The World Bank approved on April 6 a total of $140 million, $120 million as a grant and $20 million as a loan, to improve the quality of education in Niger.

Disbursed through the International Development Association (IDA), this support will help finance the Niger Learning Improvement for Education Outcomes Project (LIRE), which focuses on “fragile” regions and aims to intensify distance education programs in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.

LIRE project aims to intensify the use of digital technologies for teacher training and coaching activities in schools, including supervision and monitoring of teaching. It will also contribute to the establishment of a national e-education platform. Also, it will develop catch-up programs for out-of-school children and remedial education interventions for children at risk of dropping out of school, with a special focus on keeping girls in school.

According to Pamela Mulet, the project team leader at the World Bank, the project will also aim to help the education system absorb and respond to the needs of refugees and their host communities, thereby reducing the factors of fragility in the country.

In Niger, more than one in two children between the ages of 7 and 12 are out of school and children's learning is lagging, resulting in a lack of basic skills at the end of their primary cycle.

André Chadrak