Niger school - Enfants du Monde Niger school - Enfants du Monde
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Niger

Second Chance Schools

© Tagaza Djibo

Between 2017 and 2020

914

children and young people received quality primary education

440

students went on to further education or vocational training

12

teachers have been trained in active teaching methods

The Country’s Challenges

In Niger, four out of ten girls and three out of ten boys do not go to school. Most children and adolescents live in poor and vulnerable communities, where abuse, exploitation and violence are often part of their daily lives. Adolescents and young people, especially girls, face many constraints: 76% of them are married before the age of 18; 36% of adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 have already given birth or are pregnant; and only 26.9% are literate, compared to 50.2% of boys.

Offering a Second Chance to Children who Have Dropped out of School

The ‘second chance schools’ supported by Enfants du Monde until 2022, in close collaboration with the Nigerien Organisation of Innovative Educators (ONEN), aim to contribute to improving access to and the quality of education in Niger. They are intended for children aged 9 to 13 who have never been to school or who left school too early, in poor neighbourhoods of the capital Niamey (until 2021) and in the regions of Tahoua (until 2018) and Tillabéry.

What Sets us Apart

We train teachers to deliver lessons in both French, the country’s official language, and the students’ local mother tongue to make learning easier.

  • The educational content is tailored to the realities and needs of the children.
  • The children also take practical classes, such as sewing and agriculture.
  • Students at second-chance schools perform better than students at public schools.
© Tagaza Djibo

Mariama, 11 years old, student in Niger

I spent two years doing housework and fetching water from the river. At the first school I went to, we were taught only in French. But here, when I don’t understand French, the teacher can explain things to me in Zarma.

 

Improving the Quality of Education

Many factors affect the quality of education in Niger: teachers often have only a partial mastery of the subjects they teach and poor teaching skills; teaching methods rely on memorisation and rote learning; community concerns and local specificities are not taken into account in teaching, making it irrelevant to children, parents and the community.

‘Evaluations show that students in second chance schools perform better than their peers in public schools.’ Hamza Djibo, programme manager at ONEN, a local partner of Enfants du Monde.

Girls’ Education

Special attention is paid to girls’ education: 50% of the pupils in our schools are girls. Their parents sign a written commitment to keep their daughters in school for four years to prevent early marriage during their schooling.

In 2010, a journalist from the programme Ensemble, broadcast on Radio Télévision Suisse, went to meet Zeimabou, then aged 13 and a pupil at a second-chance school in Niamey.

Protecting Students and Teachers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2020 and 2021, we worked closely with our local partners to provide effective support to the Ministry of Education in its national response to the epidemic: Protective kits for students, containing handwashing facilities, soap, cloth masks and hand sanitiser, were distributed to the second chance schools we support to enable students to attend school safely.

Contact our Team

In Switzerland
Sébastien Blat, Sahel Program Manager
info@edm.ch

Financial Partners

Local Partners

©Tagaza Djibo/Enfants du Monde

My Donation Makes a Difference

For example:

With 70 francs:

I provide bilingual school manuals in French and Mooré (the local language) for 10 children in Burkina Faso, enabling them to make better progress at school.

With 140 francs:

I allow for 28 pregnant women from Bangladesh and their husbands to take part in a maternal health education session and prepare for childbirth.

With 200 francs:

I fund a continuing education training in bilingual education for 17 teachers in Guatemala, to improve the quality of their lessons.

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