However, issues with funding, teacher training, rural populations, and inadequate facilities continue to hinder the progress of educational development in Uganda. Girls in Uganda are disproportionately discriminated against in terms of education; they face harsher barriers when trying to gain an education and it has left the female population disenfranchised, despite government efforts to close the gap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Rwanda</span>

Education in Rwanda has undergone considerable changes throughout Rwanda's recent history, and has faced major disruptions due to periods of conflict. Education was divided by gender whereby women and men had a different education relevant to their responsibilities in day-to-day life. Women were mostly taught housekeeping while men were mainly taught how to hunt, raise animals, and fish. This is because Rwanda was a community-based society where every member had a specific contribution to the overall development of the community. Older family members like grandparents usually took on the role of educators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Bolivia</span>

Education in Bolivia, as in many other areas of Bolivian life, has a divide between Bolivia's rural and urban areas. Rural illiteracy levels remain high, even as the rest of the country becomes increasingly literate. Bolivia devotes 23% of its annual budget to educational expenditures, a higher percentage than in most other South American countries, albeit from a smaller national budget. A comprehensive, education reform has made some significant changes. Initiated in 1994, the reform decentralized educational funding in order to meet diverse local needs, improved teacher training and curricula, formalized and expanded intercultural bilingual education and changed the school grade system. Resistance from teachers’ unions, however, has slowed implementation of some of the intended reforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Nepal</span>

Education in Nepal has been modeled on the Indian system, which is in turn the legacy of the old British Raj. The National Examinations Board (NEB) supervises all standardized tests. The Ministry of Education is responsible for managing educational activities in Nepal. The National Center for Educational Development (NCED) is Nepal's teacher-training body.

Education in Algeria is free and compulsory for Algerians from the ages of 6 to 15. However, only half of Algerian students are enrolled in secondary schools. As of 2015, Algeria has 92 post-secondary institutions, which includes 48 universities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Cambodia</span>

Education in Cambodia is controlled by the state through the Ministry of Education in a national level and by the Department of Education at the provincial level. The Cambodian education system includes pre-school, primary, secondary education, higher education and non-formal education. The education system includes the development of sport, information technology education, research development and technical education. School enrollment has increased during the 2000s in Cambodia. USAID data shows that in 2011 primary enrollment reached 96% of the child population, lower secondary school 34% and upper secondary 21%.

Education in Peru is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, which oversees formulating, implementing and supervising the national educational policy. According to the Constitution of Peru, education is compulsory and free in public schools for the initial, primary and secondary levels. It is also free in public universities for students who are unable to pay tuition and have an adequate academic performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Mali</span>

Education in Mali is considered a fundamental right of Malians. For most of Mali's history, the government split primary education into two cycles which allowed Malian students to take examinations to gain admission to secondary, tertiary, or higher education. Mali has recently seen large increases in school enrollment due to educational reforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Morocco</span>

The education system in Morocco comprises pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary levels. School education is supervised by the Ministry of National Education, with considerable devolution to the regional level. Higher education falls under the Ministry of Higher Education and Executive Training.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Bhutan</span>

Western-style education was introduced to Bhutan during the reign of Ugyen Wangchuck (1907–26). Until the 1950s, the only formal education available to Bhutanese students, except for private schools in Ha and Bumthang, was through Buddhist monasteries. In the 1950s, several private secular schools were established without government support, and several others were established in major district towns with government backing. By the late 1950s, there were twenty-nine government and thirty private primary schools, but only about 2,500 children were enrolled. Secondary education was available only in India. Eventually, the private schools were taken under government supervision to raise the quality of education provided. Although some primary schools in remote areas had to be closed because of low attendance, the most significant modern developments in education came during the period of the First Development Plan (1961–66), when some 108 schools were operating and 15,000 students were enrolled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Laos</span>

In 2005, the literacy rate in Laos was estimated to be 73%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Guatemala</span>

Education in Guatemala is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education which oversees formulating, implementing and supervising the national educational policy. According to the Constitution of Guatemala, education is compulsory and free in public schools for the initial, primary and secondary levels. There is a five-tier system of education starting with primary school, followed by secondary school and tertiary education, depending on the level of technical training.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Benin</span>

Benin has abolished school fees and is carrying out the recommendations of its 2007 Educational Forum. In 2018, the net primary enrollment rate was 97 percent. Gross enrollment rate in secondary education has greatly increased in the last two decades, from 21.8 percent in 2000 to 59 percent in 2016, 67.1 percent in the case of males and 50.7 percent for females. Because of a rapid increase in the enrollment rate, the student/teacher ratio rose from 36:1 in 1990 to 53:1 in 1997 but has dropped again in the last years to 39:1 (2018). In 2018, the gross enrollment ratio in tertiary education was 12.5%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in the Central African Republic</span>

