AfDB joins hand with Chad govt to educate girls

The African Development Bank and the Government of Chad celebrated, Friday, October 25 in N'Djamena, the restitution of the renovation works of the bilingual women's high school of Amriguébé.

An official ceremony took place in the presence of Minister of National Education and Civic Promotion of Chad, Aboubakar Assidick Tchoroma, Director General of the African Development Bank for Africa, Ousmane Doré and Special Adviser on Infrastructure of the President of the Republic of Chad, Ousmane Abderaman Djougourou.

The Amriguébé High School, built in 1991 with Bank funding, is home to some 1,500 young girls and includes a French-language and Arabic-language education section.

The recent works, financed in the form of grants by the Bank to the tune of 200 million CFA francs (about 304,700 euros) have improved the hygiene, health and safety of high school girls, making their school environment more conducive to studies: access to drinking water by a 20 m3 solar water tower supplying 90 taps; supply of drugs and medical equipment for the school clinic (first aid kits, antibiotics, medical equipment); raising the protection wall of the establishment 2.5 meters above the ground, repairing the latrines, and painting the interior and exterior of the school.

The Minister of National Education of Chad Aboubakar Assidick Tchoroma, has attracted the attention of "administrative officials of the high school to ensure the maintenance of these books and control the access of the institution to people likely to disrupt the quietude of girls during the hours of attendance. He also stressed that "girls' schooling and women's literacy should contribute to development through its short, medium and long-term effect on women's empowerment. It should have positive direct and indirect effects on the fight against the phenomena that constitute constraints to the improvement of the living conditions of populations such as the reduction of early marriages and gender-based violence "

"Beyond the repair of infrastructure, we wanted to solve the problem of unsanitary this high school. To ensure the sustainability of the actions, we worked with the Ministry of Education to mobilize all stakeholders to raise awareness of hygiene issues and their negative impact on the health of girls," Nawsheen Elaheebocus, Project Manager and Senior Human Development Officer at the African Development Bank opined.

A partner of Chad in the education sector since 1976, the African Development Bank has financed educational projects for a total of 53 million euros. Amriguébé High School is one of the institutions selected to benefit from the technical and financial support of the Bank through a new project entitled "Project to promote the training of girls and women's literacy". The goal of this project is to improve the quality of life of the Chadian population by strengthening gender equality in access to education and literacy, thus ensuring greater empowerment of women while reducing the brakes. to schooling girls.