International Seminar Education and International Development
29th and 30th of September 2011.
Education and Conflict: What place for humanitarianism in
resilient systems of education?
Impact of armed conflict on primary
education: What local responses in
Côte d’Ivoire?
Dr. François Joseph AZOH
Ecole Normale Supérieure
Educational Research Network for West And Central Africa
GENERAL CONTEXT
Conflict period : 2002 - 2011
2002 : Split of the country
 North:
 Teaching staff & educational officials called back South
 Gradual reopening (12% stayed + volunteers)
 Schools de-linked from MoE until assessment (sept.03)
 Setup of a minimal administration in early 2004
 Issues related to the sitting of national examinations
 South:
 Set-up of parallel structures to absorb the displaced
 Relocation of staff
EDUCATION CONTEXT
• Enrolment rate in 2001 : 74,2%
• Since 2002, enrolment rate = 47,3% (2003) ;
59,5% (2004) ; 59,6% (2005) ; 74% (2006) and
74,3% (2007)
• At the beginning of the war in 2002 : 700 000
pupils left school
• Only 16% of teachers stayed in conflict area
• Before crisis, MoE contribution to educational
structures (DREN) = 6 million FCFA
• Through crisis, State interrupted subsidies in
rebel areas
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
•
•
•
•
What are local initiatives taken during the crisis to ensure
the continuity of education ?
What are the communities involvement to substitute the
lack of State contribution?
How communities contribute to ensure the continuity of
education ?
Beyond the financial aspects, what have been the other
factors that have impeded - or hampered - the adequate
functioning of the schools?
How have these factors been mitigated at the local level
and at institutional level (by both central and decentralized
administrations)?
RESEARCH APPROACH
 Data collect from different actors: MoE, Conseil General,
Mairie, DREN, IEP, EPP (schools), COGES, teachers, pupils
and community/parents
 Interview guide designed for each ‘type’ of respondent
 A combination of individual interviews & focus groups
 Criteria for choosing schools:
-
no significant disruption during conflict
School director already in function before/during/after the
conflict
 Fieldwork location :
-
North = War affected areas in the North
South = governmental area
 Period : 2009 (fieldwork and workshop 1), 2010 (workshop
2) and 2011 (new cases)
FIELDWORK LOCATION
North = War affected
areas
Odienne and Bouaké :
4 schools in each site
South = government
area :
Daloa and Guiglo : 4
schools in each site
MAIN RESULTS
Strategies to reduce the financial gap ?
Alternative funding (outside MoE):
–
–
–
–
–
District authorities (Conseil Général et Mairie): built & rehabilitated
schools, canteens, teachers housing,
 provided basic materials and equipment (furniture, kits),
 paid (some) volunteer teachers (DREN Guiglo & Odienné);
Communities/Parents: more pressed in rebel areas
COGES: raised additional subsidies from parents for running the schools
(between 1.5 and 3 million FCFA/year)
COGES: purchasing basic didactic materials in the absence of State
donations (chalk, books for teachers, , etc.), basic equipment (tables,
benches, desks, etc.) and for paying some of the volunteering teaching
staff
NGOs, INGOs & development partners : providing local NGOs with cash
to pay volunteering teaching staff, then progressively moving away
towards in-kind contributions (school rehabilitation, basic equipment)
MAIN RESULTS
What hampered basic functioning ?







Local initiatives to mitigate these factors

Absence of administration in rebelcontrolled areas
Lack of skilled teaching staff in waraffected areas which resulted in the
recruitment of less-skilled staff ;
Overrepresentation of skilled teaching
staff in areas hosting displaced
populations (Daloa);

Degradation of equipment and
infrastructures;
Lack of school kits, or their late arrivals in
the schools;
A changing perception of the communities
with regards to the school: lack of skilled
staff resulting in lack of credibility,
insecurity, increased poverty and financial
pressure…
Demotivation of students who prefer
opting for income-generating activities
In
government-controlled
areas,
functioning of schools mainly driven by
the State. For ensuring the schooling of
the displaced students and the
redeployment of the displaced teaching
staff, 3 initiatives : ‘écoles relais’, ‘double
vacation’ & ‘classes passerelles’
In rebel-controlled areas, functioning of
the schools mainly driven by communities
(via COGES), supported by external
interventions led by local or international
organizations.
 4 main pedagogical modes of
functioning :‘classes passerelles’,
‘classes multigrades’, ‘jumelage de
classes’, or grouping of pupils from
different schools in a same site.
 Teaching
organization
and
sensitization of parents to send back
their children to school
Contributions for humanitarianism
Many donations to support school during crisis
• Unicef : recreation and school kits for students, motobikes to
pedagogical supervisors
• Pam : foods for canteens
• Save : fuel for administration, school kits to students, training
for COGES managers
However, many dysfunctionings limited actions’ impact
• Weakness in organisation : no participative approach to
identify community members needs
• Unequal distribution of actions on sites : some site lack
attention whereas others were overdonated
• Weakness in coordination created "Cluster Education"
EDUCATION AND ELECTORAL CRISIS
(November 2010 –April 2011)
The current state of education in our study sites ?
DREN
schools
opened
Students
back to
school
93.3%
Teachers
present
83,4%
Pre crisis Current
teacher to teacher to
pupil ratio pupil ratio
1/34
1/38
War
Bouaké 1
affected
area
Bouaké 2
99.1%
(326/329)
97.1%
(306/315)
88.5%
78,7%
1/31
1/34
Odienne
78.2%
(215/275)
69.9
52,1%
1/42
1/56
Gouvnt Daloa
area
100.0%
(583/583
78.5
98,1%
1/45
1/36
Guiglo
99.3%
(134/135
96.3
95,6%
1/43
1/43
LESSONS LEARNED
1. Resilient schools as illustrating community
cohesion instead of community divisions;
2. Community members involvement (via
COGES) to save and manage education;
THANKS TO
SAVE THE CHILDREN NETHERLANDS
UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Questions ??