Salim Mokaddem / Revue politique et parlementaire
Translation of the article
Niger is a young and poor country of more than 27 million inhabitants and 1,267 million km2; it therefore needs more than education and training as well as various financing and multilateral aid for its development.[1].
Niger has characteristics specific to all Sahelian countries. Let us recall them: youth of its population, exponential population growth (6.2 children per woman), debt rate higher than 30% of its GDP, absence of industrial fabric and banking system of consumer loans affordable for the population, internal and external insecurities, strong dependence on climatic variations, water stress, persistent illiteracy and illiteracy exceeding 60% of the population, absence of infrastructure and suitable equipment, health fragilities, distrust of civil society towards administrative and political structures, low income per capita, endemic poverty, inequalities between rural worlds (nomadic and agricultural) and urban worlds, significant informal economy (more than 40%), cyclical military interventions to resolve socio-political conflicts.
In this fragile economic framework and this uncertain political situation, it is obvious that the future of Niger can only reside in full educational investment and concern for the cultural, professional, technical and technological training of young people.
However, education requires the construction of schools, colleges, high schools and universities in order to support population growth, territorial development and the planning of investments related to human capital, research and development. Furthermore, Niger's own extractive industries, particularly uranium and oil, require technical skills and qualified human resources to be validly considered as wealth for the country; in other words, continuing education, both initial and continuing, is absolutely essential to support the country's economic growth.
Diagnosis of an educational system and prognosis of its future
The figures and statistical data of the Nigerien education system are available on the Nigerien website of the National Statistics Institute; they indicate the growth and positive curves of the educational policies implemented over the last two years as part of taking into account needs, realities on the ground (Niger is a landlocked Sahelian country with a strong agro-pastoral dominance), and projections of diverse and real growth supported by a bold, lucid and ambitious educational policy and referenced by the trust granted by donors to Niger before July 26, 2023.
Indeed, financial and technical partners, various donors (World Bank, UNESCO, African Development Bank, European Union, French Development Agency, Islamic and Arab banks, etc.) and international development aid organizations have recognized the good results and general trends of the Nigerien economy as well as the effective impact on economic and social progress of the educational policies implemented in Niger. Regrettable liabilities have burdened investors in the past and made some economic operators in the sector cautious, due to massive embezzlement of public money dedicated to education, and proven corruption in public and/or private procurement for the construction of school infrastructure. However, Niger's material and human resources are superior to all these real, moral, political and human obstacles that could hold back the most benevolent desires for aid, donations and loans for substantial and scaled-up projects.
This is why an ethical style of politics, particularly in the educational field, had taken to heart the moralization of political life and the protection of the budgets of the ministries concerned. It was necessary to make a rigorous analysis of the difficulties of the Nigerien educational system in order to get it out of a state of stagnation (dependence on external debt), moral corruption (system of prebends, bribes and facilitation of state markets by family proximities), and also of inadequacy to the logic of the financial, technical and capitalist market (colonial, post-colonial and neo-colonial situation). After this uncompromising diagnosis established by the donors and the technical and financial partners, solutions had been proposed and achievements were put in place, in a very practical and pragmatic way, to compensate for the deficiencies and cruel lack of human and material resources in the educational field in Niger. Comprehensive and systematic education has been considered for Niger as an opportunity and an appropriate and rational solution to pull the country out of its economic and social slump and thus to instruct a development which is not yet another growth plan producing debt rather than real wealth.
Niger's population growth is a real challenge for the education of the Nigerien people at present and in the near future. The population has the highest population growth rate in the world; women have a fertility rate of 3.5 and according to demographic prospects, Niger's population will have doubled by 2050. To counter these biopolitical developments, the education of families, and particularly of women and young marriageable women, is more than significant and important. Highly educated women have fewer children than illiterate women living in rural and traditional areas for obvious reasons of awareness of the responsibilities incumbent on mothers in the education of children, family planning, child well-being and the anticipated recognition of the economic and social difficulties related to education (economic cost, educational investment by parents, material means of monitoring and maintaining schooled children, among others).[2]).
