Equality of Opportunity in Education and Training - Ten-year Education and Training Program - Senegal

Ten-year Education and Training Program (PDEF) 1999-2008

This program is the national guideline for education by the Ministry of Education, and is aimed at:

a. Enlarging access to education and training to all categories of the population.
b. Improving quality and efficiency of the educative system at all levels.
c. Setting the conditions for an efficient coordination on education policies, plans and programs, and the rationalisation of resources utilisation and mobilization.
d. One of the guiding principles for the program is:" an education of quality for all: Equality and Equity".

The plan provides that:

"The right to education implies an effective democratization of the educational system, which means that the State should undertake all measures to promote equality and equity throughout a positive discrimination in allocating resources, and paying particular attention to all Gender related issues"

The programs under the plan are implemented through several actions. For some of them, gender issues are clearly taken in consideration. Action 10, for instance, is about teachers’ recruitment and training. In order to raise the representation of women in this category, in every training school (EFI), a pedagogical assistance body for women trainees will be established.