The Context
Senegal is a West African country home to about 16 million individuals. Senegal’s educational system is divided into three major levels: primary, secondary, and higher education.
Primary schooling is free and required for all kids between the ages of 6 and 16. Six years of primary school, six years of secondary education, and two years of higher education make up the 6-6-2 structure of the educational system. French is the primary medium of instruction, but some schools also offer classes in regional languages. Despite significant progress in recent years, Senegal’s educational system still faces many challenges. These include high dropout rates, a lack of resources, and a shortage of qualified teachers.
The government has introduced several policies to improve the country’s education quality, including expanding access to education, improving teacher training, and increasing funding for education. The government and other stakeholders are working to address the educational system’s difficulties and guarantee that all children can access high-quality education.
ST Foundation’s Presence
In 2008, the ST Foundation and ANPEJ (National Agency for Youth Employment) signed the first Convention to bring the DU Program to the nation. After 15 years of continuous presence and fulfilling experiences, we are still active in the country with Concept, a Senegalese NGO that has become the Foundation’s operational arm.
We worked in over 25 cities to solve infrastructure issues. ICT tools and skills were scarce when the DU Program arrived. Many ICB students found better jobs or continued learning computer science after taking our courses.
The DU Program’s success led the Foundation to bring the T4K course to Sub-Saharan Africa in 2018. Giovanna Bottani ran the first one-week Train the Trainer course. This project prepared this first group of trainers to cascade the initiative further.
After the initial COVID-19 suspension, activities were steadily reorganized throughout 2021, following a regular positive trend. Eventually, 2022 was the year in which:
- The activities went back to normal.
- In March 2022, we ended the multi-participant project, funded by the Italian Agency for Development and Cooperation (AICS), obtaining positive results, as indicated in the dedicated webpage.
- Following the ST Foundation’s local partner’s excellent work and dedication, we launched the Introduction to Computer Basics for Visually Impaired People Course (ICB4VI) in November. The Director of Operations, Giovanna Bottani, and Milan University, Dr. Cristian Bernareggi, attended the kick-off. Visit the dedicated sectionfor more details.
In the first semester of 2023, the new ICB4VI reached three cities and, more in detail, Grand Dakar, after Thies and Ziguinchor. We will work hard on this initiative to increase our impact on the country.
Since the DU Program began, over 166,000 beneficiaries have been reached by our courses as of June 2023.
