Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
75
Issues related to the quality of education
Literacy andmathematics test performance. In terms of learning outcomes as measured by the
PASEC222, Senegal is among the top four francophone African countries (See . While it
is doing relatively well, the performance of its students remains too low given the economic and
social objectives of the country.
In terms of literacy, Senegal is one of the good performers in reading accomplishment for early-
primary (Grade 2) students, compared to other francophone countries in Africa. Nevertheless, a
considerable percentage of the Grade 2 students either are not able to read a single word (15.4%)
or they are reading with difficulty (62.3% reading 1 to 20 words).
Figure 29 PASEC reading skills in 10 francophone countries
Note: CONFEMEN (2014)
In mathematics, 32% of pupils are not able to solve a basic mathematics calculation (equation:
8+5=?) after 2 years of primary school education. The number of pupils not able to solve the
equation correctly rises to almost two-thirds of the pupils in Senegal when the equation is for
numbers over 20 (equation: 50-18=?).
Teacher qualifications: Section 1 showed Senegal has experienced considerable progress in
terms of teacher-student ratios. Since 2000 pupil-teacher ratio at the primary level decreased by
over 15 pupils per teacher down to a ratio of 32.1 teacher-student ratios which is close to the
average for OIC countries (28.9 for 2010s).223 This was partly due to a lowering of required
222 The Analysis Program of the CONFEMEN Education Systems (PASEC) is designed to assess student achievement in
mathematics and reading French. The program is managed by CONFEMEN (La Conférence des Ministres de l’Education des
pays ayant le français en partage) since 1993 and 13 countries in Francophone West Africa administered the test. Typically, 2nd
and 5th grade students take the test at the beginning and end of the same school year, to measure students’ growth over the
course of that year. The test results are intended to be used as a diagnostic tool.
223 Pupil-teacher ratio for Senegal is obtained fromUNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Database. OIC average is calculated using
data for 54 OIC countries with available data on UIS for 2010s.
3,1
11,6 15,4 18,8
26,2 27,4 32,6 39,7 41,2
48,1
26,2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
% of pupils reading words accurately in
one minute
0 words 1 to 5 words 6 to 10 words 11 to 20 words More than 20 words