Ivory Coast ups the ante

EDUCATION: PUTTING PRESSURE ON PUPILS TO ACHIEVE HIGHER GRADES

➳ Those with averages of less than 8.5 out of 10 will be excluded at year-end.

Youngsters in Ivory Coast return to school this week with the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads: those with average grades of less than 8.5 out of 10 will be excluded at the end of the year.

The measure is an old one brought back by authorities in the hope of raising the general standard of education in the west African country – prohibiting any pupil with an unacceptable grade from pursuing their studies.

In the working-class district of Adjame, at the heart of the commercial capital Abidjan, the rule stirs comment at small stalls selling school supplies, where people also exchange secondhand textbooks.

“What are we going to do with the students who will be excluded? It’s too drastic!” exclaimed Mariam Eid, a mother of three. “We’re going to turn them into bandits. We want the teaching to be up to par, but one step at a time,” she added.

But at the Pierre Amondji college in Adjame, where the motto, “Who seeks perfection obtains excellence”, is displayed in capital letters on the walls of the courtyard, the measure is well received among the students.

“I find it positive,” said Djenebou, who is taking the baccalaureate school leavers’ exam at the end of the year. “It will incite us to work harder.”

“It’s a good measure. The goal is to improve our knowledge,” added his classmate Seydou.

But Seydou also hoped the regulation would not encourage fraud and, in particular, the blackmailing of students by certain teachers in exchange for good exam grades.

“Some teachers are difficult... The marks are very low and to move on to the next class we have to negotiate with them,” the young student said.

Minister of National Education Mariatou Kone defended a regulation that is far from universally welcomed.

“This is a measure that has existed since the 1970s and that we are restoring to encourage students to fight against mediocrity,” she said.

“Students will not be barred from the school system.

“There are bridges between technical education and vocational training,” Kone added, “to reassure parents.”

The minister said students who don’t get the grades will not follow the standard curriculum, but they will be able to learn a trade or different skills.

“We must not leave anybody aside.

“The state must redirect these students to training in other trades,” insisted Claude Kadio Aka, president of the Organisation of the Parents of Pupils and Students in Ivory Coast.

“All our children are useful in the development of the country.”

Kone stressed the aim of the reform was “to raise the standard” of Ivorian schools and to give diplomas their full worth. –