It appears clearly and precisely that the birth and fertility rates in Niger are linked to endogenous factors such as early marriages in rural families, persistent polygamy, especially in sedentary agricultural areas in the east and south of the country, the education of young girls and their exposure to early marriages. The numerous marriages and demarriages, often anomic, involve health risks (episiotomy, fistulas, traditional childbirth, septicemia, etc.), psychosocial and psychopathological risks linked to the age of adolescent girls and young women often married by force and without them fully understanding the issues of matrimonial alliances made by families, often anxious to alleviate daily economic difficulties or out of concern for the future of their children in rural as well as urban areas. Hence, in particular, the dropping out of school of young girls by parents anxious to spare them unwanted pregnancies and situations as young mothers, when they are educated far from their family of origin.
Innovative and unique proposals adapted to the Saharan-Sahelian context of Niger
To achieve this, educational boarding schools for girls have been programmed throughout the country (see Appendix 1), and especially in rural areas of Niger, so that the disadvantages linked to the schooling of girls are spared for rural families, and so that schools, colleges, high schools, are closer to villages and farmers. The agro-industrial sites then serve directly to supply food and subsistence resources to students enrolled in the boarding schools for girls.
The advantages are multiple; schooled longer, young girls are more and better educated via suitable curricula, according to ad hoc family planning, and, in addition, they live a social and academic life in the living communities that are the boarding schools where they can share values and exchange different points of view on the world, their future, society, and thus think about their civic role in Niger and their socio-professional future in a country in full mutation and in total socio-economic inventiveness as to their destiny and their political role. The confrontation of opinions and thoughts has the advantage of producing a community of thought in a generation, the formation of the reasoned and critical judgment of the schooled populations, and also of making future citizens think about the meaning of the maternal and educational role that they will have to play in their future family.
To this end, schooling was made compulsory until the age of 18 and the level of qualifications of teachers was considerably raised, particularly for primary school teachers and secondary school teachers. It is now necessary to have at least a baccalaureate to teach in primary school and at least a degree for secondary school; the idea is to also support the professional actions of trainers from the Ministry of National Education, Vocational, Technical and Technological Training, by thoroughly reviewing the theories and practices of education that have taken place and are underway in Niger to assess their theoretical and practical relevance in light of the evolution of research in science and philosophy of education, in didactics of disciplines and in psychopedagogy.
It is also a question of reducing the number of contract teachers in the public service by assessing their skills, supporting them in upgrading their knowledge and skills, and monitoring their skills in order to avoid epistemic stagnation and academic failures due to the mediocrity of teaching and the weak professional training of educational and pedagogical managers in schools.[3].
We have personally insisted on these points in order to have intellectual trainers and critical teachers in schools; a teacher is first and foremost a qualified man or woman, learned, heuristic, zetetic and critical, curious about the world and turned as much towards the past, the present as towards the most lively news with regard to his or her areas of expertise. We teach above all what we are and it is clear that learning and teaching autonomy in the logic of academic success are more than recognized to this day. Socio-constructivist theories and practices are therefore more suited to the profile of Nigerien students than lectures, often cut off from the students' daily lives, and not very conducive to generating motivation in learning.
The logic of projects, of putting into activities, in workshops, in problem situations, in active research, allow the mind to develop more through searches for solutions and collaborations based on research communities and cooperation between students. The magisterial, top-down methods date back to the time of the colonial administration and aim more to subject minds to obey and conform to standards of action than to develop the sense of innovation and creativity in the minds of the populations concerned according to a vision of humanity that is hierarchical and systematized in a philosophy of history specific to the imperial and colonial project. In addition, the proximity of rural areas and the crucial role of the primary sector economy in Niger force school structures to give meaning to learning: the practices of production and reflection activities based on the daily lives of the populations, even if the role of the School, in the broad sense, is to open the intelligence of students to horizons other than their own, allow them to "do while learning" or "learn by doing". John Dewey's pedagogy[4]seems here very adapted to the educational and civic purposes of the School in the broad sense.
