Tarbiyya Tatali

Passing BEPC

Marie-Françoise — 2023-06-23T20:48:46Z

Following the announcement of the catastrophic results of the BEPC, the diploma finishing the four first year of secondary school, in July 2021, the Nigerien State was alarmed, and our Nigerien partners from RAEDD immediately observed the local situation in the department of Dogondoutchi and alerted us to the urgency of the remediation of this educational disaster.

Experimentation then extension

The RAEDD thought about supporting teaching in college to improve the success rate of BEPC. From January 2022, 2 secondary schools elected by the director of secondary education (DDES), have been chosen to experiment with a new action consisting of providing students preparing for the exam with textbooks and BEPC annals in Maths and French. These are the colleges of Bagagi and Goubey. This experiment was financed with AECIN's funds.

The results in 2022, compared to 2021, showed a very clear improvement in results.

Location	Year	F (Girls)	G (Boys)	T (Total)
Bagagi	2021	11%	22%	18%
	2022	32%	39%	36%
Goubeye	2021	13%	11%	12%
	2022	20%	44%	35%

In 2022/23, this experience was renewed and extended to the College of Togone and concerned a 3^rd discipline which is physics and chemistry. In addition to providing students with textbooks and annals in the three main disciplines, awarding prizes to the laureates of the BEPC to encourage future studies and emulation between students. These prizes are given to the first 3 boys and the first 3 girls of each college. This action will be carried out with the help of the teachers who will be trained and supported by their educational advisers and the delegate for the education of girls in secondary education (SCOFI).

For the 2022/23 school year, this initiative was carried out with the financial support of the City of Rennes. 266 / 5,000
The results of the BEPC 2023 are much more contrasted.

Place	Year	F (Girls)	G (Boys)	T (Total)
Bagagi	2022	32%	39%	36%
	2023	32%	30%	30%
Goubeye	2022	20%	44%	35%
	2023	100%	100%	100%
Togone	2022	12%	42%	24%
	2023	0%	17%	11%

The results are excellent in Goubeye with 19 students accepted (11 boys and 8 girls). In Bagagi, the death of the college director resulted in the temporary relaxation of the teaching teams for about two months before the appointment of an interim). In Togone, according to the Departmental Director of National Education, the poor result is linked to teachers' strike movements, following the unions' slogans. The absence of some teachers did not allow for the necessary monitoring of students up to the BEPC. This is why the DDEN has planned reorganizations at the level of the staff of this establishment for the 2023-2024 school year, and has proposed that Togone not receive a prize in 2023.

On July 14 and 15, prizes were awarded to the 6 winners (3 boys and 3 girls) in the two colleges of Bagagi and Goubey. By the decision of the DDEN (Departmental Director of National Education), Togone College was not honored because the results were well below the targeted objectives. The award ceremony took place in the presence of a large audience, including students, parents, management committees and AME (Association of Educator Mothers), village leaders, as well as the Mayor of Dankassari in Goubey, the DDEN, and representatives of the RAEDD. The top-ranked students received 30,000f each, the second-place students received 25,000f, and the third-place students received 15,000f.

Bad results in 2024

At the start of the 2023 school year, thanks to the renewed financial support from the City of Rennes, 2 new colleges, Bakin Tapki and Doubalma, joined the program.

The 100 third-year students from two new secondary schools were provided with textbooks and exam prep materials in three subjects (Mathematics, French, and Physics-Chemistry) at the start of the second trimester of the 2023-2024 school year. Teacher training on lesson planning, assessment, and the effective use of textbooks and exam prep materials took place in Dogondoutchi for the five schools involved.

Unfortunately, the 2024 BEPC exam results did not meet expectations, with a decline in the pass rate in four out of the five schools supported by the project. The results for girls were particularly disappointing.

