Cornell University ♦ CREA ♦ Ministère de l’Education du Sénégal
Regional Conference on “EDUCATION IN WEST AFRICA: CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES”
November 1-2, 2005
Dakar, Senegal

Professor Aly Mbaye, Director of CREA

The education system in most countries in West Africa is facing monumental challenges. Reflecting resource inefficiencies and misallocations in the composition of public spending across educational levels, and poor quality of schooling from elementary to higher education, gross enrollment rates both at the primary and secondary levels are low, even when compared with the averages for Sub Saharan Africa. Grade repetition and dropping out of primary school before completion are serious problems. Few children proceed to lower secondary school. For those who do make it to secondary school, repetition continues to be a problem.

Girls are at a particular disadvantage. Across all grades, repetition and dropout rates are systematically higher for girls than for boys. Among children that do progress through schools, there is considerable concern about the extent of learning and cognitive outcomes.

From left to right, Mr. Moustapha Sourang, Minister of Education; Prof. David Sahn, Cornell University; Prof. Aly Mbaye, Director of CREA; Prof. Abdou Salam Sall, Rector of l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop De Dakar; Prof. Bachir Wade, Dean of the Faculté of Economics and Management (FASEG).

In foreground, left to right, Prof. Abdou Salam Sall and Prof. Aly Mbaye; in background, M Pape Gueye, Conseiller du Ministre de l’éducation and Prof. Bachir Wade (FASEG)

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS AVAILABLE ON-LINE Session 1 Plenary Session: L’analyse de l’accès à l’éducation au Sénégal: application de la méthode CART (Classification and regression trees) by Aly Mbaye, Director, CREA/UCAD; Dominique Haughton, Bentley College, Boston; and Abou Kane, CREA/UCAD (Download Powerpoint file) From left to right, Prof. Aly Mbaye and Monsieur Moustapha Sourang, Pr. Abdou Salam Sall. Panel A: Access/Quality Impact de la pauvreté sur la scolarisation et le travail des enfants de 6-14 ans au Togo by Vissého Adjiwanou, Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International (CERDI) and Université de Lomé (PDF) L’augmentation des budgets suffit-elle à la qualité des systèmes éducatifs? Cas du Gabon by Jean Rémy Oyaya, Université Omar Bongo Odimba de Libreville (PDF) Improving Schools in a Context of Decentralization: Findings from Research in West Africa – Benin, Guinea, Mali and Senegal by A. De Grauwe et C. Lugaz (IIEP); D. Odushina and M. Moustapha (Bénin) ; D. Baldé (Guinée) ; D. Dougnon (Mali); and C. Diakhaté (Sénégal) (PDF) Income Risk and School Decisions in Burkina Faso by Harounan Kazianga, Earth Institute, Columbia University (PDF) Analyse critique des normes EFA-FT de production de service éducatif dans l’enseignement primaire des pays de l’UEMOA by Célestin Venant C. Quenum, Université de Bourgogne, Pôle AAFE, IREDU (PDF) Optimiser la participation communautaire au financement et à l’accroissement de l’offre éducative by Servais Edoh Wallace, Aide et Action Togo (PDF) Les ménages maliens face à l’éducation: les contraintes d’une scolarisation by Abdramane Traoré, Université de Bamako, Mali (PDF) Session II Plenary Session: Cognitive Skills among Children in Senegal: Disentangling the Roles of Schooling and Family Background by David Sahn and Peter Glick, Cornell University (PDF) Panel B: Efficiency/Equity Améliorer l’efficacité du système éducatif en Afrique by Alioune Ndiaye, Aide et Action Afrique, Sénégal (Download Powerpoint file) La dimension économique de l’efficacité externe de l’éducation en Afrique de l’Ouest by Elsa Duret, Pôle de Dakar (UNESCO-BREDA / France-MAE), Sénégal; Mathias Kuepie, DIAL, CEPS/INSTEAD; Christophe Nordman, DIAL, IRD-Paris; and François Roubaud, DIAL, IRD-Paris (PDF) Les dépenses publiques d’éducation sont elles pro pauvres? Analyse et Application au cas du Sénégal by Birahim Bouna Niang, CREA (PDF) Economic Analysis of Private Returns to Investment in Education in Cameroon by Aloysius Ajab Amin and Wilfred J. Awung, African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), Sénégal (PDF) L’impact des niveaux de qualification de la main d’oeuvre sur la productivité des enterprises: analyse appliquée au secteur industriel sénégalais by Abdoul Alpha Dia, IREDU (CNRS, Université de Bourgogne) (PDF) Causes of low academic performance of primary school pupils in the Shama Sub-Metro of Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly (SAEMA) in Ghana by Kafui Etsey, University of Cape Coast, Ghana (PDF) Education et développement humain en Afrique de l’Ouest: des hauts et des bas. Les cas du Burkina-Faso, de la Côte d’Ivoire et du Sénégal by Jean Claude Saha, Université de N’Gaoundéré (PDF) Other Conference Papers: Public Education Expenditure and Defence Spending in Nigeria: An Empirical Investigation by Michael Adebayo Adebiyi, and Oderinde Oladele, University of Lagos, Nigeria (PDF) Long Run Relationship between Education and Economic Growth in Nigeria: Evidence from the Johansen’s Cointegration Approach by Musibau Adetunji Babatunde, University of Ibadan, Nigeria; and Rasak Adetunji Adefabi, Oyo State College of Education, Nigeria (PDF) Education, Allocation, Unemployment and Economy Growth in Nigeria: 1970-2004 by J. O. Ajetomobi, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, Nigeria; and A. B. Ayanwale, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria (PDF) Strategies to Reduce Repetition in Cameroon Primary Schools by George Fonkeng, The University of Yaounde I, Cameroon (PDF) Household Level Social Capital and Children’s Schooling Decision in Cameroon: A Gender Analysis by Tabi Atemnkeng Johannes, University of Dschang, Cameroon (PDF) Earning and Learning in the Rural Area of Sub-Saharan Africa: An Inquiry into the Cocoa Sector by Guy Blaise Nkamleu, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria (PDF) Child Schooling in Nigeria: The Role of Gender in Urban, Rural, North and South Nigeria by Benjamin Chiedozie Okpukpara and Nnaemeka A. Chukwuone, Center for Rural Development and Cooperatives, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (PDF) Do Mothers’ Educational Levels Matter in Child Malnutrition and Health Outcomes in Gambia and Niger? by A. S. Oyekale and T.O. Oyekale, University of Ibadan, Nigeria (PDF) Primary School Enrollment and Gender Gap of Rural Households’ Children in South Western Nigeria by M. A. Y. Rahji, University of Ibadan, Nigeria (PDF) Corruption, Croissance et Capital Humain: Quels Rapports by Pierre Roche Seka, Université de Cocody (PDF)