The Sahel Authority: An initiative to educate the poor in Mauritania

Salik Zaid-Nouakchott

Inside a classroom in a private school in the finest neighborhoods of Nouakchott, Roqaya sits
Sidi, 14, focuses on the mathematics teacher's explanation of the new lesson and writes in her notebook the information written by the professor on the blackboard.

Among the buildings of the neighborhood of "Tefrez Zina" upscale girl Roqia Sidi lives with her mother and her brothers in
Arish is small with a piece of land that his owner has not yet exploited, following the arrival of the family from the city of Alak (east of the capital).

Rukaya continued her studies in a private school and was ranked second in the exam
The first semester of the first year of preparatory school, and perhaps did not dream of it, her family has not yet been able to provide a special place to live.

She and her dozens of children got lost in the opportunity to learn in
Private schools, thanks to the efforts of the Sahel Commission for the Defense of Human Rights and support
Education, which aims to help the children of the poor continue to study.

"I'm grateful to the body that helped me enroll in this school, I thank the school for my kisses, and I hope to continue my education and become a teacher, to help my family.

The beginning of hope
While Rukaya was studying in her class, her mother sat at the door of El Arish waiting for her return.

With much hope, the mother hopes that her daughter will follow her education and achieve something in her life that will help her live a better life. She is the only one of her children who is still in her education.

"I know that I do not have any money to pay for school, but the owners of the school and the school have provided me with a service that can not be compensated at a price.

The director of the School for the Future of the Future, Hassan Ould Mohamed, observes a great advantage in the results of the paper, compared to peers, and says that the child within ten years will change their reality, and be able to help themselves and serve the community and the homeland.

Saving a future
The Coast Authority was established in 2017 by human rights activist Ibrahim Ould Bilal,
Who had previously known in Mauritania his activity against slavery, and is now working with some young activists to "lift as many of the children of the poor as possible, especially the former slaves," he told Al Jazeera Net.

The Coastal Authority project is a new pattern to combat slavery and its effects, because the main cause of the gap in society can only be bridged by education, adds Ould Bilal.

With the start of each school year in Mauritania, the Commission conducts a census of children
In the neighborhoods of Nouakchott, through a study of the most needy and poor families
To help their children, to pursue their education.

The Authority relies on charitable assistance to provide children's seats in
Private schools or donations of some schools with a number of seats for the Commission and some study equipment for these children.

Poor education
Government education suffers from a marked weakness in Mauritania. President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz declared 2015 the year of education, but activists in the field consider that the reality of public education has not changed, and only the children of the poor are studying.

The head of the Coastal Authority, Ibrahim Ould Bilal, considers successive regimes to be
The failure to do anything is the field of education, and enumerates a number of reasons for this failure, especially the planning, and the lack of interest of those who manage public education in public education, because they are from one class and have the potential to send their children to private schools. , He says.

In the same year the government announced a year of education, the Mauritanian Ministry of Education said that 182,000 children between the ages of six and 15, or 27 percent of the target population, are outside the educational process.

To change this reality, Ould Bilal says his body seeks to create alternative opportunities for privileged children from the fragile classes in private educational institutions to support them, until the state of public education changes, and education for all is rich and poor.

In a society where poverty and school dropout are frequent, and there is weakness in public education,
The Coast Authority is continuing its work, to save what can be saved from the children of the fragile classes
In Mauritania, and seeks to change the reality of education for the better.