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Ivory Coast
Index
The Ivoirian education system is an adaptation of the
French
system, which was introduced at the end of the nineteenth
century
to train clerks and interpreters to help administer the
colony. The
education system was gradually expanded to train teachers,
farmers,
and artisans, but by 1940, only 200 Africans had been
admitted to
primary schools. In 1945 the nation had only four
university
graduates, despite an official policy, described as
"assimilationist," aimed at creating a political elite
that would
identify with France and French culture. The education
system was
made into a department of the French national system under
the
jurisdiction of the minister for education in Paris in the
last
decade of colonial rule, but by limiting access to a tiny
minority
of Africans, it generally failed to supplant Ivoirian
values with
French ones.
Education assumed much greater importance as
independence
approached, leading some village elders to establish and
support
village schools. Primary-school enrollments increased
eightfold
during the 1950s; secondary-school enrollments increased
ninefold.
Schools began to prepare students for the university, and
scholarship programs were implemented to send a select few
to
Europe or to Dakar, Senegal, for further study.
During the 1980s, education was an important national
priority;
it received nearly one-third of the national budget in
1985.
Responsibility for educational development lay with the
Ministry of
National Education and Scientific Research, which also
prescribed
curricula, textbooks, and teaching methods; prepared
qualifying
examinations; and licensed teachers, administrators, and
private
educational institutions.
As a result of its emphasis on education, Côte d'Ivoire
boasted
a 43 percent literacy rate overall, 53 percent for men and
31
percent for women in 1988. About 15 percent of the total
population
was enrolled in some type of educational institution, but
enrollments were still much higher in urban than rural
areas.
Data as of November 1988
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