Photo credit: Aurélie Bugeaud
Action Education continues its school shop initiative in 80 primary schools in the Atlantic department. This year, 45,117 pupils benefited from school supply kits at subsidised prices.
In Benin, many children are forced to drop out of school because their families cannot afford the school supplies they need to learn. Action Education launched a school shop initiative in 2020, as part of the AGIR-Benin project. This project, implemented by Action Education and Plan International with the support of the Swiss Cooperation, aims to improve access and retention of children aged 5 to 11 in 170 schools in the Atlantic Department.
School supply kits for 45,117 young disadvantaged students
On 23 September 2022, the Tokoli public primary school in the commune of Tori Bossito hosted the launch ceremony of this new edition of the school supply shops. The kits of school supplies are subsidised on a sliding scale each year. The kits include notebooks, notebook covers, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, slates and rulers. They allow children to have all the materials they need to attend classes and learn in good conditions.
The shops, managed by the schools' community structures, are appreciated by parents and teachers. They allow classes to start as soon as the school year begins, with all pupils having their supplies. And above all, they allow a significant increase in school enrolment. During a previous edition of the school shops, the number of pupils in the primary school in the commune of Toffo increased from 77 to 151 thanks to the subsidised kits.
For this campaign, 45,117 young pupils will receive school kits, the total cost of which is estimated at 53 million CFA francs, or nearly 81,000 euros. The association is currently considering how to make this activity sustainable, in conjunction with the communes and the shop management committees.
Delivery of secure birth certificates
The ceremony to launch the school supply shops was an opportunity to hand out copies of secure birth certificates to children who did not have them. Every year, some pupils cannot take part in the Primary School Certificate examination because they do not have this document. Through a partnership with the National Agency for the Identification of Persons, about two thousand pupils have benefited from secure birth certificates. Another 1,000 will benefit in 2023.
