US embassy cable - 04DJIBOUTI905

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 000905 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USAID 
STATE ALSO FOR AF AND AF/E 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, SCUL, EAID, DJ 
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI MAPS OUT EDUCATION REFORM 
 
 
1. (U) Djibouti's Minister of Education, Abdi Ibrahim Absieh, 
and Minister of Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, Mahmoud Ali Youssef, recently assembled donor 
country representatives in Djibouti, as well as concerned UN 
offices, to outline Djibouti's education policy and steps 
toward education reform.  Both Ministers stated that human 
resources development through education and training is the 
primary strategic path towards reducing the country's 
poverty. 
 
2. (U) Absieh told the donors and representatives that thanks 
to his Ministry's efforts and the support of technical and 
financial partners, Djibouti had managed to improve access to 
primary education by increasing the number of classrooms from 
570 in 2000 to 748 in 2003.  In addition, the numbers of 
primary school teachers increased sufficiently to meet the 
demands posed by an increase in the number of students.  The 
average rate of primary education schooling, he said, went 
from 39 percent to 52 percent during the same period.  In 
addition, students and teachers in basic education increased 
respectively by 25 percent and 12 percent during this period. 
 Since the creation in Djibouti in 2000 of POLE University, 
the numbers of students in higher education increased due to 
an increase in the number of graduates from secondary 
schools.  He said POLE had made advances in improving 
education quality, program review, scheduling and teaching 
through a competency-based approach.  On a general level, 
regularization of teachers' salaries had improved the level 
of motivation of teachers and contributed to a reduction in 
absenteeism. 
 
3. (U)  Absieh spoke about the institutional capacities of 
his Ministry to manage education reform. He said these 
capacities had been reinforced with the creation of a new 
organizational chart that is much more functional and the 
donation of a new building to the Ministry where all 
administration and teaching services are now based.  In 
addition, Education's share of the nation's budget has been 
in continuous growth for the past four years. 
 
4. (U) Absieh outlined the following objectives Djibouti's 
education sector hoped to achieve as a result of reform: 
 
-- work on improving girls' education and education of 
children from underprivileged backgrounds and reducing the 
dropout rate; 
- 
-- set up a public pre-school which can be used as an example 
for development of private pre-schools; 
- 
-- increase available classrooms to help meet universal 
primary schooling of children from six to sixteen years; 
- 
--finalize reform of technical and vocational education by 
establishing Learning Centers in professional fields 
compatible with each region's economy; 
- 
--encourage private initiative in private education by 
adopting new legislation on modalities of creating and 
operating private schools; 
- 
-- provide student access to all textbooks and teachers' 
guides compatible with new instructional approaches at all 
levels in basic education; 
- 
--consolidate program assessment and learning capacities of 
the Center for Research, Information and Production of 
National Education (CRIPEN) and accelerate introduction of 
radio, TV and new information and telecommunications 
technologies in teaching techniques. 
 
5. (U) Absieh added that to be able to run an education 
system that has drastically changed, new and modern 
management tools and training sessions are needed to improve 
organizational and planning capacities at all levels of 
administration.  He said decentralized structures will be 
created and careful study will be given to equipment and 
infrastructure.  Moreover, local communities and 
student-parent associations will be encouraged to participate 
in the management and maintenance of schools.  In non-formal 
education, public partners as well as NGOs will be involved 
in the development of a strategy for adult literacy programs. 
 
6. (U) The World Bank's representative, Ousmane Diagane, 
commended the Minister of Education for the efforts his 
department was making and encouraged similar meetings with 
donor partners on a regular basis.  He said such a meeting 
will enable donors to exchange information and coordinate 
their actions to support millennium challenge objectives, 
especially to achieve gender parity in education.  He also 
praised the quality of education in Djibouti, especially the 
availability of textbooks that is bringing the ratio from one 
textbook per four students down to a ratio of one textbook 
for each student.  However, he underlined that the number of 
school children should be increased and the recruitment of 
women in the teaching profession should be encouraged in 
order to further promote girls' education.  He reminded the 
donor community of its commitment in Dakar to provide 
resources to each country at a level that will demonstrate a 
political will to extend education to all.  He said the World 
Bank has initiated a loan program to implement rapidly the 
"Education for All" program for countries with limited 
financial resources. 
 
7. (U) Based on a proposal put forward by France's 
Development Director, France was unanimously chosen as 
coordinator of the donor community in the field of education 
in Djibouti.  Its role will consist of coordinating the 
intervention of financial and technical partners and 
disseminating information as well as facilitating accelerated 
implementation of the "Education for All" program. 
 
8. (U) Comment: Through a grant of USD 12 million, USAID is 
assisting the Ministry of Education to implement the 
education reform program throughout the nation.  USAID 
support to Djibouti's basic education program (Grades 1-12) 
has four major elements:  increased access to basic education 
through school construction and rehabilitation; improved 
quality of teaching and learning; increased opportunities for 
girls' education; and promotion of strategies and training to 
provide sustainable employment to school graduates, 
particularly girls.  Strategies to achieve these objectives 
rely on the provision of new information and communication 
technology services as well as traditional means to improve 
education, using both formal and non-formal education 
approaches to reach out to diverse and needy groups. 
 
9. (U) Other donors supporting education reform include 
France, which provides teachers for secondary schools, Saudi 
Arabia, which supports Koranic schools in an amount 
approaching USD 10 million, the World Bank, which is 
providing USD 10 million in soft loans for reform (new school 
construction) and the African Development Fund, which is 
engaged in school rehabilitation. End comment. 
RAGSDALE