USAID/Guinea: Presidential Initiative Brings Textbooks to Guinea

MAY 26, 2004

Presidential Initiative Brings Textbooks to Guinea

A ceremony was held in Conakry, Guinea to celebrate the distribution of 500,000 textbooks to grade schools throughout Guinea. Part of President Bush’s Africa Education Initiative, the distribution will ensure that all Guinean children in grades 1 and 2 will have a textbook to use in class.

Singing, dancing, and the presence of school children from all over the downtown districts of Conakry, Guinea, animated the ceremony held at the Frederico Mayor Primary School on May 4, 2004 in which USAID handed over 500,000 textbooks destined to be used by schoolchildren in grade schools throughout Guinea. The distribution will ensure that for the first time, every child in grades 1 and 2 in Guinea will have a textbook to use in class.

This ceremony is the fulfillment of a promise made by the Africa Education Initiative announced by President George Bush providing opportunities to African children by giving them access to textbooks and quality pedagogical materials. Guinea is the first of six African countries to have benefited from the textbook component of the Initiative.

Guinean schoolgirl holding a textbook provided by USAID

The textbooks were conceptualized and produced through close professional collaboration between the Guinean Education Ministry, with technical assistance USAID partner the Education Development Center (EDC), and two historically black U.S. universities, Hampton and Dillard, who have committed to continuing their partnership with the Guinean Ministry.

Says Kadiatou Bah, one of the authors of the textbooks, "It was indeed the collaboration that made for a good product in the end. We were able to formulate subject matter and illustrations for the textbooks that is relevant to Guinean children's lives, and the American universities helped us with the printing, which gave us this nice product."

During the ceremony, local schoolchildren recited songs and verses on such themes as conserving forest resources, staying in good health, and the importance of getting a good education. Galema Guilavogui, Minister of Pre-University and Civic Education, said in his public speech, "Our American partners understand that the success of our educational program in Guinea is a measure of the harmonious development of our country. In receiving this gift, which comes from the personal initiative of President George W. Bush, the Africa Education Initiative, I would like to say a big thank you to the donor from the bottom of my heart. Providing quality textbooks in sufficient quantity helps us fulfill an essential part of our program -- improving educational quality -- and will help our children succeed in school. We are extremely grateful."

Galema Guilavogui, Minister of Pre-University and Civic Education

Said Education Minister Guilavogui, "Providing quality textbooks will help our children succeed in school. We are extremely grateful."

At the end of the ceremony, USAID Education Bureau Director Dr. Sarah Moten, along with U.S. Ambassador to Guinea, R. Barrie Walkley, initiated the distribution of the textbooks by passing them out to children in a second grade classroom.

In a country where the adult literacy rate is only 41%, and where rural children and girls in particular face daunting barriers to obtaining even a basic education, strengthening Guinea's educational system and ensuring quality in education is essential to the country's development.

President Bush's Africa Education Initiative, in which Guinea was chosen to take part, has three clear objectives:

To increase the number of young girls in school;

To train teachers; and

To produce and distribute textbooks and pedagogical materials.

Guinea is fortunate to have benefited from financing from USAID to meet all three of these objectives. To encourage young girls to attend -- and stay in -- grade school, USAID has announced the financing of scholarships for young girls, to begin in the fall of 2004. In addition, teacher in-service training sponsored by USAID is an on-going activity designed to improve the quality of primary education in Guinea.

USAID's Dr. Sarah Moten in a gradeschool classroom in Conakry, Guinea

USAID Education Bureau Director Dr. Sarah Moten listens as a Guinean schoolgirl reads a passage in French from one of the new language arts textbooks.

To ensure the sustainability and long-range impact of these initiatives, USAID works closely with the Ministry of Education (MOE) and is currently the largest bilateral contributor to Guinea's Education for All (EFA) program.

Though Guinea remains plagued by its teacher shortage, and has long had a lack of non-salary inputs such as classroom materials, there are signs for optimism in recent years. During the 2002-2003 school year, the Guinean Ministry of Education reports that the percentage of school-aged children attending primary school grew from 72 percent to 74 percent (for girls from 63 percent to 67 percent). Increased access was particularly pronounced in Grade 1 Admission Rates, which jumped from 51 percent to 61 percent.

The Government of Guinea's firm commitment to and continued success in improving education sector management is reflected in the inclusion of Guinea in 2003 as one of the seven countries nominated for the G8 's Fast Track Initiative, which will build on these solid foundations to ensure attainment of universal primary education in Guinea by 2015.

President Bush’s Africa Education Initiative through USAID is concrete testimony to the support of African educational systems in Guinea and elsewhere in Africa by the American government.

Story and photos by Laura Lartigue