It is a question of remaining in the immanence and proximity of life of the school populations who live in a singular space-time and above all not to forget, and, at the same time, of making the students understand the world in which they live, in a progressive and civic way, while not neglecting to teach them the bases and foundations by which and without which reality is not understood and assimilated[5]. It is important to adapt curricula to the experiences and cultural and axiological environment of students and families, while raising attention to realities that are beyond them. Education in Pan-Africanism requires taking into account the history of languages, civilizations, heritages, geographies, economies, social and human sciences, technology and science, and, above all, the formation of judgment based on certain and referenced scientific knowledge. This is what Boubou Hama, N'Krumah, Sylvanus Olympio, or Nelson Mandela, as well as Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon, among others, said: there can be no emancipation of Africa without taking into account universal knowledge that leads to awareness of oneself, of others, of the world, and without the courageous decision to want and know who one is, in the world that is, to know where Africa can go, according to what it is and what it knows of its history and its place in the world. We will add that Pan-Africanism is a humanism and a universalism aimed at eradicating conflicts and anti-democratic and anti-republican violence to define a social contract based on the values of the African Union and the ideals and principles of the independentists wanting an Africa based on human rights and the recognition of the dignity of the human race.
On the role of critical thinking in educational actions
After this short summary on education in Niger, we would like, to conclude, to insist on the role of intellectuals and technical executives in the sector to guide them on some sensitive points affecting the training and culture sector in Niger. Contrary to what a certain doxa "thinks" based on redundant expertise, and often in good faith ethnocentric, doubly blind to the epistemological process underlying the technical analyses of development and education consultants, the speeches too often overlook the indigenous analyses of the actors in the field. Niger needs practical-practical engineers, and above all, professional and technical training that is enlightened and adapted to the contexts of learning and teaching.
Having known and rationally observed educational processes for over 30 years in the Asian, African and European worlds, I have noticed that technical ministries often make the same mistakes: confusing analyses of educational systems with the praxis of the sectors concerned and proposing reforms where only experiences and knowledge are needed to be transmitted. Educational sciences have the misfortune of being too often ideological vectors of practices that have had their day and are no longer relevant in the actions of trainers and field teachers. This is the case for digital education and that of arts and techniques, which are often decoupled or deranged from the hubs through which students and a whole youth use digital tools (applications, games, learning, communication and information). In this highly sensitive sector, it is a question of both the information war underway in all the countries of the Sahel (and elsewhere in the world) but above all, of training in judgment and critical thinking of Sahelian and Nigerian youth in particular.
In five years, she will be both an adult and old enough to take charge of the country's destiny: she will therefore have to be sensitive to the importance of distinguishing between true and false information. Niger's youth are as much a weakness as a strength, depending on the education and cognitive capital with which they are endowed in the future. Hence the importance of education in critical thinking and the central idea of putting it at the forefront of educational policy actions; above all, Nigerien education needs solidly trained executives and people convinced that educating, instructing, is as much an anthropological act as a political one. It is not certain that this prospective historical, political and civilizational vision is always well received by the leaders of the moment; an informed human being capable of critical thinking is not a danger for the emerging States in the Sahel, but rather a guarantee of their legitimate stability and their future modernization.
Every people is an ally of itself when governments are not armed against it, and when the vital forces of civil society are united towards a holistic development of the country in all its components. The difficulty is to make people understand that a man of action who is not a critical intellectual is neither a man of action, because of the disordered nature of his actions, nor an intellectual, because of his lack of political vision of history, the present and the future. Everyone knows what must be done in terms of education in Niger: educating and instructing requires the permanent and committed work of honest intelligences and courageous wills to do for the present and the future what is essential to open the minds of students and to form the intelligences, sensibilities and bodies of generations to come.This requires an effort on the part of a generation of teachers committed to the desire to build well-made minds and the courage to face the truth that the gray and prosaic work of teaching implies: a teacher is a teacher of the Republic and an architect of the human to come. Revaluing the status of the teacher in this sense is therefore essential to motivate and encourage vocations.
