Little Juliette remains hopeful of becoming a teacher
With more than 5,700 schools closed, over 800,000 children face difficulties accessing education in Burkina Faso.
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There are situations that remind you that it is not always easy to realize your dearest dream, and that many parameters come into play. When Juliette, 14, harbored the hope of becoming a teacher one day, she had little idea that her country would fall into an armed conflict which would force her to leave her native Dablo.
"We left Dablo to come to Kaya because of the conflict. One day, we were in class, and they came to take us out, and we fled. We put our things on a cart, and we came to Barsalogho where we took the bus to get to Kaya," recounts Juliette.
In Burkina Faso, an unprecedented security crisis has been raging for several years. Like Juliette and her mother Habibou Sawadogo, some 2 million people have fled their homes due to violence and have found refuge in urban areas notably, for safety. The family moved to Kaya, the capital of the Centre Nord Region.
"Because of the conflict, we fled and settled here. On the road, we suffered from hunger and thirst. We slept in the bush. When we arrived in Korko, we would like to stay there but there was always insecurity, so we kept going. We continued suffering until we got to Kaya,” says Sawadogo.
At the end of their journey, Juliette and her mother settled at some acquaintances’ house in Kaya, with few resources. Since their arrival, Habibou has struggled to make ends meet. "In Dablo, I sold food products to take care of my children. But since we got here, there has been no work. Every day, I go to town to look for small jobs to have the daily meals. I am very worried,” explains Sawadogo.
In Burkina Faso, around 5.5 million people need humanitarian assistance, including 3.2 million children. A situation which also weighs on the host families who welcome them, especially those who lived in a situation of extreme vulnerability before the crisis.
In October 2023, 5,723 educational structures are closed in Burkina Faso compared to 6,149 at the end of May 2023, affecting 888,837 including 427,748 girls and 26,559 teachers, including 8,338 women. To bridge the gap, the Ministry of National Education, Literacy and Promotion of National Languages (MENAPLN), UNICEF and its partners, have set up remedial courses, and an education by radio programme. Over 900 schools are closed in the Centre Nord Region, affecting more than 160,000 children.
As soon as she arrived in Kaya, Juliette rekindled her dream of becoming a teacher. The house where she settled with her mother is adjacent to a public school. She arrived in July when the remedial classes started. “Juliette was enrolled in the catch-up classes organized for children who had dropped out due to security problems. During the 2023-2024 school year, she will join a public school for free,” explains Sebastien Yameogo, Education Officer at the UNICEF office in Kaya.
To facilitate the return to school for thousands of vulnerable children living in remote areas affected by the security crisis, 108,300 school kits consisting of bags, notebooks, pens, slates and other school materials were delivered to hard-to-reach areas.
“I am happy to have received this school kit because I nearly went to sell in the streets to pay for supplies and schooling. I want to be a teacher, to give knowledge to children. I will also have a salary to support my parents. I thank UNICEF which gives us advice and school supplies,” says Juliette.
In 2023, despite security challenges, UNICEF has supported MENAPLN to facilitate access to education for 763,000 children, through formal education, accelerated schooling strategies, vocational training and education by radio programme, and distributed over 150,000 school kits and supplies. UNICEF also supported teacher training to ensure 350 new schools apply the “Quality Child-Friendly School” standards and the Safe School approach.
Thanks to generous contributions from donors such as the European Union, Education Cannot Wait and Japan, UNICEF helps restore the right to education for thousands of children in Burkina Faso.
As the humanitarian crisis continues, challenges and needs persist while resources are dwindling. At the start of 2023, UNICEF launched an appeal for $226.7 million in 2023 to continue providing children and vulnerable populations with life-saving goods and services. To date, only 13 percent of the required funds have been allocated.
