Africa report
Chad: a teacher opens a school in a nomadic camp [1/2]
Audio 02:20
Léonard Gamaïgué, a young Chadian graduate, teaches children in the Toukra camp.
© Leonard Gamaïgue
By: Aurélie Bazzara Follow
2 mins
In Chad, an unemployed teacher decided to create a school in the middle of a nomadic camp.
Along with other volunteer teachers, Léonard Gamaïgué gives his time to teach children who have never been enrolled in school to read and write.
For these children of nomads, school is still difficult to access because of their way of life, but also because they are marginalized by society.
Report from the Toukra camp, on the outskirts of Ndjamena.
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Wand in hand, Jongyang is a volunteer teacher.
His classroom, located in the middle of a nomad encampment, is spartan.
A simple mat on the ground, a tarp against the sun and a blackboard placed on a tree.
“
Some of them already know how to do small operations, small calculations and readings that combine only two syllables.
Most of them are on the level, but you have to work with some who are behind.
»
To make himself understood, he mixes Arabic and French.
In front of him, about forty children.
And for many, school is a big first.
"
Twenty-one plus one equals...22
!"
»
Classes are given from Monday to Friday.
Enough to give rise to vocations, as for Habib and Khadidja: “
I prefer reading with books at school.
When I grow up I want to be a minister
.
“
I want to become a doctor, I want to treat our parents in the camp.
»
Hope for children and parents
This atypical school was launched in 2019 by Léonard Gamaïgué, a young graduate in education.
It was when he saw the children of nomads playing on the side of the road or taking care of animals that he decided to teach them to read and write.
“
At first it was a bit complicated because they were reluctant.
Before me, several school promises were made and it never happened.
It was only the day I came to drop off the painting here that they saw that I was serious.
Despite this, there was still a bit of a reluctance to see school as a waste of time.
But I believe that now, no parent here would want their child to come and learn.
»
This is the case of this dad, Issa Dagam, who lets three of his children go to class: “
I didn't go to school, I always followed my parents with the herds.
But today, our herds are dying.
We are unemployed.
I hope my children will study.
They will be able to choose a profession and play a more important role than ours in our society
”.
This school is not yet officially recognized by the authorities and is sorely lacking in funding.
In Chad, only 2% of nomadic children are enrolled in school.
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Africa
Chad
Education