• Burkina Faso demonstrates extremely poor net enrolment rates, even compared to African averages. In 2006, 47% of children of primary school age were enrolled in school, with even lower rates in many rural areas [MEBA BF 2006]. These low primary enrolment figures can partially be explained by the lack of schools, especially in remote rural areas. Addressing infrastructural and personal shortages, as the government and NGOs are currently doing, is indeed vital for realizing the right to education.
  
  
• Estimates on adult literacy rates (> 15 years) vary from 13% between 2000-2004 [UNICEF 2005], to 22% for 2004 [UNDP 2006] and 26.6% for 2003 [CIA 2007]. Among males, literacy levels are more than twice as high as among women; respectively 19% versus 8% [UNICEF 2005].

• In 2004, primary school net enrolment was 31 for girls and 42 for boys. Attendance figures were lower at respectively 25% and 29% and approximately 10% of children of secondary school age attended secondary school. Burkina Faso has one of the highest percentages of working children in the world.

• Burkina Faso has high numbers of children performing economic and domestic activities; 65% of children between 7 and 14 are engaged in economic activities, compared to an African average of 32%.5. 

• Traditional African, Islamic, as well as Christian religions are practiced throughout the country, with larger Muslim populations in the North.

• However, the reality in Burkina Faso also shows that even in areas where schools and teachers are present, many children are not enrolled in school or stop attending before they have completed primary school.

• In policy literature on Burkina Faso, as well as in informal conversations with local people and government officials, “poverty” and “ignorance” were brought up as main explanations for low enrolment figures. Ignorance, in this context, seems to refer to a lack of awareness of the benefits of education.

• High incidence of household poverty results in an inability or reluctance to bear the direct, indirect and opportunity costs of education.

• It is generally believed that the high incidence of household poverty, especially in rural areas, results in parents’ inability or reluctance to bear the direct costs of education. In addition, it has been argued that indirect or opportunity costs of education (i.e. the short-term benefits a household misses out on when a child is in school) play a major role.

• Burkina Faso has been characterized as a country where “tradition and custom are deep-rooted, often for sound social and economic reasons”. And that: “for many rural people, schooling poses a clear and present threat to social stability, particularly the education of girls” [The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2003].

• Hagberg [2002] has suggested that the traditional religion would discourage parents to send their children to school, because formal education would be considered to make children less apt to perform the earth rituals or other traditional practices. Islam has also been mentioned as a factor that slows down school enrolment [Yaro 1995; Hagberg 2002].

• Muslims would be more inclined to send their children to Quranic schools, than to Western style, formal schools. Furthermore, the fact that formal education is still often considered a Christian institution could have a negative effect on enrolment of Muslim and animist children [Yaro 1995].

• Besides these micro-economic, cultural and social factors, macro-economic developments are also frequently brought up as influencing perceptions of education on a local level. Structural adjustment programmes that have been implemented since the 1990s are believed to have played an important role in this, by reducing employment opportunities even for the well-educated [for example, Hagberg 2002:35]. It has been argued that this has had negative influences on the willingness of parents to enroll their children in school.

• A report on education by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs [2003:63] concluded: In light of the vagaries of the labor market, many parents are concluding that there is little to distinguish between those young people who have completed primary school and those who have not. Given the bleak employment prospects facing the majority of youth in Burkina Faso, primary education has for many households lost its veneer as a valuable private investment.

• It appears that the most important tasks done by out-of-school children are herding animals (for boys) and household tasks (for girls).

• Working on the fields is done by all children, including school children, during the holidays. The herding of animals should not necessarily interfere with school because it is mostly done in the rainy period from June until late September, when the village schools are closed. However, many people prefer their cows to be herded in the dry season as well, mainly to prevent theft and to feed them well for good profits. Some people believed that alternatives were possible, such as adults taking up the work, pegging them and using more intensive ways of feeding, but it was generally felt that education for all will remain a fantasy as long as there are cattle. Particularly among the pastoralist Fulani minority, who normally take care of large herds, the herding tasks prevented children from going to school.

