By working hand in hand for over a decade with the Senegalese Ministry of Education Andando has been able to systematically address student needs in nearly all of our partner communities. We started by eliminating temporary primary school classrooms in remote villages and year after year as we built classrooms, students kept growing, and succeeding. Soon the obstacle became access to middle schools, and then high schools. Andando’s intervention grew right along with the children of our partner communities until we arrived at this monumental year of education for Andando with the completion of Ndiawara Middle School, Donaye Taredji High School, and Keur Soce High School. Here is what one of the teachers in Keur Soce had to say about the impacts they are already seeing:
“If today we have a high school, it’s thanks to Andando. And we’re very thankful to you, who provided us with classrooms the way they should be with floors and walls well made. Before, the classes we had were shelters with lots of dust. The effects of the dust on the kids and their clothes was so bad. Now that we have clean floors, we can work without getting dirty. We say bravo to Andando.”
When talking with the principal of Donaye Teredji High School we also learned that 100% of the students who took the advanced S2 science course, held in the new classrooms we constructed passed their exams! Because of this tremendous success and the improved school infrastructure the Education Ministry has decided to offer the highest high school level science course, S1, here in the fall of 2023. This is the first time this course will be offered in the region outside of Saint Louis, which is over 120 miles away! Very few families have the means to send their children away for school, especially to large cities, so when courses aren’t offered locally that usually means the end of a student’s education in that subject. We are thrilled for these students’ accomplishments and are so happy that they can now continue their education without changing schools.
Students in the advanced science class at Donaye Teredji High School who all passed their exams!
It isn’t just a lack of classrooms that can keep kids from continuing their education though. Access to sanitary bathrooms has a big impact on student success and can help to drastically increase attendance and enrollment, especially for girls. UNESCO estimates that 1 in 10 girls in Sub-Saharan Africa miss school during their menstrual cycle due to lack of facilities or sanitary products. This is hugely detrimental to their education and increases the chance that they will drop out of school prematurely. It is a well-established fact that when girls succeed communities succeed.
“Girls’ education strengthens economies and reduces inequality. It contributes to more stable, resilient societies that give all individuals – including boys and men – the opportunity to fulfill their potential.”
One of the beautiful new blocks of latrines at Keur Soce High School.
Andando is dedicated to supporting gender equality by helping all students to stay in school, which is why we built 16 new sanitary latrines with clean running water at Keur Soce and Donnaye Taredji High Schools this year. These facilities support over 2,000 students, more than 50% of whom are girls, so that they can focus on achieving their dreams without worry or stigma from inadequate sanitation. As amazing as this year has been there is still a lot of work to do. We are excited to continue listening to our partner communities and walking with them to improve education in rural Senegal.