Education Cannot Wait : Cynthia passes her primary school exam thanks to radio lessons

Cynthia Sawadogo, 13 years old, had her education interrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this, she received her Primary School Certificate.

In January 2020, Cynthia and her family fled their village of Boroum, a few kilometres from Pissila, to find refuge in sector n°6 of Kaya, Centre Nord region. Fortunately, Cynthia’s father was able to enroll her in a public school as soon as they arrived in Kaya.

That Wednesday morning, about fifteen students installed in a small shed listened with great attention a life skills lessons broadcasted via a radio transistor. Classroom lessons during the 2019–2020 school year were abruptly suspended at the beginning of April due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cynthia, like many of the children listening to the lessons on the radio, experienced two major crises: insecurity and COVID-19. Like her, Albert Sawadogo, 11 years old, in second grade at a school in Rofenega, another village near Pissila, left with his whole family to Kaya.

Cynthia and Albert met every Wednesday and Saturday since mid-April, along with about ten other children in the Education by Radio club in their neighborhood, Bolé.

“We have learned so far grammar, mental calculations and life skills”, says Albert. Thanks to the lessons broadcasted, he too finished his school year successfully and will be starting the third grade next year.

As for Cynthia, she will start her next school year with the older children: “I passed the Primary School Certificate with an average of 120 out of 160. This entitles me to a place in the sixth grade. This is a success thanks to the radio education programme,” she says.

Initiated in April 2020 following the closure of all the classes due to COVID-19 and the insecurity context, displaced children between 10 and 17 years old from more than 150 families in the Centre Nord region benefited from the Radio Education Programme . “We have divided the children into several groups to reach as many as possible. We broadcasted the programmes through partner radios, such as Radio Notre Dame de Kaya and we reached more than a million listeners. We also have ten listening clubs, with 40 children per club. “says Eleutère Ouédraogo, regional supervisor of the Radio Education Programme.

Thanks to ECW, UNICEF, in collaboration with the Ministry of National Education, Literacy and the Promotion of National Languages ( MENAPNL), has supported the continuity of learning of 65,000 children (33,800 girls and 31,200 boys).