Promoting bi-lingual education in Burkina Faso

Solidar Suisse Burkina equips the Secrétariat national de l’éducation catholique (SNEC) with a 4×4 all-terrain vehicle and teaching materials

This endowment is part 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”. Planned for the period 2021-2024, this project is financed by Solidar Suisse and implemented in partnership with the Secrétariat national de l’éducation catholique (SNEC).

The objectives of this project are :

• improve the pedagogical capacity of teachers in dioceses hosting bilingual schools;

• facilitate students’ learning in the fields of culture and production, interculturality and non-violent communication, and

• strengthen SNEC’s capacity for action by providing equipment.

According to P. Julien Lokré LOMPO, in charge of Solidar Suisse Burkina’s Democracy, Civil Society and Humanitarian Aid (DSCAH) program, the handover of this equipment is a logical step in this direction. The equipment donated includes

• a 4×4 All Terrain Station Wagon to facilitate the pedagogical follow-up of teachers in Catholic bilingual schools and the follow-up-support-counseling of teachers and community actors in Catholic bilingual schools;

• training manuals for in-service teacher training in classic and new bilingual modules, in particular interculturality and non-violent communication;

• textbooks and yearbooks to enable pupils to continue learning outside school, and thus cope with the deteriorating security situation affecting some schools;

• production and cultivation equipment.

Abbé Hyacinthe OUEDRAOGO, National Secretary of Catholic Education in Burkina Faso, thanked Solidar Suisse for its sustained investment in bilingual education. In his view, the donation came at just the right time to facilitate the implementation and monitoring of the project’s activities.