Lieu	Année	F (Filles)	G (Garçons)	T (Total)
Bagagi	2023	32 %	30 %	30 %
	2024	16 %	29 %	25 %
Goubeye	2023	100 %	100 %	100%
	2024	18 %	58 %	39 %
Togone	2023	0 %	17 %	11 %
	2024	8 %	57 %	19 %
Doubalma	2023	46%	78%	69 %
	2024	48 %	48 %	48%
Bagin Tapki	2023	33 %	80%	58 %
	2024	0 %	20 %	13 %

The poor results were observed in many schools across the department, partly due to higher thresholds for retake eligibility. The general context of instability and insecurity may also have contributed to these outcomes.

The prize-giving missions began on July 8, 2024. In the schools of Goubey and Togone, no third prizes were awarded to girls because only two girls passed the exam. In the Bakin Tapki school, no prizes were awarded to girls as none were admitted.

Due to funding constraints - following Rennes' decision to cease development funding for Niger from 2024 - this project will not be renewed.

Donations targeted to Niger Children

Marie-Françoise — 2021-07-11T08:33:22Z

Supplying an orphanage in Saga

Following a suggestion from a Nigerian citizen living in France, AESCD set up a project to supply beds to an orphanage in Saga, a district of Niamey. A grant from COSOG, a branch of the Treasury, and the Saga orphanage received the requested beds in November, through RAEDD.
The action carries on in 2021 with support to kitchen equipment and food storage.

In 2022, a new COSOG grant enabled the creation of a sewing workshop for orphans. This will allow them to learn sewing to ensure their financial autonomy and a better future.

In 2023, COSOG funded the purchase of 22 metal cabinets to equip the orphanage rooms, providing the children with a personal and secure space to store their belongings.

Grants for students

Since 2014, targeted donations to AECIN from a Nigerian lady living in France, have allowed for allotting a dozen scholarships to students from poor families from Dogondoutchi, under supervision from RAEDD. The remainder of the donation is allotted to local humanitarian charities (two Niamey orphanages, Niger SOS Cancer charity.

Education through sport

Marie-Françoise — 2020-10-30T10:50:37Z

Children's achievement and socialization through sport
The benefits of sport no longer need to be proved : a training for democracy, contributing to exchanges, respect of rules, search for excellence and acceptation of failure…

Niger's youth Olympiad

The State of Niger launched (with support from the Cooperation service of the French Embassy, a sport project ‘Niger's Youth Olympiad', aiming at boosting physical and sport from primary school onward.

The project relies on the franco-nigerien educational and cultural network, with the Niamey and Zinder CCFN, the Agadez and Maradi Alliance Française, the La Fontaine French High School in Niamey.
OJEN implemented 4 regional team projects, each involving a dozen persons, conducted by a national organization office, based at the CCFN Jean Rouch in Niamey.

Its principle involves organizing mixed sport meetings (with girls and boys in each sport) during the 2019/2020 school year, and the 4^th 2020 term. 36,000 children from 60 primary schools located in 4 towns (Niamey, Agadez, Maradi, Zinder) are concerned.
400 teachers have been trained in Sport and Physical Education and each participation schools has been fitted out : jumpers for children, track suits for teachers, balls for football, rugby, volley-ball, equipment for athletics and langa, and first-aid kits.

Inter-regional meetings

The first Sport and Cultural Youth Olympiads took place in Zinder from February 29^th to March 1^st, gathering several thousand pupils from the 4 regions involved in the project.

From October 23^rd to 25^th, Maradi organized its own regional meeting, gathering 20 pupils from Maradi, 10 from Tibiri, and 10 from Dogondoutchi and Dankassari, within the Orsay Dogondoutchi and Cesson-Dankassari decentralized cooperations, namely : 5 pupils from Dankassari (3 boys, 2 girls) and 5 pupils from Dogondoutchi (3 girls and 2 boys). Not counting the pupils coming from other regional delegations : alltogether 100 participants. The competitions included : cross country race, football, and langa, with sport shows (martial arts, vortex, taekondo, rugby, volley-ball) and cultural activities martial arts.

Arewa's Youth local Olympiads

Within the OJEN, “Football and Cross Country inter school Olympiad” have been organized, due to take place in both Dogondoutchi and Dankassari, within the Dogondoutchi and Dankassari Decentralised Cooperation.

