Dubai: Dubai Cares has launched a bilingual educational programme in Senegal, which aims to enhance and scale up the government-driven bilingual education policy across the country.
The programme was officially launched recently after a Dubai Cares delegation led by Tareq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, visited Senegal.
French is the medium of instruction in Senegalese schools, despite the fact that a majority of children do not have a basic grasp of the language. The linguistic barrier has contributed to the high dropout and repetition rates as well as low exam performance and illiteracy that have stunted the academic development of Senegalese youth. The model supported by Dubai Cares combines the use of mother tongue languages as well as French over the course of the four years of primary education.
Designed and implemented to limit dropout rates by students due to linguistic barriers, the bilingual educational policy enables an effective teaching model that incorporates French as well as rural dialects. The programme, which was launched in partnership with non-governmental organisation Associates in Research and Education for Development (ARED), is expected to benefit 10,500 children, 300 teachers and head teachers as well as 24 education inspectors.
The new programme is also in line with the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Global Education First Initiative, in which Dubai Cares is a partner, and aims to ensure quality, relevant and transformative education for all children across the world.
Over the course of three years, Dubai Cares will be investing Dh4.9 million in the consolidation and expansion of the bilingual educational model in Senegal. Together with ARED, the organisation’s effort will complement existing interventions and government policies in order to enable a transition to national scale.
Al Gurg said: “In many parts of the world, children face difficulties in absorbing content in schools due to differences in the languages spoken at home and those used at school. Children often are demotivated by their inability to comprehend and keep up with the syllabus, causing many of them to dropout. Bridging this gap is critical to ensuring children stay in school and learn better. There are over 27 dialects spoken all over Senegal, with children receiving lessons in the French language, as the official medium of instruction. The model being implemented has a significant potential to improve outcomes and our aim is to coordinate with the Senegalese government to pursue and materialise this potential.”
The Dubai Cares-supported programme will be rolled out in Dakar, Saint Louis and Kaolack regions of the country, with potential to scale up to cover more areas. “Dubai Cares has been an active supporter of primary education in West Africa since the organisation’s very beginnings, focusing on school infrastructure, school health and nutrition as well as water, sanitation and hygiene in schools. The programme in Senegal exemplifies further our commitment to lend our expertise and resources in support of existing interventions to the region,” Al Gurg said.
