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Côte d’Ivoire: UN conducts massive school exam operation in divided north

Côte d’Ivoire: UN conducts massive school exam operation in divided north

The United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) announced today it has deployed nearly six hundred troops and police in a massive operation to support school testing in the rebel-held north of country, which has been divided since a failed 2002 coup sparked a civil war.

In an operation that began on 27 February and is expected to last through 23 March, the 500 troops and 73 police maintain security at testing centres and transport papers for the exams, which are necessary for students to move ahead and which have not been conducted in the north for the three years of conflict, UNOCI said.

UN-authorized French Licorne forces and representatives of UN agencies as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) dealing with children’s education are also involved in the operation that today assisted primary schoolers to take tests in mathematics, English and natural science while secondary students sat for mathematics and French.

With the additional presence of the Ivorian Ministers of Education and Higher Education in the north since the start of the exam operation, UNOCI expressed hope for a more general reestablishment of education in the north.

“The visit by the two Ministers could be seen as a significant step showing the government’s desire for the restart of education in the north,” the mission said.

A press conference to be attended by the two Ministers and the secretary general of the rebel Forces Nouvelles (FN) is scheduled to take place in Bouaké tomorrow.