R 261628Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY OUAGADOUGOU
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 4986
INFO ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE WASHINGTON DC
CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS OUAGADOUGOU 000405 
 
 
AF/W FOR ACOOK 
 
REF:  08 OUAGADOUGOU 235; OUAGADOUGOU 215 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EAID SCOI PHUM PREL UV
SUBJECT: BURKINA FASO: DESPITE MASSIVE REFORMS COUNTRY STILL FALLS 
SHORT OF EDUCATION GOALS 
 
¶1.  Summary: In 2002, the Government of Burkina Faso (GOBF) and the 
donor community initiated a ten-year education development program, 
Programme Dcennal de Dveloppement de l'Enseignement de Base 
(PDDEB), which focused on construction of rural schools; recruitment 
and training of primary school teachers; capacity building for 
Ministry of Basic Education (MEBA) administrative staff; and free 
textbooks and supplies for schools nationwide.  This program was 
designed to help Burkina Faso achieve its Millennium Development 
Goal (MDG) of universal primary education by 2015.  In spite of this 
effort, MDG experts have concluded that the literacy rate will not 
reach the ten-year plan's 40 percent benchmark for 2009.  End 
Summary. 
 
---------- 
BACKGROUND 
---------- 
 
¶2.  In July 2007, the Burkinabe Parliament passed a law intended to 
support the ten-year plan by overhauling the entire educational 
system from pre-school to university level.  This law was designed 
to help the nation meet its MDG for 2015 by promoting free basic 
education for all Burkinabe children aged 6 to 16.  The law also 
addressed other aspects of education such as practical and 
vocational training; adult literacy; life skills preparation; and 
adaptation of curricula to national job market needs.  It also 
demanded institutional reforms such as improved quality and 
efficiency for the education sector.  This new 1.8 trillion CFA (3.6 
billion USD) program was initiated at the beginning of the 2007-08 
school year. 
 
¶3.  Although the new law was favorably received by numerous 
stakeholders, many were doubtful about its chances of success.  Many 
critics felt it was improbable that the GOBF would be able to 
mobilize the 1.8 trillion CFA (3.6 billion USD) needed to implement 
the reform.  Secondly, many detractors doubted that the GOBF could 
compel parents to comply with mandatory education statutes. 
Thirdly, the country clearly lacked adequate facilities and 
qualified teachers capable of accommodating the sudden influx of new 
students.  Finally, many also feared that widespread corruption and 
impunity in public administration had rendered the educational 
system incapable of carrying out this ambitious project. 
 
---------------------- 
Progress on the Ground 
---------------------- 
 
¶4.  Phase I of the ten-year plan, which began in 2002, focused on 
improvements in basic education and literacy.  Phase II, which 
started in 2007 will build on Phase I goals on the premise that 
these factors have a more pervasive impact on the quality of life 
and the level of economic engagement.  So far, the GOBF and the 
donor community have kept their promise to increase educational 
funding from 61 billion FCFA in 2002; to 120 billion FCFA in 2008 
(76 percent was supplied by the national budget and 24 percent from 
external sources). 
 
¶5.  To date, improvement is slow but noticeable on several fronts. 
From 2002 to 2007, enrollment increased by 20.8 percent for 
pre-school; 10.7 percent for primary school; 10.1 percent for 
secondary school, and 16.4 percent at the university level.  More 
classrooms have been built, more teachers trained, and more money 
funneled into the system.  In primary education, the gross admission 
rate (access to the first year of school) increased from 78 percent 
in 2007 to 85 percent in 2008.  The gross enrollment rate (total 
number of school-age children in school) gained 9 percentage points, 
moving from 72 percent in 2007 to 81 percent in 2008.  The school 
completion rate gained 4.3 percentage points, moving from 36.4 
percent to 40.7 percent during the same period.  In 2008, the 
textbook per student ratio improved to 1:1 from 2:1 in public 
schools; and adult literacy rates increased from 21.8 percent in 
2003 to 28.7 percent in 2008. 
 
