Provincial fora to engage stakeholders to work together to improve the quality of education in Burkina Faso

As part of its activities, the Project for Improving the quality of education through strengthening school-community collaboration (PAQER-CEC) launched in March 2O21 by the Ministry of National Education, Literacy and the Promotion of National Languages (MENAPLN) with the technical and financial support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) accompanied the provincial directorates in charge of national education in its area of intervention to organize fora on education. These fora are exchange frameworks that bring together the community, political, administrative, religious and customary authorities, education officials and stakeholders to find solutions to the problems of education at the provincial level.

The Kadiogo Province Forum was held on 22 August 2023 at the Cardinal Paul Zoungrana Center in Ouagadougou and served as an official launch for all fora in the project’s intervention area. The opening ceremony was enhanced by the presence of the Minister of Education, Joseph André Ouédraogo and His Excellency the Ambassador of Japan in Burkina Faso Masaaki KATO.
Held under the theme «consolidate strategies to improve the success rate of at least 75% at the CEP in the province of Kadiogo in 2024», this forum aimed to conduct exchanges around the results of the CEP to identify levers for improving these results for the coming school year.
Taking stock of the resolutions and commitments made at the 2022 forum, Kadiogo participants welcomed the increase in the success rate of the CEP from 64.42% in 2022 to 73.89% in 2023. This good performance is explained by the efforts implemented by the actors to:

The Districts of Basic Education (CEB) of Koubri and Saaba, the communal coordinators of COGES (CCC) and the special delegations from these two localities recognized as the best performing in the province shared their best practices implemented with the other participants who took note and added other relevant practices. These best practices include coordinated actions by teachers and pedagogical advisors, special delegations, and the community through COGES and CCC.
The participants then conducted reflections to consolidate strategies to improve the success rate of CEP at least 75% in the province of Kadiogo in 2024. Commitments have been made by stakeholders at all levels (DPEPNF and CEB, schools, CCC/CCA, municipalities/districts, opinion leaders) to strengthen the pedagogical framework by organizing the CEB in areas of supervision and develop initiatives that engage and empower all stakeholders and partners.
Recommendations have also been made to the ministry to make available in the province qualified young teachers, integrate the training module on COGES in the Regional Institutes of Education Personnel Training (IRFPE) and make available the necessary resources to ensure the in set training of teachers.

Kaliguetta OUIBGA
Education and Health Program Officer