The Olympiads are implemented, conducted and supervised by Arewa Football Club, namely: the 9 members of the Administration Board of the AFC, the 22 players of the department's team, their 3 coaches, the Sport Education teachers. It benefits from the organization support of RAIL and RAEDD, the facilities devoted to the Orsay-Dogondoutchi and Cesson- Dankassari, as well as from primary schools management federation: COGES.
In both districts, the third and fourth grades in four primary schools are involved in organizing mixed soccer Olympiads, and 18 sixth and seventh grades in middle school are s involved in organizing mixed cross country Olympiads.

The Olympiads last over 7 months, from October 2020 to April 2021. In February 2021, Also Saïdou, president of the AFC opened the Olympiads with the first trainings.
A photo report funded by AESCD was achieved by the Nigerien photographer Abdoul Aziz Soumaïla. That exhibition (Inter School Dogondoutchi Dankassari Olympiads) was exhibited early in June at the Niger CCFN. It is published on Tatbiyya Tatali's website.

Ten teenage runner-ups in the Olympiads, from Dogondoutchi and Dankassari, were invited on June 16^th to Niamey, within the International African Child Day.

School Sport Project

RAIL and RAEDD intend to develop the following sport sections in Dogondoutchi and Dankassari :
• Athletics, including reliability, speed, high and long jumping.
• Traditional wrestling.
• Football.
• Langa.
• Volley-ball.
• Handball.
• Creative and traditional dance.
• Ballet.
RAIL and RAEDD also intends to organize training and reinforcement sessions for coaches.

Presented to MEAE by Orsay Town Council in partnership with Orsay Doutchi Exchanges, the project was approved in the 2021 summer for the 2021-2023 span.

The project's official opening took place on Monday October 2021 in Dogondoutchi, and was attended by both Mayors and school authorities.

It was followed by a training session for 25 Secondary school sports teachers, who will support 65 male and female primary school teachers and consolidate sports activities in secondary schools.

On January 29, 2022, a Sports Festival took place in Dogondoutchi, the students of Dankassari came by bus to participate.

Supporting Dankassari primary schools

Marie-Françoise — 2017-06-26T17:05:43Z

Educational Games

Following a request from the Mayor of Dankassari and thanks to a donation from the Secours Populaire Charity, the only pre-school in Dankassari has been endowed with puzzles and educational games early in 2017.

Table-bench units

The pupils of three primary schools in Cesson, engaged in November 2016 in the Dankassari Charity Race, raised nearly 3,000 euros, which will permit endowing three schools of Dankassari with 20 table-bench units each: the Bawada Dagi Sanke school and the Moullela School, as well as the Central Dankassari school Grade 4 class which has a school exchange scheme with a Grade 4 class in in the Bourgchevreuil school.

The pupils of three Grade 7 classes in Cesson raised a sum allowing the purchase of 7 table-bench units for the Lougou primary school.

Table-bench units have been delivered in Central Dankassari, Bawada Dagi Sanke, Moullella and Lougou in June 3017.

In 2020, a hundred and twelve table-bench units were repaired in the Dankassari Middle school thanks to donations collected at the School Solidarity Relay for Dankassari, by 800 pupils from three Cesson-Sévigné primary schools participating.

In 2022 and 2023, 45 tables and benches were used to equip two primary school classes, one in Karki Malam and the other in Saourin Kaihi, thanks to AESCD's own funds, while the classrooms had been built by the parents of the students.

Young mothers return to secondary school

Marie-Françoise — 2014-11-25T05:33:10Z

In 2014, the May 13^th Tarbiyya Tatali booklet was entitled : Successful Studies for a Secure Future . We noted that many women who had dropped out of school to marry very early and bring up their children were returning to secondary school. We decided to support that movement.

The following action has been launched in Dogondoutchi to encourage young women to return to secondary school:

identification of sponsors by RAEDD
AECIN support through the purchase of school books and educational support.

42 young women have thus been supported in 2014-2015. In July 2015, 18 of them succeeded in passing the BEPC (junior high certificate) exam!

