Free school fees for displaced children in Burkina

The municipality of Ouahigouya is hosting a growing number of internally displaced students (IDS) fleeing areas affected by insecurity. These students, primarily from primary and secondary schools, face significant challenges in accessing education due to financial, socio-economic, and logistical constraints.

To address this issue, Global NEEED Burkina Faso implemented an immediate and effective policy of completely free schooling for IDS students in the municipality's primary and secondary schools. This measure includes:

• Complete exemption from registration and tuition fees;

• Free distribution of school kits (including bags, notebooks, pens, pencil cases, and T-shirts).

This initiative has already yielded excellent results, with a 100% pass rate last year, both for grade levels and end-of-year exams. This represents a significant step forward that will not only help combat school dropout during times of crisis, but also promote the harmonious integration of these students into their host communities.

On behalf of Global NEEED Burkina and all internally displaced students, please accept our sincere thanks for your invaluable contribution to free education in times of crisis. Global NEEED Burkina strongly encourages the continuation and strengthening of support for these internally displaced students, to restore hope to these children who have been forced out of school by insecurity. Every bit of assistance saves their future and strengthens the resilience of our communities. Your collaboration is essential to definitively break the cycle of school dropout.

Bissiguin is a small village located north of the city of Ouahigouya. In this village lived Safia, a fourteen-year-old girl with a shy gaze but full of dreams. Every morning, before sunrise, she helped his mother draw water and prepare the family's meal. Afterward, she would walk to the high school, not to go to class, but to sit under the large mango tree, just behind the classrooms. Safia loved listening to the teacher's voice carried on the wind. She would repeat the words in a low voice, tracing imaginary letters in the sand. Since her father's death, her mother, displaced after attacks on their village of origin, struggled to feed her children. The school fees were too high.

One morning, the school principal gathered the parents and children. He announced that Global NEEED Burkina and its partners had launched a project to make school tuition free. That day, Salia entered a classroom for the first time. She hadn't been able to do so for the two years they had been living in Ouahigouya. She received a bag, notebooks, a book, and pens. She clutched them tightly like a treasure.

The beginnings were difficult. Safia didn't find his way around easily, but she never gave up. In the evenings, by the light of a solar lamp, she recited her lessons to his mother. She listened in silence, her heart filled with emotion, convinced that school was now their only wealth.

The seasons passed, bringing rain, harvests, and exams. Salia became one of the best students in his school. Today, she dreams of becoming a teacher, to teach children in forgotten and abandoned villages, so that never again will a child be left under the mango tree while others study in the classroom.

For Safia, free schooling has not only opened the doors of education, it has given meaning back to her future.