In Niger, half of the population is of school age due to the high birth rate (3.8%). The government of Niger strongly recognizes the importance of education and allocates 25% to 30% of the national budget to the education sector every year, and has shown steady improvement in the net enrollment rate in primary and early secondary education in cooperation with aid agencies. School management committees, which were established in all primary and secondary schools with technical assistance from Japan, have played a particularly important role. However, the gender disparity indicators for gross enrollment rates in primary and early secondary education (gross enrollment rate of girls relative to gross enrollment rate of boys) remain at 0.86 and 0.75, respectively (World Bank, 2017). In addition, the French-speaking African School Achievement Survey (PASEC1) ranked the country last among the 10 participating countries when it was conducted in 2014, indicating that the challenges in basic education extend not only to access, but also to equity and quality. This cooperation will develop and disseminate a community collaborative educational development model that contributes to improving basic academic skills and girls’ education in the country, thereby making the model functional and contributing to improving the quality and gender equity of basic education through collaboration between communities and schools.
© Source JICA