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Schools as a means to limit rural exodus

Ajouté le : 5 Février 2008 » Sous la catégorie Education

 

Viviane Wade, wife of the Senegalese President and President of "Education and Health", took part in the BMCE Bank Foundation's seminar on "Education and Development in Rural Areas : A Challenge for Morocco and Senegal". "Your choice to pursue this initiative restores my hope, because it reinforces one of my long-time dreams. A few years after I settled in Senegal, I was dreaming of an educational system that would be more adapted to the Senegalese rural world, which I could see was being drained into the capital, in search of employment. I was dreaming of a school that would keep youths in their regions, would limit rural exodus and would enable youngsters to master their environment while protecting it. This type of school would also provide an answer to the expectations of youngsters who have the necessary capacities to pursue a higher education". Invited by the BMCE Bank Foundation for a seminar entitled "Education and Development in Rural Areas : A Challenge for Morocco and Senegal" on April 9, 2001, in Casablanca, Viviane Wade, Senegalese First Lady and President of the "Education and Health Association" could barely hide her emotions, such are the similarities between the content of her own battle and the BMCE Bank Foundation's project.

Impact

The association chaired by the Senegalese Head of State's wife, is focused on the battle in favor of early childhood (from birth to six) through the "Huts" for early childhood, implemented though rural community schools and created in all Senegalese villages. A dedication that is indeed supported by the Senegalese State's policy to develop another form of education, but also one woman's commitment to a social ideal.

It is in this context that the BMCE Bank Foundation's experience in the fields of education and the environment can prove to be quite interesting to "Health and Education", and to Mrs. Wade. Since, as stated by Othman Benjelloun, President of BMCE Bank, "the Community School project is an initiative that is a matter of social responsibility for all civically responsible enterprises and each and every citizen"; Thus an act of sponsorship.

An act, which in Mr. Benjelloun's opinion is no more and no less than "an aspiration to bring a tangible and substantial contribution to the national educational effort, more specifically to the battle for literacy in rural areas".
Since its creation in 1995, the BMCE Bank Foundation has set out two missions for itself: preservation of the environment and the battle against illiteracy. The Community School project or Medersat.com (read medersatkoum ,i.e. your school, in Arabic) project comes within the scope of the second part of its mission. That summarizes the entire content of the BMCE Bank Foundation's concept.

Challenges

If Medersat.com is instrumental in raising the educational level of youths in disadvantaged areas of Morocco, by modestly helping public schools, which have shown their limits, it also and above fits with the government's new emphasis on education, along the same lines as the UN Convention on children's basic rights : "to learn to read, write and count"

The main challenge that "Education and Health" and the BMCE Bank Foundation have decided to respond to jointly, through signing an Agreement at the conclusion of the seminar, confirms Mrs. Wade's vision, which is that "when one person starts dreaming, it is a dream. When several people start dreaming, it is the beginning of reality". The BMCE Bank Foundation, cooperating with the country's relevant authorities, UNDP, Paris V University, NGOs, "Education and Health" , the Mediterranean Forum for Development, etc, have all started dreaming of a customized community school. With this in mind, Viviane Wade, accompanied by Awa Gueye Kebe, Senegalese Minister for Early Childhood, returned home with a renewed hope to see bridges built between the traditional educational system and rural schools to avoid allowing rural schools to turn into ghettoes.

Auteur : Bachir Thiam

Maroc Hebdo

 

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