Action Education is supporting internally displaced pupils (EDI) in exam classes in the commune of Piéla in the province of Gnagna, in the eastern region of Burkina Faso, through an emergency micro-project. This is in response to a request from the commune of Piéla to meet the needs of 483 internally displaced pupils (EDI), 243 of whom are in exam classes. Worth around 11 million CFA francs, the emergency micro-project has several components. These include psychosocial support for the pupils, food aid (rice, beans, oil, pasta, etc.), shelter equipment (mats, buckets, drums to collect and store drinking water, portable lamps, etc.), hygiene kits (soap, dignity kit, hand-washing basin, etc.), menstrual hygiene management kits (GHM) for girls and an emergency first-aid kit. Each displaced pupil in an exam class also received a school kit. The pupils received their supplies on Friday 19 May 2023, and psychosocial support from the Social Action department and the health district doctor began as soon as the emergency microproject was approved.
The President of the Special Delegation of the Piéla commune, Mr Boureima TARAM, warmly thanked Action Education for "its invaluable support, which will help pupils in exam classes to prepare better". He also emphasised the speed with which the request for support from the Piéla municipality had been processed, as the municipality lacks the resources to meet the needs of children who are forced to leave their schools and their parents in the hope of continuing their studies.
The pupils who benefited from the support expressed their gratitude to Action Education through messages on blackboards at the ceremony.
The province of Gnagna, in the east of Burkina Faso, has been an Action Education intervention zone for a long time. The Support for Schooling and Health Development (PASS)/Village Orange de Obdaga project and the EECREQ and EEPR projects currently being completed are being implemented there. The municipality of Piéla is home to internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the provinces of Gourma, Kompienga and Komondjari. All the schools outside the urban centres (the main towns) are closed, and the pupils have fallen back on the town of Piéla, which seems to be a safer place for them to continue their education. The municipality of Piéla recorded 1,385 displaced primary and post-primary pupils, all welcomed and enrolled in the commune's main town, which is considered safer. They include 243 are in exam classes. The CEP exam is scheduled for 6 June and the BEPC on 1 June.er June 2023.
In Burkina Faso, at the end of March 2023, around 6334 schools were closed, i.e. 24% of all schools, as a result of attacks by non-state armed groups, 392 of which were in the East region, affecting 46811 pupils, including 23588 girls.
In the East region, there are 22,670 internally displaced pupils (EDI), including 12,154 girls. Of these EDI, 2,996 are in the CEP examination class and 2,496 are BEPC candidates in the East region alone.
