USAID/Guinea: Case Study: APEAE Acts to End Teacher Shortage

OCTOBER 4, 2006

Case Study: APEAE Acts to End Teacher Shortage

An active school committee finds solutions.

KOUMBIA, Gaoul Prefecture - The 2005-06 school year was just beginning and the Kwamé Nkrumah primary school at Koumbia, located in Gaoul Prefecture in northwestern Guinea, had a problem.

The five-classroom school had four classes of students (second, third, fifth and sixth grades) but only three instructors, including the principal, to teach them. And it had more than 60 first-grade children waiting to enroll at the school.

When two teachers were transferred to another school, a bad problem got worse.

Boubacar Mané was hired as the new community teacher at Kwamé Nkrumah primary school.

Fortunately, however, the school had an active APEAE (Association des Parents d'Éléves et des Amis de l'École, or association of parents and friends of the school) that participated in the training and capacity building PACEEQ program funded by USAID. They knew that something had to be done, and were ready to take action.

Their first step was to call an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis. The meeting ended with three action items:

-- To ask the local representative of Guinea's Ministry of Education to obtain four more teachers for the school

-- To request the transfer of fifth- and sixth-graders to the nearest primary school, if teachers could not be found

-- To conduct an awareness campaign to enroll the 60 first-graders, pending the hiring of a teacher

The APEAE presented its case to the DSEE (Directeur sous-Préfectoral d'Enseignement Elementaire), who was sympathetic but not optimistic because demand for teachers outweighed the supply.

After meeting with the DSEE, members of the APEAE decided to talk with the school administration officials about transferring students to another school. The school administration supported their initiative, and 31 fifth- and six-graders at Kwamé Nkrumah were able to continue their education without interruption by transferring to Bembella, about two kilometers away.

Meanwhile, with the encouragement of the APEAE, the school principal initiated a multi-grade teaching system and was teaching grades 2 and 3. At the same time, the APEAE conducted an awareness campaign for school aged children and, as a result, enrolled 57 children, of which 27 were girls. Now the APEAE turned their full attention to finding a teacher.

In a second emergency meeting, the APEAE decided to seek the DSEE's approval to take on a contractual community teacher to be paid by the APEAE. Together the APEAE and DSEE selected the APEAE's administrative secretary, a native of the village, for the post.

The APEAE covered the teacher's salary by asking parents to contribute 1000 Guinea francs per month, supplemented by the APEAE's resources to 85,000 GF (about $15) a month. The DSEE for her part agreed to include the newly recruited community teacher in all in-service teacher training workshops. Thus, despite the shortage of teachers, 57 boys and girls began their education at Kwamé Nkrumah school thanks to the efforts of their dynamic and resourceful APEAE.

Story by Naomi Reich and Richard Stirba