¶6.  The efficacy of the system, as measured by promotion, repeat and 
drop-out rates, also improved slightly.  In 2008, for the six-year 
primary school program, student promotion rates were 88.5 percent 
for the first two years (CP), 82.5 percent for the next two years 
(CE), and 75 percent for the fifth year (CM1).  Repeat rates were 
6.8 percent, 11.8 percent and 20.9 percent, respectively.  In 2008, 
the overall national drop-out rate was around 12 percent although in 
some places it was as high as 20 percent.  An extreme example was in 
a village in the Sahel region's Yaga Province, which recently 
reported that all 46 students who enrolled in October 2008 had 
deserted the school by December 2008.  In comparison, the MCC-funded 
Burkinabe Response to Improve Girl's Chances to Succeed (BRIGHT) 
program, which paired the construction of 132 schools with 
complementary interventions designed to increase girls' enrollment 
rates, shows significantly higher success rates.  After three years, 
these schools boast a 95.2 percent attendance rate and 1.8 percent 
dropout rate. 
 
¶7.  Non-formal education and literacy training for adults has also 
made progress, moving from 23.2 percent in 2005 to 28.7 percent in 
¶2007.  To encourage enrollment in adult literacy programs, the GOBF 
engaged in a highly publicized advocacy campaign that would set an 
example.  In January 2009, several cabinet ministers, with the 
Minister of Basic Education leading the way, began learning to read 
and write in their local dialects. (Reftel OUAGADOUGOU 215) 
 
¶8.  During the past two years, progress has been made in the fight 
against corruption and professional misconduct.  Sanctions are 
increasingly reported in the press, and the Burkinabe are now more 
likely to mobilize in defense of their children's education.  One 
well-publicized case concerned a rural school parent-teacher 
association that wrote to the Minister of Basic Education to 
complain that a teacher left his class during school hours to attend 
a ceremony at a nearby village.  The second high profile story 
involved students at a provincial secondary school who succeeded in 
having an absentee teacher dismissed.  A third case involved a 
primary school teacher who was immediately jailed for raping a 
student at his school. 
 
----------------- 
Challenges Remain 
----------------- 
 
¶9.  Despite marked improvements in many areas, some problems have 
proven difficult to overcome.  Although MEBA added additional 
teachers to the payroll, it is impossible to keep up with growing 
school enrollments.  From 2007 to 2008, the number of teachers 
increased by 8.7 percent but the student-teacher ratio also 
increased from an average of 1:54 in 2007 to 1:55 in 2008 (with 1:59 
in urban areas).  In some parts of the country, huge classes are not 
uncommon, sometimes reaching a ratio of 1:150. 
 
¶10.  The most challenging aspect of educational reform is 
implementation of the mandatory education policy for children aged 6 
to 16.  Compulsory education is difficult to enforce because of the 
lack of teachers, weak local authority, and extreme poverty that 
forces parents to withdraw their school-aged children so they can 
contribute to family income.  Girls' education is the most 
problematic because some parents either force their daughters to 
marry at an early age (as young as 11-13 years old) or withdraw them 
from school once they reach puberty fearing an unwanted pregnancy. 
Religious misconceptions are also a barrier typical of the Sahel 
region, where many believe that "good Muslims do not attend 
school." 
 
¶11.  In spite of strong support for the ten-year plan, results 
continue to be discouraging.  Following the conclusion of Phase I in 
2007, the GOBF reported that the country had only achieved a 
literacy rate of 28.7 percent.  In early 2009, a UN assessment of 
MDG progress concluded that "despite the perceptible increase that 
has been recorded over the past two years, the literacy rate in 2009 
will not reach the target of 40 percent as established by the 
ten-year plan for the development of basic education." 
 
¶12.  Comment: The implementation of Phase II of the PDDEB is making 
progress.  However, in terms of financial, human, and physical 
constraints (number of classrooms to be built, number of teachers 
and administrators to be trained), a school completion rate of 100 
percent in 2015 appears to be unrealistic for Burkina Faso.  In 
order to meet MDG for literacy, additional donor funding will be 
required to increase the quality and capacity of MEBA programs.  To 
overcome the constraints imposed by poverty and tradition, MEBA 
programs should attempt to incorporate enrollment incentives, such 
as those provided by the BRIGHT schools. 
 
LAEUCHLI