When night falls and cooking is done, there is no source of electricity to study. School bags are left unopened till the following morning and thus poor grades are repeated each year. There is little or no progression at the Primary school in Roumtenga and the children keep failing or repeating the same class at least twice. To help solve this problem, I decided to branch an extra light bulb from my solar panel to outside my house to give the students light for evening studies. When I noticed their interest and increased attendance, I called on the local mason to help construct a blackboard right under the light for the students to practice their Math problems and other lessons. Two to three hours each night the girls come to my courtyard to study, and the results from this have been profound. Over time, the number of girls participating in this nightly study club increased from five, to ten, and now twenty! Out of the twenty girls, I have at least 18 regulars and more than 20 participating girls some days of the week. One hundred percent of these students are girls and each single one of them, when I compared their grades from before and after studying with light each night, Improved! Every single girl improved her class ranking. Each girl is meeting or exceeding the average mark set by the school. One of my girls who is consistent in coming to study, and who asks for me to turn on the light early, was the only one who improved in both rank and attaining the average mark (called the “moyenne” in Burkina). She moved the rank of 24th in class and a mark of 5.7 and now ranks 12th in a class of 93 and a 6.4 average mark. These girls are proof that when there are resources and opportunities given to students for learning and growth, astounding things happen!

By U.S. Embassy in Burkina Faso | 4 June, 2014 | Topics: Events