No major news out of Burkina in the past week. The confinement has been stopped with the obligation to wear a mask and to respect the social distancing in public places.
Next week is the end of the Ramadan, Muslims in Burkina will be able to celebrate Eid el-Fitr almost normally.
Message from Pamoussa Sawadogo, the LAP director
“From March 9, 2020, date at which the disease was declared in Burkina, and with regard to its mode and speed of spread, we were all worried about what could happen. Alas these worries have
proven to be true. A week later the government announced the closure of all schools throughout the national territory.
This disease has and will have many impacts.
From an educational point of view, we experienced this as a bomb since we were supposed to give the second term reports one week after the closure of the schools. So we just used the average grades from the second trimester of the students and we had to send their report cards to their respective villages.
Then, it should be noted that even if the school reopens, it will be difficult with the time that is left to compensate for the loss of hourly volumes, controls, practices, etc.
In addition to all this, there is a strong risk that the intermediate classes (classes without an exam) will not resume at all this year. The missing teaching program will have to be given at the start of the new school year.
Finally, and this is very important to take into account, the prolonged absence of students in class might decrease, if we don’t take care of this, their motivation for work, which might impact the results of the exams.
On a personal level and due to the confinement I have not seen my family since the end of February. We have daily calls and texts with always a palpable anxiety since we don’t know in advance what is the situation on the other end.
On a professional level, the impact resulted in daily and permanent stress in view of
the course of the disease. Indeed, this stress is due to the fear of a possible unemployment which
hovers over each worker.”
Students cannot come to the LAP, teachers reach out to students in their villages
In order to keep the students motivated, we have decided to have each teacher visit the villages where the students are coming from and give lectures on their subject for the 4th year and the 6th year (exam years).
Each teacher will visit each village at least once.
Teachers are provided with soap and they are also delivering masks to the students
Quotes of the week
“If you wish to live long you must be willing to grow old.” George Lawton
“Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and to be that perfectly.” St. Francis De Sales
Keep safe,
Hervé