Students in war-torn Côte d’Ivoire take final exams thanks to UN-backed effort

After a two-year wait, tens of thousands of students in war-torn Côte d’Ivoire have at last been able to take their final examinations and complete their education, thanks to a United Nations-backed initiative that used churches, mosques and traditional storytellers to mobilize the youngsters in the rebel-held north.

More than 80,000 high school students in the north, where as many as 1 million children have been denied their right to education since civil and ethnic conflict split the country in two in 2003 and forced many teachers and government workers to flee, are now taking their exams in a two-week operation that ends on Friday.

Although some schools remained open, year-end exams were cancelled for the past two years because of ongoing political turmoil.

This year, the Government decided to organize the national examinations and eliminate, once and for all, the state of educational limbo in the north in a move heralded by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as a “landmark initiative, which will help normalize children’s lives and stop the violation of their right to an education.”

UNICEF took the lead in organizing the logistics for the exams. Along with its partners, it helped secure 66 examination centres.

All tests were transported under UN police escort to various Ministry of Education facilities and the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) deployed nearly 600 troops and police in a massive operation to support the testing.

Coordinating the effort was a daunting task: an estimated 20 per cent of teachers and administrative staff were not able to reach the centres in time for the first day of exams.

More worrying was the low student turnout in some locations due to a lack of information about the exact test dates. This led to additional urgent efforts to inform the population via churches, mosques and traditional storytellers, UNICEF reported.

Throughout the conflict, the agency has continued to promote access to education through the organization of satellite schools and distribution of education kits for children and teachers. In 2005, it mobilized all UN agencies to work together for a back-to-school programme. As a result, 200 schools were re-equipped and 550,000 education kits distributed with special attention to girls, whose prospects for formal schooling are diminished because of gender discrimination.