Burkina Faso has a youthful population with high poverty rates, where 27% live on less than $1 a day and 72% on less than $2. The government faces challenges in providing universal free primary education despite a legal obligation for compulsory schooling, resulting in a significant portion of youth working in agriculture instead of attending school. Education initiatives aim to improve access and quality, particularly through bilingual schools, combining national languages with French, and addressing basic needs to promote better educational outcomes.

1. Burkina Faso

2. About Burkina Faso
• Age structure
• 0-14 years: 46.8% (male 3,267,202/female
3,235,190)
• 15-64 years: 50.7% (male 3,513,559/female
3,538,623)
• 65 years and over: 2.5% (male 140,083/female
208,315) (2006 est.)
• Education expenditure
• 4.2% of GDP (2006)

3. Literacy rate
Population
15,264,735
Poverty (Population living on less
than US$1 per day)
27%
Poverty (Population living on less
than US$2 per day)
72 %
Adult Literacy Rate (15 years and
over, 2000–2006)
Female: 18 %
Male: 34 %
Total: 26 %
Total Youth Literacy Rate (15-24
years)
34 %
Access to Primary Education – Total
Net Intake Rate (NIR)
44% (2006)

4. Education
• The Education Act makes
schooling compulsory from age
6 to 16. By law, education is also
free, but the government does
not have adequate resources to
provide universal free primary
education.

5. Impact and challenges
• The lack of education would lead to more
people to work in primary industries such as
farming
• This would lead to a high birth rate in the
country as the people want more children to
help in farming
• Majority of the youth would also not receve
education as most of them are working in
farms

6. Impact and challenges
The BEP has achieved major accomplishments which have had strong and positive
impacts on the entire education system as well as on the quality of life of the
beneficiaries. The following are key indicators of the impact of the BEP.
Many children and young people have benefited from the BEP and many beneficiaries
have acquired professional qualifications:
• 36 E centres catering for 2,832 children aged between three and sis years, of which
50.28 per cent were girls
• 112 bilingual primary schools with a total of 14,301 pupils, 46.82 per cent of whom
were girls
• two CMS with 337 pupils, 48.37 per cent being girls.
Bilingual schools have also proved to be more efficient and effective with regards to
skills acquisition than normal schools. As the table below indicates, the pass rate in
the Primary School Certificate (CEP) for pupils in bilingual schools – where they only
spend four to five years – has generally been higher than the national average, despite
the fact that the CEP tests are entirely in French and intended for pupils who have
spent at least six years in school.

7. Aims and Objectives
The BEP aims to:
• increase access to education for all people
• improve the quality, relevance and effectiveness
of basic education in Burkina Faso through the
use of national languages and French
• combat illiteracy and to use literacy skills to
combat poverty
• promote development based on the country’s
socio-cultural values and realities
• strengthen the status of national languages

8. How to solve the problem
.To combat this problem the
government can provide basic
necessities like food, water and
shelter. After providing these
supplies, the government can
promote education to the public,
persuading them to send their
children to schools. After
successfully encouraging them, the
government can use international
funding to improve education of the
country to allow majority of the
population to have access to tertiary
education. This would allow more
people to work in tertiary industries
which are high paying, thus
eliminating the problem of poverty