It must be noted that over two thirds of the funding proceeds from the Nigerien national solidarity.

In 2015-2017, this action concerned some 30 women in the rural Matankari area. Owing to the lack of a local private school, a schoolroom had to be built and outfitted, and teaching had to be organized. The project was financed by the association of Matankari residents and AECIN.

The final exam (BEPC) had a low success rate nationally, which also affected the women concerned: only 3 of them passed. But they all made progress and are determined to follow the course again and pass in 2017, with the support of Matankari residents and AECIN.

In 2016-2017, some twenty women took the new BEPC again in Matankari, only two of them passed.

School Gardens

Marie-Françoise — 2013-02-10T13:14:29Z

An efficient way of addressing food shortages consists of developing out-of-season crops: year-round vegetable and fruit crops, instead of only during the traditional season that starts during the rain season and lasts only four months.

To contribute to the necessary change in mentalities, teachers and students are encouraged to experiment those out-of-season crops at school. The question of access to water is closely linked to that development, as some irrigation is necessary to water the gardens during the dry season.

Since 2009 a school garden has been supported by the decentralised Cesson Dankassari cooperation and the pupils of Beausoleil primary school in Cesson-Sévigné.

Until 2013, it was located in Dankassari the community's chief town.

Since 2013, the school garden has been located in Dogontapki, a large village. Vegetable plants (cabbage, eggplants, tomatoes… ) are grown, and the pupils manure. The vegetables grown there are eaten by the pupils or sold at the market to provide the school with funds (for school supplies). It is associated with a moringa nursery.

A second school garden will start at the end of 2014 in a village of the Matankari rural commune, thanks to the support of the Total Foundation. It is also associated with a moringa nursery.

Since 2020, the goal has been to create and perpetuate one school garden per year in a different village in Dankassari, including regular follow-up. Such school gardens have been created in Kamrey and Kolmey, and another is planned in Nakigaza.

In 2023, the gardens at the two schools in Kamrey and Kolmey have been monitored, and new gardens have been established in Nakigaza and Korongomey. The garden in Kolmey was particularly successful, and a celebration was held at harvest time.

In December 2022, AECIN decided to create a school garden in Bakin Tapki (region of Kiéché) with an area of 625 m². The goal is to establish a vegetable garden within a school to provide students with a diverse diet while also serving an educational purpose. Vegetable growing is important because it offers a source of a diversified diet throughout the year, especially outside of harvest periods.

This garden was initially funded through a donation campaign that raised €2,000. The first harvests in June 2023 were satisfactory and shared among the families.

Thanks to AECIN's resources, a new gardening and seeding campaign began in the fall of 2023.
Carrot and lettuce harvests were distributed to students, teachers, and members of the management committee.

Enfants

School books

Marie-Françoise — 2012-06-17T22:13:09Z

In Niger, school books are costly and many pupils can't afford them. RAEDD, thanks to various partnerships, published several school books to improve the situation.

Personal and Social Education.

This textbook was financed by the Spanish International Cooperation Agency for Development; it deals with health education, sexuality, family life and transmitting life.
It has been used within the Sex Equality Project as well as in the Cesson Dankassari decentralized cooperation, to train primary and secondary school teachers.

French Textbooks.

They contain selected texts for 6^th, 7^th, 8^th and 9^th graders, and were written in French, mostly by African authors. The Rennes City Council contributed financially.

Fundamental Mathematics for 9^th graders.

Written by a French-Nigerien team including Djibril Harouna, Moussa Laya, Pierre Tarago and Hélène Leman, the textbook is meant to be used in class and to present exam subjects. It includes the fundamental definitions and demonstrations as well as theorems, practice exercises and further investigation.

It has been handed out in the Agadez region thanks to funding from Areva, in the Zinder area junior schools thanks to the Val-de-Marne County Council, as well as in the Dogon Doutchi and Bagarouwa junior schools.

L'Essentiel des Maths en 3ème

The Fadou Home

Marie-Françoise — 2010-08-01T09:54:38Z

This action is no longer in effect

Maintaining girls in secondary education.

