Sikasso region, Mali, 14 and 17 June 2022 - ACCEL Africa visited different centres in the Sikasso region of Mali which are part of the Accelerated Schooling Strategy – or Stratégie de Scolarisation Accélérée (SSA/P) Passerelle – that the ILO Project supports in the country through the implementation of the NGO C.A.E.B, as a viable alternative for removing children aged 8 to 12 from the cotton and gold mining supply chains.

Through the programme, 452 children beneficiaries between 8-12 years old have been reintegrated into school for the 2021-2022 educational programme in the Kouale Accelerated School Strategy Centre. Thanks to sensitization campaigns carried out at the community level with the involvement of families and parents, children were able to leave the dangerous work on the cotton fields and go back to school or start education for the first time.

The Passerelle Strategy is an accelerated educational formula allowing children (boys and girls) aged 8 to 12 who are not in school or who dropped out early from school to be transferred to the formal circuit of education after 9 months of teaching.

Testimonials from the teachers and the community indicated that children in the target centres were in some cases able to upgrade their re-integration into the formal education thanks to the programme and their learning. If there were cases of absenteeism, teachers and other key staff were able to reach out to parents and continue sensitization to support education and get back children to school.