“We are at the end of a comprehensive process, which has resulted in a framework that will facilitate bilingual education and the introduction of national languages in the countries concerned,” says Saip Sy, national officer in UNESCO’s Regional Office in Dakar, Senegal.

The new curriculum framework consists of a resource package including a guide and five modules. A workshop is organized from 30 September to 1 October 2015 in Dakar, Senegal to discuss the practical implementation of the new curriculum framework. The workshop will gather representatives of Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo and the International Organisation of the Francophonie (OIF).

Series of studies

The curriculum framework builds on a series of studies undertaken since 2012 through a joint initiative between UNESCO Regional Offices located in Abuja and Dakar, and the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.

Diagnostic studies were undertaken in Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Niger and Senegal, which informed a critical analysis of the process of introducing national languages ​​in education systems.

An inventory of all relevant bilingual education programmes implemented by the state and civil society organizations was also carried out.

Finally, to get a complete picture of the situation, an analysis of the methods used for the training of trainers and the development of a curriculum framework for teacher training in bilingual education (formal and non-formal) was completed.

The resource package was evaluated during a workshop in Cotonou, Benin in August 2014.