Progress and the Future

And yet, progress in this challenging environment continues to push forward. From 20-some students in 2000 to over 200 today, the school continues to grow. Ndour himself points out that, in comparison to schools built right after independence in 1960 and who still only have 3 or 4 classrooms, the Ecole Sinthiou Mbadane 1 has been very lucky. It has a relatively small average class size (around 36, compared to a national average of closer to 60), enough classrooms in which to teach, and only one split-level class currently. It also offers the entire 6-year elementary cycle, making it much easier for parents to continue to send their children to school – instead of trying to send them away to another village to study – and much more likely that the students will be able to receive a primary diploma. It has encouraging results on national tests; incredibly, 100% of students passed the primary school graduation test.

And, it has a future. Four members of its first graduating class, two girls and two boys, are preparing for the BFEM this year, the middle school graduation test, at the Zone Sud middle school about 4 km away. (The very creation of this school in a near location was thanks to more lobbying on the part of Sinthiou Mbadane, and a loan of their own classroom materials that are only now, 5 years later, being returned.) As the director and I continue to discuss the future of the community, we see a group of 6 girls, their matching middle school smocks proudly marking them as students, making their way through the fields back home, to Sinthiou Mbadane.