The number of girls completing secondary education is very low in Niger. If boarding accommodation is unavailable, they stay in foster families and have to participate in housework tasks.

The Fadou House, a boarding house for the girls of Bagaji, is an attempt at solving the problem : girls will find good studying conditions there.
The project mobilized the population of Bagaji and neighbouring villages, with funding by the AECIN members, the Bagaji citizens, aid from the Vocational Training Minister and subsidies from the Humanitarian Aid Association.

The building was completed in the spring of 2009. By December 2009, boarding had not started yet. The Bagji secondary school failed to operate properly : out of the first 14 students taking the Secondary Diploma, only one passed. Parents feel frustrated, and are reluctant to enrol their children there.

Who was Fadou ?

In the Arewa oral tradition, Fadou was Baura's daughter, Saraouniya's grand-daughter. Married to Ari, the Bornou King's son, she gave birth to Akazama, who is the first sarkin of the Arewa, and to his twin brother Ganci. After Ari left, she married again several times and gave birth to sarkin Ruahi, sarkin Iahama, sarkin Tudu, sarkin Yamma Ligido.

Thus she is the mother of all the children of Arewa, a symbol of unity in the diversity of the region's inhabitants.

The situation in the summer of 2010.

The boarding house opened in May 2010 with 30 boarders, thanks to the AECIN members and to financing from the Rennes Brocéliande Rotary Club. The girls come from the villages around Bagaji: Roubouki (14 kms), Rijia Maida (15 kms), Salga (16 kms), Guezangna (6 kms), Tounfafi (15 kms), Makera (17 kms) and from Bagaji itself. Out of 250 pupils in Bagagi secondary school, 30% are girls.

The family head Malam Bori who is charged by the Bagagi families with supervising the girls is by trade a ‘table holder', in other words a very small grocer whose only shop is a table. Before the boarding house opened, he used to set up his table at the market square. Now, he has placed it at the boarding house entrance. This enables him to supervise the girls day and night.

The teachers organised remedial teaching in Maths, English, Physics, and two French assistant teachers also gave support during their solidarity stay.

In 2010, 8 Bagaji School pupils passed the Secondary Education Diploma, but unfortunately no girl among them.

The boarding-school in 2010-2011.

Thirty girls were enrolled as boarders in 2010-2011, their parents contributing to their meals (by providing millet, their staple food) and the Rennes Brocéliande Rotary Club renewing their support.
In 2011, again, 8 students from the Bagaji junior school passed the 9^th grade finals, but, again, none of the girls passed!

Educational actions in 2010-2011

Given the girls' repeated failure at the exam, and the difficulty met in funding both the boarding school and the support teacher for extra tuition, the decision was made to concentrate on extra tuition for those girls due to take the exam this year, with an aim to seeing some girls succeed. Consequently, the boarding school is currently closed.

Intensive holiday courses for 9^th grade girls take place during school holidays. Out 26 girls enrolled in the 9^th grade, 23 attended the first session in December 2011.

The scheme is supported by funds from Solidarité Laïque which are channeled through the French Agency for Development, (support funds for local initiatives) and are managed by RESDEN (a network for the development of education in Niger). The latter selects the NGO or local association benefiting from the funds and is also in charge of monitoring the action.

In July 2012, three girls from the Bagaji Middle School passed the final examas well as four boys. The number of girls graduating since the middle school opened has risen from nil to 3.

Gender equality

Marie-Françoise — 2009-07-14T11:58:50Z

‘Contributing to the promotion of gender equality in schools' is one of the RAEDD programmes, which is being implemented in the Illela region, and is funded by the Spanish International Cooperation Agency.

The reasons for the project.

Inequalities between men and women increase and perpetuate poverty, but also hamper women and girls'capacity to overcome it and to seize opportunities to be less vulnerable.

Sustainable development can't be achieved without getting rid of the constraints women and girls are submitted to. Such constraints include : low self-confidence, exclusion from social services, from training and from developing one's skills, exclusion from information as well as from decision-making within the development agencies in their communities and homes.

