Education

Dakar street corner schools educate the poor

Misanet.com / IPS - In the heart of the Dakar slum, known as Khadimou Rassoul, where 1,200 people live cheek by jowl in the most horrendous conditions, 28-year-old Seydou Nourou Tall has been a ''facilitator'' for the past seven years.

In the heart of the Dakar slum, known as Khadimou Rassoul, where 1,200 people live cheek by jowl in the most horrendous conditions, 28-year-old Seydou Nourou Tall has been a ''facilitator'' for the past seven years.

His little sheet-metal shack is both classroom and day-care centre, since none of his students are older than five. The children attend his classes until age six, when they can begin ''official'' school. ''Each year, we go register many children who are old enough to attend the neighbourhood schools,'' he told IPS.

At first, establishments such as Seydou's were called ''street schools''. They were loosely structured programmes set up by neighbourhood people for providing some basic instruction through street side forums. Little by little, these programmes were able to find some sheltered spaces. They are now called ''Street Corner Training Schools'' (FCRs).

About a dozen metres from Seydou's FCR is another FCR, better built and better supplied, where more facilitators are employed.

Awa Diaw, 26, is one. She gives enrichment classes for children from disadvantaged homes who go to official schools, but who need to improve their skills in subjects such as arithmetic, French or Arabic.

Awa also gives introductory classes to children aged five to six-and-a-half. These children then transfer to public schools. ''Education is these children's future. That's why I devote myself to helping these street kids and all others who have been deprived of an education,'' explains Awa.

The FCRs are set up and evolve according to the needs of the community. Often, a group comes together to set up its own FCR. They then ask youth groups, neighbourhood committees and NGOs for a hand in helping them with the details and to provide them with teachers.

The FCRs use a different jargon from traditional schools: the ''schoolmaster'' is a ''facilitator'', ''pupils'' are ''learners''. These appellations indicate how FCR ideology differs from that of the public or private schools, while they also limit the role of the teacher and learner as compared to the official school system.

''In an FCR, the teacher is just a facilitator, and the learners are not expected to just passively receive traditional academic knowledge from some superior master. The students are there to take their first steps in life,'' explains Oumar Tandian, who is in charge of social issues for slum dwellers for the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Enda Third-World.

''We're sort of detached from everything official and especially from everything that is inflexible, since the relationship between facilitators and learners is very special. It's a relationship which extends even into the social and economic environment,'' he adds.

The facilitators are generally from urban milieus themselves and come from every walk of life. They include academics, high school students, even retired people. ''Those who come to be teachers in these very poor neighbourhoods are just good Samaritans who want to help other people,'' explains Tandian.

Near the Khadimou Rassoul neighbourhood is Tolbiac Street, the main shopping area. It is one of the liveliest thoroughfares in all Dakar, and the noise-level is deafening. In front of a small storefront located right in the centre of all the action a sign reads ''Street Schools Help Children''. Inside, there are two small benches, a counter, some shelves with a few books, some very used, and boxes full of chalk.

Lent to him by a friend 10 years ago, Amadou Yacan Mbaye is now a squatter in this location. He runs a library and a classroom for people to come and take classes. Before opening his ''school'' and becoming a facilitator, Mbaye was a sailor and travelled around the world. During these long trips, he came to understand that ''you can't go very far in life without an education.

''We live in a society where illiteracy is on the rise, and the government cannot fully meet the people's needs for education among children who are really motivated to learn. That's what pushed me into this'', he explained.

Mbaye has set up four chalkboards, painted the same colour as the walls, in his open-air garage. On the chalkboards, which are approached with great respect by the learners, you can still read yesterday's lesson: letters of the French alphabet transcribed into Arabic, and some arithmetic problems.

During the day, Tolbiac Street is not only a very lively place, but one where the senses are constantly assaulted. Capricious weather, malodorous smells, the deafening roar of machines and traffic, and the noises of street vendors and passers by are all part of the scenery. In the evening, Tolbiac Street settles down to become again quiet and serene. A new life commences for those who study here.

Under the stars, dozens of youths and adults sit in groups around the four chalkboards. Young servant girls, street vendors, mechanics, and construction workers all receive their first street classes. Mbaye mostly teaches them French, Arabic, and English, all for an inclusive fee of 1,000 CFA francs per month.

Most of the learners attend regularly, and come to class all year long. Others, however, attend only seasonally, and must leave Dakar at the beginning of June to go back to their villages to begin preparations for winter. 

- The literacy courses sometimes open many doors for the students, Mbaye explains. ''After learning to read and write, many domestics have been able to find jobs in the homes of European expatriates, where conditions are so much better. Others have managed to pass the Certificate of Study (CE) test and go to secretarial school, which turned their lives around completely.''

According to Mbaye, many of the youths who are already employed are preparing to take the baccalaureate exam or the test for the certificate of professional training.

Habibatou Dieng, a 17-year-old girl who did not go to school, is now trying to catch up by going to Mbaye's classes. She is very ambitious. ''I would like to break into haute couture and become one of the world's greatest fashion designers,'' she admits.

A big part of the FCRs' activities is based on making more schooling available to girls in order to narrow the gender gap. ''Senegalese society thinks very well of the FCRs, and thinks that it gives people a second chance in life,''says Tandian.

FCRs receive support from some NGOs, such as Aid and Action, Plan International, and Enda Third-World. Enda supports some 35 FCRs situated in Dakar's poorest outlying areas. They employ about 200 facilitators and service some 8,614 learners.

Jacques Bugnicourt, Enda Third-World's executive secretary, has called on other organisations and regional authorities to encourage this type of initiative. ''Underdevelopment will only end if we can put a stop to all the waste. But we also need to make use of our imaginations,'' he says.

By Adel Arab, IPS 

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