On Monday, October 3, some 4,000,000 students and 101,892 pre-school, primary and secondary school teachers in Niger returned to their 22,543 schools throughout the country: it’s back to school time. A new school year that the authorities have placed under the seal of the transformation of the education system through a quality education accessible to all.
After three months of vacations, schoolchildren, students and teachers resume classes today, Monday, October 03, 2022, for the school year 2022-2023. “The government has played its part to the full by fulfilling its regalian duties, including the assignment of teachers since August to allow each one to prepare to return to his or her post on time, The Minister of National Education, Ibrahim Natatou, said in a message he delivered the day before on public television that “a large quantity of school supplies has been made available to cover the first six months of the school year and the salaries and allowances of contractual teachers throughout the country have been paid in advance.
After having said to the teachers, “Now it is up to you to play your part”, the Minister made it known that the 2022-2023 school year is placed under the sign of the transformation of the educational system through a quality education accessible to all.
School closed
This new school year begins in Niger while the country is plagued by numerous attacks and several schools have become the target of violence. In a report published last August by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), eight hundred and ninety (890) schools closed in Niger in one year due to insecurity, especially in the regions of Tillaberi, Tahoua, Maradi and Diffa.
Persistent and growing insecurity in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad, DRC, Central African Republic and Cameroon has forced nearly 12,400 schools to close or cease operation, the report said. This is either because teachers have fled, leaving no one to teach, or because parents are too afraid to send their children to school or are themselves in a process of repeated forced displacement to safer areas,” the UN fund said.