So, gender equality is at the core of economic and social progress. Though separate, the goals of sustainable development and of equal rights are closely linked.

The project advocated by RAEDD fits into that framework. It is founded onCEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all Discriminations Against Women) whose article 16 states that :'Women have the same rights as men in marriage matters'.

Women must exercise their right to choose their husband freely, and to accept or refuse marriage (parents must not impose their choice of a husband to their daughter, nor forbid their daughter marrying a boy she has chosen).

Women have the same rights as men regarding all that is good for their children (the husband cannot decide to withdraw a daughter from school to marry her away, his wife has the right to oppose such a decision).

Women have the right to space births, or limit them, they are entitled to get information on means or methods to exercise that right (women have the right to take the pill or injections not to get pregnant, or to use contraceptive devices).

Thus, CEDAW is a good means to promote gender equality and to trigger off initiatives in favour of sustainable development.

How can that be achieved given the social and cultural context in Niger ?

In the Illela region, young men (often illiterate) emigrate to cities in more affluent countries. Returning to their village, they are bent on getting married; then girls, even though they are still enrolled at school, are offered to them in marriage. As for the men who are already married, they take a second or third wife, or abuse a schoolgirl, who often ends up giving up school because of an unwanted pregnancy or HIV contamination.

Our agency offers to intervene in rural schools, so as to better prepare tomorrow's men and women, and to enlighten parents on the need to put an end to child marriages. RAEDD is aware that for some families keeping their daughters at school has sometimes resulted in unwanted pregnancies.

That is why the strategy of RAEDD will rest on community agreements so as to guarantee, on the one hand, the parents'commitment to ban early marriages, and on the other hand, a commitment from schools and state services to better inform the young about procreation. That work will be carried out in close collaboration with local communities and state-run services (primary and secondary education, literacy schemes, health and communication).

The particulars of the project.

Our goal is that in the Illela region girls should attend school longer and be less exposed to early marriages and unwanted pregnancies.

To that end, the following initiatives will get organised :

a workshop on girls'schooling.
a workshop on teaching procreation, individual and social education.
debates in the communities about the hurdles to girls'school attendance (debates in women's groups, held separately from men's groups).
information kits to raise awareness of the need to promote girls'education.
organisation of a long-term campaign in the communities, through radio broadcasts, video programmes, theatre forums, debates about girls' schooling.
purchasing and setting up 3 grain mills for 3 women's groups.
supplying schools with textbooks, classroom equipment and teaching aids.

A Family Responsibility handbook was drafted in 2009, and has been used since then to train several groups of some 15 primary and secondary school teachers within the Decentralized Cesson-Dankassari cooperation scheme.

In 2014 a training session was organized for the teachers of Matankari and for teachers in Community Development Training Centers.

In 2015, a training session was organized for the school principals and the teachers of Kieche.

Jeune Pileuse

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Holiday classes

Marie-Françoise — 2008-08-21T09:05:42Z

The diagnosis

The RAEDD noticed that many Nigerien pupils neither read nor write at the end of their primary education. This situation seriously compromises their future.

The initiative launched by RAEDD

Tested in 2007, the initiative was extended to the 10 rural districts in the department of Dogon Doutchi.in 2008. This program is a voluntary program without any external financial support.

The objective is to organize a remedial holiday course in writing and reading.

The course lasts one month.

The rural districts are in charge of raising awareness among parents for the registration of the children, and of appointing a teacher.

The board of inspectors provides a classroom and the equipment ( chalk, rulers… )

The parents do not pay any registration fee; they only purchase a reading and writing textbook of 30 lessons provided by the RAEDD.

The textbook costs 2000 F (3 euros) including 500 F for the teacher and 1500 F for the book itself.

The RAEDD schedules one training day for the teachers to show them the correct use of the textbook. The teachers'salary depends on the number of textbooks sold.

Some rural districts claim more than 50 registered pupils.

In August people in those villages face food shortages before the next crops. It will be necessary to find a scheme making it possible for moneyless parents whowish to register their children.

The action came to a halt in 2009, after the RAEDD counsellor in charge had a road accident.

Equipe municipale