In Benin, 3.3 million learners and 88,000 teachers were impacted by the closures of some 16,000 schools to halt the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although a number of measures were put in place to ensure continuity of learning, many learners, particularly in the Alibori and Borgou departments in the North-east of the country, dropped out of school after being away for a long period.
Girls and young women were the most impacted in the region: they were the first to leave school, the least likely to learn from home and the last to return to the classroom. In Alibori, more girls failed to complete their education as they faced instances of forced marriage and pregnancy. In the 2021-2022 school year, over 1,120 cases of early and unintended pregnancy were recorded in secondary schools in the department, often leading to a halt in the education of the girls concerned.
Advocating for girls’ education in Benin
To ensure girls’ continuity of learning and return to school, UNESCO rolled out its Keeping girls in the picture campaign with the support of Wallonia-Brussels International, as part of a multi-country project in four sub-Saharan African countries: Benin, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal, with a focus on areas where girls’ dropouts are highest and girls’ re-enrolment is lowest.
The work in Benin centred around the mobilization of community radios and local media, and awareness-raising in schools and communities via sensitization workshops on girls’ education and gender-based violence.
The workshops brought together the management committees of secondary and primary schools, village chiefs and traditional leaders, and parents, while also piquing the interest of the wider community in the Alibori and Borgou districts. Local monitoring committees were established at the village level following the sensitization sessions to ensure girls continue their education.
These efforts mobilized 11 communes of Alibori and Borgou, representing an estimated 868,000 people and 1.2 million people in each district, respectively. It also reached over 560 schools including more than 172,300 girls in primary and 58,000 adolescent girls in secondary. This work received the support of Benin’s Ministry of pre-school and primary education, under the COVID programme (Phase 3) of the Global Partnership for Education.
Meet Habibatou, future nurse
“When school resumed after the COVID-19 lockdown, many of our students did not come back, mostly girls. We recorded eight cases of pregnancy and felt powerless”, explained Aminatou Bake, Director of the Wara school (Collège d’enseignement general) in Alibori’s Gogounou commune.
Habibatou Dia could have been one of them. A young mother aged 18, Habibatou lives in the Alibori district and attended the Gonarou school in the Gogounou commune. While school was out in 2020, Habibatou became pregnant and did not return to school when classes resumed. Noticing her good grades in her previous school, Aminatou encouraged Habibatou to resume her education and enrolled her in the school at Wara.
Engaged in sensitization efforts in her community and with the support of her father and teachers, Habibatou completed her year and received her certificate (Brevet d‘études du premier cycle), following the end-of-year exams. "I was able to take up great challenges like returning to school after giving birth, getting my certificate and pursuing my studies”, said Habibatou, grateful for the support system she benefited from.
“Now I dream of becoming a nurse.”
Mobilizing local media for girls’ education
As part of project efforts, some 50 radios were mobilized to air broadcasts on the importance of girls’ education and 15 journalists (including eight women) from six community radios participated in a capacity building training held as part of the project. As a result, three radio stations introduced regular programming on the topic, hosted by women journalists. In Alibori, a monthly programme is now aired on girls' education in all the rural stations of the commune.
"The radio programmes have had a positive impact”, said Hamed, a secondary school student from Kandi, Alibori. “They have helped reluctant parents to let their children return to school.” Programmes are broadcast in four local languages (Bariba, Boo, Dendi and Peulh) to facilitate community engagement and ownership.
Welcomed by radio journalists, the training and broadcasting in local languages enabled them to air effective messages and contributed to community-wide advocacy around girls’ education. A network of community journalists was also established in Alibori and Borgou districts dedicated to girls’ schooling.
The situation seems to be looking up, as cases of early and unintended pregnancy start to dwindle in schools. “We've had two cases of pregnancy this school year. This is a very rare occurrence since I took office at Wara”, said Aminatou before thanking the coordinators, facilitators and managers of the project.
Habibatou’s story is one of many, demonstrating that local advocacy works and that more efforts must be done to ensure girls’ continuity of learning. This work contributed to UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition’s Gender Flagship and was funded by Wallonia-Brussels International.
Names have been changed for protection issues.
More information
- Work in Nigeria
- Work in Mali
- Work in Senegal
- Keeping girls in the picture campaign
