Four New Classrooms

2022 was a particularly challenging year in northern Burkina Faso.  With the increase in terrorist activity, over a million villagers have fled their homes in northern and eastern Burkina and migrated to towns for safety.  Over 3,000 are in camps in Ouahigouya.  International organizations and the government of Burkina Faso are doing their best to respond to this humanitarian crisis.  It is also an educational crisis, however, for all of the children in the camps who had been attending school in their villages prior to the attacks and subsequent mass migration.  The Ministry of Education and Global NEEED Burkina are making a concerted effort to address this situation.  In the government’s commitment to get 1224 primary school children living in camps in and around Ouahigouya back in school, several primary schools in Ouahigouya now have class sizes of 120-140 students (compared with the standard of 60-70 students per classroom). 

NEEED has given over seven classrooms at the Lycee Moderne de l’Amitie for 280 primary school students and their teachers.  Burkina Faso Girls’ Education Fund responded to NEEED’s request for funding to build additional classrooms where most needed.  Funds were wired to NEEED at the end of November 2022 for the construction of four classrooms to add on to an existing school in Ouahigouya order to accommodate the increasing number of village children living in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in or near Ouahigouya.  By February 15, 2023, NEEED in collaboration with the Ministry of Education had selected an appropriate site, built the four classrooms, inaugurated them and turned over the keys to the teachers who will use them.  Two days later, classes began in these classrooms: 2.5 months from start to finish!  Because the Government of Burkina Faso has a model for the construction of primary schools, neither time nor other resources are wasted.

·        the continuing challenge of a lack of educational materials for the students.  In many cases, two or three children share the same educational materials.  Many families that fled the terrorist attacks in their villages up to two years ago are unable to provide the materials their children need.