Education in Ivory Coast

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) finds that the Ivory Coast is fulfilling only 65.1% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country's level of income. HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education. While taking into consideration the Ivory Coast's income level, the nation is achieving 85.1% of what should be possible based on its resources (income) for primary education but only 45.1% for secondary education.

Education system

Since the 2010s, the Ivorian government has implemented reforms to expand access to secondary and higher education, with a focus on STEM fields and teacher training. The education system comprised three stages: primary school lasted six years, leading to a certificate of primary studies; secondary school lasted seven years, leading to a certificate or baccalauréat. University education, available only in Abidjan, culminated in a university degree. A large number of technical and teacher-training institutions also provided post primary and post secondary education. There was no system of adult education, although many adults attended night courses or, in rural areas, received literacy and other instruction via radio.

Most public schools were tuition free, although students pay an entrance fee and buy uniforms. Most supplies were free, and some students received government scholarships, usually in return for a period of government employment after graduation.

In 1980 approximately 14 percent of primary schools and 29 percent of secondary schools were private. Most of these were Catholic, staffed by religious and lay teachers, with salaries partially subsidized by government funding. Catholic schools operated primarily in the south and east but were also located throughout the country. Religious instruction was not permitted in government schools. Quranic schools were common in the north and were tolerated, but not supported, by the government. Some students attended both public and Quranic schools.

The school year was divided into three terms, beginning in September and separated by short Christmas and Easter holidays and a two-month summer recess. The average week consisted of approximately 30 hours of classes, Monday through Saturday morning. Most instruction encouraged mental discipline more than analytical thinking or creativity, by emphasizing rote memorization and oral recitation.

Primary education

Approximately 9.5 million pupils attended primary school in 1987, representing about 75% of boys and 50% of girls below age 15. Primary-school enrollments increased at a rate of about 7.2% per year from 1960 to 1980, climbing to 9.1% between 1976 and 1980. This rate slowed after 1980, averaging 4.2% from 1981 to 1984 and 2.2% in 1999.

In 2009, 79.6% of children attended secondary school. By 2012, this figure had risen to 94.2%, meaning that Côte d'Ivoire was on track to reach the Millennium Development Goal of primary education for all.

Children entered primary school at the age of seven or eight and passed through six grades, divided into preparatory, elementary, and intermediate levels. In the first six months, students mastered French, the language of instruction. Classes in reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught, gradually supplemented by history, geography, natural sciences, music, art, and physical education. Rural schools required students to work in school gardens and learn basic agricultural methods. Standard school-leaving exams led to the certificate of elementary education (certificat d'étude primaires élémentaires—CEPE) and determined entrance to secondary institutions.

Secondary education

About 250,000 students, or about 19 percent of primary-school graduates, attended government-funded secondary schools in 1987. Most of those preparing for university attended a collège or lycée, both of which included seven years of study divided into two cycles. Significant differences between these two institutions almost disappeared in the decades following their introduction by the French, but the lycée was generally administered by the national government and the collège by the municipal government with national funding.

After the first cycle or four years of secondary school, students took exams and were awarded the certificate of the lower cycle of secondary study (brevet d'étude du premier cycle—BEPC). This qualification generally allowed them to continue at the collège or lycée, enter a teacher-training institution, or find an entry-level job in commerce or government. After the second cycle of three years of study, graduates earned the baccalauréat, which indicated a level of learning roughly equivalent to one or two years of university study in the United States. In Ivory Coast, as in France, it qualified a student for university entrance.

Secondary-school enrollments grew at a rate of about 11 percent per year from 1960 to 1984, but that rate has declined since 1984. The dropout rate was especially high for girls, who made up only 18 percent of the student body during the last two years of secondary school. An average of one-fourth of secondary students received the baccalauréat.

Complementary courses were the most common type of alternative secondary education, administered as four-year programs to improve the academic education of those who did not qualify for collège or lycée. Complementary courses were established during the 1950s, when expanding educational opportunities was a high priority. They were held throughout the country to compensate for the urban bias in secondary education. Complementary courses often provided a combination of academic and practical training, leading to an elementary certificate (brevet élémentaire—BE) or the BEPC, and enabled some students to enter the second cycle at a collège, lycée, or vocational training institution.

Additional secondary-level courses were administered by religious organizations, most often the Catholic Church. These courses consisted of seven years of study divided into two cycles, with a certificate of completion awarded after each cycle. Teacher training was available, often as an alternative to academic university preparation, at a variety of postprimary levels. Secondary-level teacher training could lead to a BE certificate and admission to a normal school (école normale), which might be attended by students who left lycées or collèges after the first four years of study.

Vocational training, attended by 47,000 students in 1982–83, was available at postprimary institutions. This training included courses in agriculture, engineering, public works, transportation management, secretarial and commercial subjects, and building trades. Graduates often worked as apprentices or pursued further training at higher technical institutes.

In 2013, 39.08% of children attended secondary school.

Higher education

Université de Côte d'Ivoire

The national Université de Côte d'Ivoire was founded in Abidjan in 1959 as the Center for Higher Education. It was renamed the Université d'Abidjan in 1964. In 1987, the university had a student roll of 18,732, including 3,200 women. Among students, about 10,000 were Ivoirian citizens. Heavily dependent on French assistance, the university had faculties of law, sciences, and letters and schools of agriculture, public works, administration and fine arts. Other institutions of higher learning, known as grandes écoles, awarded certificates of training in specialized fields in cooperation with, but not as part of, the national university. Other universities have since been founded.

National tertiary enrollment

In 2012, there were 57,541 students enrolled at post-secondary diploma level, 23,008 students studying for a bachelor's or master's degree and 269 PhD students. Enrollment in tertiary education suffered during the political crisis, dropping from 9.03% to 4.46% of the 18-25-year cohort between 2009 and 2012. Whereas there were 156,772 students enrolled in higher education in 2007 (including post-secondary diplomas), this figure had halved to 80,818 by 2012. The drop was greatest among students enrolled in a bachelor's, master's or PhD degree, where numbers shrank from 95,944 in 2007 to just 23,277 in 2012.

Teachers

In the mid-1980s, five classes of teachers were distinguished by their educational preparation and salary level: professors, who taught at the secondary or university level; assistant professors at the secondary level; and instituteurs, instituteurs adjoint, and monitors at the primary level. Teachers' salaries were generally higher than salaries of civil servants with similar qualifications in the mid-1980s, although many people left teaching for more lucrative professions. The government responded to teacher shortages with training programs and short courses and by recruiting expatriates to teach at the secondary and postsecondary levels.

Teachers were organized into unions, most of them incorporated into the government-controlled central union federation (General Workers Union in Côte d'Ivoire—UGTCI). The National Union of Secondary School Teachers of Ivory Coast (SYNESCI) and two smaller unions remained outside the UGTCI and were outspoken in their criticism of government education policies and education finances in particular. Despite this tradition of criticism, many government officials achieved political office through leadership positions in the teachers' union.