Beitrag vom 11.07.2022

Présidence du Niger

Communiqué de presse

Topping the agenda in Niger

President Mohamed Bazoum has declared improving education one of the major objectives of his five-year term. A year after he was elected, teacher recruitment has been stepped up, infrastructure is beginning to take shape and Niger’s partners are being encouraged to invest in the sector.

President Mohamed Bazoum, who was sworn in on 2 April 2021, has three issues that stand out above the others on his programme: security, which ranks high on the agenda, agriculture and education. It will be several years before we can measure the efforts and investments made, from pre-school to higher education and vocational training. However, several actions over the past year suggest that the government is taking a proactive stance.

TRAINING GEARED TO THE NEEDS OF THE MARKET

In general, efforts are being made to improve the quality of education by increasing recruitment of primary school teachers and by reviewing the training provided in teacher training colleges. This was pointed out by the Prime Minister, Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, when he chaired a session of the Education and Training Sector Plan Steering Committee, the government’s compass in this field, on 2 December 2021.

He also stressed that, at the secondary and higher education levels, “the government intends to improve intake capacity, living and working conditions and address the challenge of matching the supply of training to the needs of the labour market”. This last goal will be achieved through the implementation of technical education colleges and trade schools.

3,000 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES ENROLLED IN TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGES
On 17 December, during the 63rd annual Republic Day celebrations, the President of the Republic drew up an initial assessment. With regard to teaching staff, particularly at primary level, an entrance exam was held to recruit 3,000 high school graduates into Niger’s teacher training colleges. These students will receive two years of training, and the criteria for recruiting contract teachers are being reviewed.

“We have hired 344 science teachers directly into the civil service from higher education establishments and brought 2,150 secondary school contract teachers into the civil service,” he added. As for higher education, the Head of State called for the recruitment of research and technology professors needed by universities. It is estimated that 175 such professors are needed.

LECTURE THEATRES FOR THE COUNTRY’S UNIVERSITIES
The government is also drawing up a plan to build university infrastructure to address the problems of space in lecture theatres, laboratories and other university buildings. With this in mind, the construction of a new 1000-seat lecture theatre got underway last October at the Abdou Moumouni Dioffo Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FLSH) in Niamey.

The president’s programme makes provision for 5,000 additional places in the capital and 1000-seat lecture theatres in Maradi, Zinder and Tahoua. To address this urgent need for space, several 300- to 1,000-seat ‘Moroccan tents’ were pitched in these four cities this year. The government reiterated that a crucial factor remains action planning, especially with the country’s technical and financial partners (TFPs), whose contribution is indispensable.

PARENTS WANT TO SEE THEIR DAUGHTERS SUCCEED.

AN END TO STRAW-HUT PRE-SCHOOLS

Besides that of the TFPs, there is a lot of goodwill throughout the country. In January this year, a company, an NGO and a local chief financed the building of seven classrooms at the AFN school in Maradi. These replaced the straw-hut classrooms that caught fire last November, claiming the lives of 25 children. The fire came just a few months after a similar tragic accident in the suburbs of Niamey, prompting the state to ban straw-hut classrooms in pre-schools.

The Bank of Africa Foundation, to replace these schools and to support girls’ education, delivered school infrastructure, comprising six new and four renovated classrooms, in Tahoua in February.

GIRLS’ BOARDING SCHOOLS

The issue of girls’ education is the focus of the government’s actions. A boarding school for girls had its first intake last summer in Kellé, in the Zinder region, as the flagship project of the Renaissance III programme. It is the first of many that will eventually cover the entire country. To this end, the project focuses on villages where the number of girls and women in schools and training centres is low.

The project also aims to combat gender-based violence (GBV) in schools, promote the inclusion of girls and women with disabilities, boost the number of girls in scientific, technical and vocational courses and, ultimately, make them more employable.