Niger, until July 26, 2023, had a growth rate of 7% and it was expected that with the export of crude oil from Agadem and uranium from Imouraren and other deposits, the growth rate would reach more than 14% in 2024. The recent active and proactive policy had made it possible to reduce the fertility rate to 6.2 children per woman due to a real and pragmatic consideration of socio-educational determinants in the demographic component. It is now necessary for material, economic, financial and human efforts to continue in order to maintain the course on basic training for students and teachers, for school dropout rates to decrease, and for educational policies regarding the schooling of young girls to be maintained so that they can become full citizens and thus play their role in Nigerien society in such a way that they bring their knowledge, their know-how and their vision of history to a changing society that has a bright future for it. Africa is the continent of the future; Niger has a prominent role to play for geostrategic and geographical reasons, and for its wealth at all levels (arable land, subsoil rich in various minerals, large consumer market, rich and varied livestock, etc.).
Conclusion in the form of viaticum
Educating in Niger therefore requires taking into account the situation of the populations in a concrete way, not forgetting the state of poverty of villages deprived of energy, infrastructure, financial and technical means and dependent for more than 30% of its budget on external aid. The system of exporting raw materials and importing industrial products with high technological added value only further alienates the country; this is why education must necessarily accompany oil and geological discoveries. Otherwise, dependencies in debt servicing and in various multilateral expertise and assistance will weigh on the potential and real wealth of the country in all sectors of the national economy. A bold policy must take into account Niger's particularities and address the following questions: can we develop autarkically today in a globalized world? And can we not rely on the discoveries and experiences of industrialized and post-industrialized human societies to develop our educational system? How can we not harmonize educational and cultural systems with neighboring countries and the AU without taking the risk of educating without including the heterogeneities and multiple arts of West African societies and elsewhere? At this stage, Niger now has a choice: to open up to the world to bring its cultural idiosyncrasy and civilizational singularity, or to fall back on non-inclusive planning, at the risk of stifling the innovations and freedoms necessary to bring forth and prosper all the processes of creation and invention necessary in the educational field.
It is a question of making Niger enter the history of the world with dignity by respecting its freedoms and its own style. Education remains the royal road to best build the future of Niger.
[1]Cf. Salim Mokaddem: The Great Continent,https://legrandcontinent.eu/fr/themes/politique/le-niger-en-crise/, September 6, 2023; id. Le Point, September 19, 2023, ; and my blog articles on the subject:www.salimmokaddem.com
[2]All figures and statistical indices, whether demographic, educational or economic, can be found in the dedicated directory of national statistics of Niger from the National Institute of Statistics (INS) available via the following link: http//www.stat-niger.org.
[3]We will pertinently distinguish the teaching team as being formed of teachers strictly speaking, from the educational team composed of all the adults accompanying the students' learning (parents of students, supervisors, administrative team, external speakers, etc.). In Niger, the management committees (COGES) formed of parents, adults, tutors, traditional leaders and local authorities, are of fundamental importance in co-education and the support and monitoring of educational institutions.
[4]John Dewey (1859-1952) was an American philosopher who advocated in educational matters the role of action and active participation in educational projects in order to build the democratic space specific to liberal societies.
[5][5][5] It is clear that the role of national languages and the way of teaching them, and of making them more or less languages of language learning (language system) and disciplines (whether they are scientific subjects or social and human sciences), are more than fundamental. We have developed curricula in this sense in order to avoid learning schizophrenias that can make students perplexed in their learning and artificially produce in their minds and wills loyalty conflicts between the School and the family, at the risk of alienating them from their family and primary culture. Taking into account the languages spoken in families is more than urgent, as Abdelmalek Sayad already suggested in his time in his book entitled by the publisher: L’École et les enfants de l’immigration, essais critiques, Paris, Seuil, « La couleur des idées », 2014.
We cannot develop this crucial idea within the framework of this article; But, to make a long story short, let's say that language and thought are dialectically linked together. They define value systems and concepts that are indispensable for the emancipation of human thought and subjectivity.
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