• According to the Fulani people themselves, this was also due to the fact that they usually had only one wife and hence fewer children per father, to do the work.

• For girls, domestic tasks are very time consuming, especially grounding grains and fetching water and firewood. Not only does it prevent parents from enrolling all daughters, it is also often an additional burden for school girls who often have busy schedules of work after school. Women said they need at least one girl to help them. The practice of placement of girls with elderly, related widows is a common obstacle to girl-child education.

Impact of Financial Crisis:

• Firms in Burkina Faso have delayed mining ventures because of difficulties in obtaining finance. However in particular for Burkina Faso, the changing world prices for gold should substantially improve the terms of trade.
• In Burkina Faso, the Government intends to undertake a comprehensive reform of its tax policy in 2009 so as to increase the tax base and boost revenue collection. Burkina Faso has also been planning to sell government assets, which could provide some welcome room to help finance a temporary rise in the fiscal deficit—although prudence suggests saving some of the proceeds to help finance government deficits in future years.
• Its export growth dropped from 6.9% in 2007 to 3.5% in 2008, The balance of trade sharply deteriorated under the combined impact of falling agricultural production and declining lint cotton export (from CFAF 160 million in 2007 to CFAF 12 million in 2008).
• The current account deficit is estimated at 12.9% of GDP in 2008, a 3.8 point decline compared to 2007. (IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS ON AFRICA, Office of the Chief Economist, ADB, Feb 2009.
• Burkina Faso could tolerate a modest temporary increase in the fiscal deficit target in 2009, given the projected decline of revenues and the need to preserve anti- poverty spending and provided that concessional financing is available. At the same time, continued commitment to a prudent medium-term fiscal policy is critical to reduce Burkina Faso’s high risk of debt distress.
• Burkina Faso's has also high dependency on remittances (measured in percent of export earnings Burkina Faso (15-25%). However Burkina Faso’s export performance is expected to expand rapidly in 2009-2010 due to a recovery in the country’s cotton sector, combined with a surge in gold exports as four new mines begin full production. Out of six mines scheduled to start in 2009, three mining companies are having difficulties in mobilizing funds needed to begin operations.

Progress on the Ground:
Source: EFA - FTI Evaluation 2009 by Mailan Chiche, Elsa Duret, Clare O'Brien and Serge Bayala

• It aimed to achieve a Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) of 70% and a literacy rate of 40% by 2009. The second phase of PDDEB (2008-2010) was adopted in 2007. It aims to achieve UPC by 2020. The 2007 Education Policy Law introduced a new definition of basic education that covers pre-primary education, primary education, post-primary education (the first cycle of secondary school, technical and vocational education and training), non-formal basic education and adult literacy, and promotes compulsory free education for children between 6 and 16.
• Overall the period saw a strong focus on primary education by donors and government, which led to a dramatic improvement in primary enrolment rates and a reduction in gender inequalities.
• Challenges remain with regard to achieving UPC, reducing inequalities and improving the quality of education. The primary completion rate rose from 19% to roughly 40% between 1991 and 2006/07. Despite some progress between 1994(18.9%) and 2007 (28.7%), adult illiteracy remains a huge problem for the country, and the PDDEB 2015 target of having 40% adult literacy looks set to be missed.
• Regarding learning outcomes, preliminary results from the 2007 PASEC survey seem to show a strong deterioration of Burkinabé pupils‘ performances in literacy and numeracy. The likely downturn in PASEC results between 1996 and 2007 could be related to the shift from an elitist to a more universal system in Burkina Faso.
• Most of the 2015 EFA targets look set to be missed (except gender parity in GER) and the country is definitely off track for the achievement of UPC by 2015. Domestic education expenditure has increased from 2.5% of GDP in 2000 to 3.7% in 2007.