Mauritania is on track to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of enrolling all children in primary school, but government officials told IRIN education quality has plummeted.
– We have children in the sixth class who cannot read or write, said Abderrahmane Mohamed Sidina, director of national education in Gorgol region, southern Mauritania, which covers 317 schools.
– Our schools have no books, no materials, and few teachers. Schools are not creating an environment that is conducive to learning, he said.
Sidina blames the push to raise school attendance for the very large class sizes, inadequate teacher numbers and dilapidated equipment.
– Mauritania may well attain universal primary education but the quality is getting worse, agreed Khadij Mohamed Salem, education project officer at the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Nouakchott.
Mauritania’s government made universal primary education a priority in 1990 and according to the UN MDG November 2007 progress report, 72 percent of children are currently enrolled.
Just over half of those children stay in school until grade five, the report said.
Kilde: www.irinnews.org
