Bi- and plurilingual education

According to the results of the 5th general population and housing census, only 2.2% of the population in Burkina Faso use French as their main language of communication. However, French is the main language of education for children. However, 97.6% of the population uses the national languages as a means of communication. Mooré is spoken by 52.9% of the population, Fulfulde 7.8%, Gourmantchéma 6.8%, Dioula 5.7%, Bissa 3.3%, Bouamou 2% and San 2%.

What’s more, according to education experts, the countries that educate in imported languages are the poorest on the planet (including French-speaking African countries). Hence the importance of promoting bilingual education in a context of globalization that tends towards the dictatorship of so-called international languages. For over twenty years, Solidar Suisse, in partnership with the Secrétariat national de l’enseignement catholique (SNEC), has been implementing the bi-plurilingual education program in Burkina Faso.

Solidar Suisse therefore has a wealth of experience in bi-lingual education in Burkina Faso. As a reminder :

• Between 1994 and 1998, Solidar Suisse experimented with the continuum of multilingual education (CEM);
• In 2007: the Education Orientation Act recognized national languages as languages of instruction;
• From 1998 to 2008: we see the gradual expansion of the CEM, characterized by (social mobilization, training of players, introduction of other national languages, production of teaching manuals, etc.). In 2008, management of the CEM was handed back to the Ministry of Education;
• From 2008 to 2018: the proven method is used (271 bilingual schools, 2 post-primary schools and 15 Franco-Arabic schools). This period also saw the transfer of competencies from the Multilingual Education Continuum (CEM) to the State, to enable autonomous application and generalization;

The 2021-2024 period is dedicated to the implementation of the project “Strengthening the quality of bi-plurilingual education through interculturality and non-violent communication and ensuring favorable conditions for the education/training of pupils and adolescents in Burkina Faso. The main objective is: to help improve the quality of educational provision while laying the foundations for social cohesion through interculturality and non-violent communication.

Indeed, the security crisis that Burkina Faso has been experiencing since 2016 is highly evolving and worsening by the day. In the education sector, the monthly statistical report on education in emergency situations shows that 4,258 schools were closed on May 31, 2022. This compares with 4,148 on April 30, 2022, an increase of 110 schools in one month. The crisis affected 708,341 pupils and 20,763 teachers.

Thanks to the government’s efforts, 197 schools reopened in May 2022. In the same vein, 87 schools were relocated due to insecurity. The number of schools hosting internally displaced students fell from 4,087 in April to 3,050, a drop of 137 schools.

Solidar Suisse intends to change this by strengthening the quality of bi-plurilingual education through the promotion of interculturality and non-violent communication during the period 2021-2024. The areas of intervention include:

• supplying bilingual schools with teaching materials;
• capacity-building for teachers on the principles and methodology of bilingual education;
• monitoring of bilingual teaching in schools by educational advisors;

The integration of a module on “interculturality and non-violent communication”, the ultimate aim of which is to inculcate values of peace and social cohesion in schools, and turn cultural differences into elements of richness to reinforce living together.