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Misanet.com / IPS, 22 January - Teachers, seeking more role in education development, in Senegal have criticised some aspects of a programme which seeks to offer opportunity to every child in the country to attend school by the end of the decade. - After careful analysis, we concluded that it's a very dangerous programme, says Waly Ndiaye of the Senegalese Teachers' Unions. "We would go so far as to say that it is destructive of our country's school system. It allows the government to abdicate its noble responsibilities and privatise education." The unions' fear is compounded by the fact that at the end of the programme, local communities will be given full responsibility for operating schools. - How will these impoverished communities pay teachers' salaries, school upkeep, and all the other relevant expenses? asks Macisse Lo of the Democratic Union of Senegalese Teachers. "It's obvious that local communities will not be able to properly carry out this mission, and that's why we say the programme is dangerous for our schools' future." The unions also are critical of the government's attempt to make teaching a volunteer job. This policy was instituted in 1991 to fill the gap created by the shortage of teachers at elementary level. Volunteer teachers, who number 9,200, constitute almost a third of elementary school teachers. Recruited according to need, they are placed directly in schools without being provided with any training whatsoever. But this year, the government has changed that policy. From now on, all volunteers will first attend a seven to nine-month teaching course at the Teachers' Training College. With their diplomas in hand, the graduates can serve as volunteers for a maximum of four years. They will then become salaried employees for the next two years. After that, they will have the right to claim a civil service teaching position. - It's a dangerous option for our country's education system, says Mamdou Diop, secretary general of the Democratic Union of Senegalese Teachers. "In some of the country's departments, up to 70 percent of the instructors are volunteers. In five years at this rate, the volunteers will represent the majority of teaching personnel and will be in a position to shut down the system any time they go on strike." In spite of their discontent, the unions acknowledge that not every aspect of the programme is bad. "What we have seen is that the programme is a rather ambitious one, and if it is well executed, it could lead to a democratic reform of Senegal's schools. It has allowed children to have more access to school. But qualitatively, it leaves a lot to be desired," says Baxao Diongue, secretary general of the National Union of Elementary Teachers. - It's an ambitious programme which on the whole is acceptable and we hope that it'll be implemented, he says. "But, I regret that all those concerned with education were not included when it was conceived, and that it does not include the issue of informal education." The concerns by the teachers followed the launching of Senegal's Decennial Education and Training Programme for 2000-2010, which focuses on elementary education. The teachers were excluded from the planning process, which was concluded and signed between government and the donors in April 2000. Funded by donor institutions, including the World Bank, the European Union (EU), the African Development Bank (ADB) and the US Aid for International Development (USAID), the programme aims at increasing pre-school enrolment from three to ten percent. It also aims at ensuring that 50 percent of elementary school graduates go on to junior high school. The rate of enrolment for elementary-aged children in Senegal is presently estimated at 63 percent. Under the programme, 2,000 classrooms will be constructed and between 2,000 and 2,500 volunteer teachers will be recruited annually. The ten-year programme will require 500 billion CFA francs (about 715 million US dollars). The Senegalese government will contribute up to 80 percent of this sum, according to official estimates. The rest of the money will come from the donors. Evaluating the first year of the programme in December last year, the Minister of National Education, Moustapha Sourang, expressed satisfaction with the results. "There were achievements in opening and operating classes, and in recruiting volunteer teachers," he said. The minister, however, acknowledged that some aspects of the programme have been delayed, such as the construction of new classrooms. By Amadou Sakho, IPS
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