Determinants of achievement in rural primary schools in Senegal

Ousmane Ndiaye, Yukiko Hirakawa
Hiroshima University, Japan

The crucial role of education as a key lever to a sustainable development and social justice is widely acknowledged in the International community. Especially, making students acquire basic literacy and numeracy is the minimum but crucial goal to be attained. How to attain this goal within limited educational resources is a common challenge in most developing countries.

This study used data obtained by tests and questionnaire from 835 Grade 5 students in 30 schools in a rural area in Senegal, namely Sedhiou Province. The target area was chosen as an area in which 100% gross enrolment had been achieved, while dropout rate was high.

The results of preliminary analysis clarified that many students in Grade 5 had not acquired basic literacy and numeracy. About a half of the students could not retrieve clearly stated information in a simple short sentence. In math, though 0% could do calculation in addition, the rates of right answer went down to less than 60% in subtraction and multiplication. The achievement gap among schools were very large. It was strongly suggested that subtraction, multiplication and division were not taught in some schools, as the rates of right answer were 20% or less. Using hierarchical linear regression analysis, the research tries to find out school and student factors that significantly influence the student achievement.

Authors