Public education in the Central African Republic is free, and education is compulsory from ages 6 to 14. AIDS-related deaths have taken a heavy toll on teachers, contributing to the closure of more than 100 primary schools between 1996 and 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Djibouti</span>

The education system of Djibouti is strongly influenced by Arabs and France's colonial empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Guinea</span>

Primary education in Guinea is compulsory for 6 years. In 1997, the gross primary enrolment rate was 54.4 percent and the net primary enrolment rate was 41.8 percent. Public education in Guinea is governed by three ministries: The Ministry for Pre-University Education and Literacy; The Ministry for Technical Education and Occupational Training; and the Ministry for Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Female education in Nigeria</span> Basic human right in Nigeria

Females in Nigeria have a basic human right to be educated, and this right has been recognized since the year 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) According to a report in 2014, female education has an important impact on the development of a stable, prosperous and healthy nation state resulting in active, productive and empowered citizens. Educating girls develop growth rates, encourages independence of the girl child and reduces social disparities. In 2009, the Nigerian Population Council (NPC) observed that women with higher educational qualifications are more likely to be in formal wage employment than those at the level of primary school education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable Development Goal 4</span> 4th of 17 Sustainable Development Goals to achieve quality education for all

Sustainable Development Goal 4 is about quality education and is among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in September 2015. The full title of SDG 4 is "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Educational inequality in Ghana</span>

Education inequality in Ghana exists in multiple dimensions, with significant disparities occurring along gender, wealth, and geographical divides. Improvements have been made by both government and civic organizations.

References

  1. ↑ "Human Rights Measurement Initiative – The first global initiative to track the human rights performance of countries". humanrightsmeasurement.org. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  2. ↑ "Niger - HRMI Rights Tracker". rightstracker.org. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  3. ↑ "Niger - HRMI Rights Tracker". rightstracker.org. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  4. ↑ Behnke, p. 40
  5. ↑ "Niger" Archived 2008-12-05 at the Wayback Machine . 2001 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor (2002). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. 1 2 . Last accessed on 9/20/2014.
  7. ↑ Education for all in Niger. Last accessed on 11/2/2014
  8. ↑ Enseignement, Formation, Recherche. Last accessed on 11/2/2014
  9. ↑ Last accessed on 11/2/2014.
  10. ↑ "School enrollment, primary (% gross)". The World Bank. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Nikièma, Norbert (2011). "A first-language-first multilingual model to meet the quality imperative in formal basic education in three 'francophone' West African countries". International Review of Education. 57 (5/6): 599–616. Bibcode:2011IREdu..57..599N. doi:10.1007/s11159-011-9253-5. ISSN   0020-8566. JSTOR   41480146. S2CID   144072921.
  12. 1 2 Hamidou, Amadou; Mijinguini, Abdou; Amani, Laouali; Salley, Jafarou (January 2010). "Bilingual Education in Niger" (PDF). African Experiences - Country Case Studies. 10. Association for the Development of Education in Africa.
  13. ↑ Brown, Katie (May 16, 2014). "Best Practices in Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education" (PDF).
  14. ↑ "Piloting mother-tongue curriculum to improve literacy in Niger | Blog | Global Partnership for Education". www.globalpartnership.org. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  15. ↑ Brock-Utne, Birgit (2001). "Education for All: In Whose Language?". Oxford Review of Education. 27 (1): 115–134. doi:10.1080/03054980125577. ISSN   0305-4985. JSTOR   1050997. S2CID   144457326.
  16. ↑ Nations, United. "| Human Development Reports". hdr.undp.org. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  17. 1 2 3 "Education". www.unicef.org. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  18. ↑ "Niger". uis.unesco.org. 2016-11-27. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  19. ↑ "Republic of Niger: Priorities for Ending Poverty and Boosting Shared Prosperity: Systematic Country Diagnostic" (PDF). World Bank Group. November 28, 2017.
  20. ↑ World Bank (2018-05-24). "Economic Impacts of Gender Inequality in Niger": 1–80.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  21. ↑ "USAID Fact Sheet: Education in Niger" (PDF). United States Agency for International Development.
  22. ↑ "Programme Sectoriel de l'Education et de la Formation (2014-2024) Document de stratégie" (PDF). June 2013.
  23. ↑ "Education in Niger | Global Partnership for Education". www.globalpartnership.org. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  24. ↑ "UNESCO Supports Niger's Teacher Policy Formulation Process | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  25. ↑ Creation of Four Public University in Some Regions in Niger. Article published by the Agence Nationale de Presse on March 7th, 2014.Last accessed on 9/20/2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.