Burkina Faso: Secondary School
Because I am a girl…
I have the right to stay in school.
Passekdo is determined to create a better future for herself and her baby girl.
Read her story.
Burkina Response to Increasing the Development of Girls’ Education (BRIDGE)
If you are a girl in rural Burkina Faso, you are more likely to be married and give birth to children before the age of 18 than you are to graduate secondary school. And if you are given the chance to attend secondary school, you may have to walk up to 10 miles to attend school, where you will then have no access to toilets or even lunch.
Plan Burkina Faso seeks to increase educational sustainability for girls by making secondary school a viable and safe option after primary school. The BRIDGE project targets 13,560 post-primary-school children in two of the provinces of Burkina Faso with the highest rates of dropout in order to improve access to and quality of post-primary education for girls and boys.
Through the construction of new secondary schools; the building of additional classrooms and girls’ dormitories in existing schools; provision of scholarships for needy girls; and extracurricular activities including vacation camps and school clubs, Plan is working to lay the infrastructure for girls to stay in school and delay marriage. Recognizing that quality, sustainable education is not possible without the support of the entire community, Plan is also working with community leaders, teachers, and parents’ associations to build a framework of lasting support for girls’ education and development.