Senegal: new names of high schools to revive the collective memory

Text by: RFI Follow

In Senegal, five high schools have changed names. In a decree dated February 13, made public on Saturday February 23, President Macky Sall decided to give schools the names of great men and women of the country. The Lycée in the Ouakam district in Dakar has been renamed Amath Dansokho.

Publicity

with our correspondent in Dakar, William de Lesseux

The film maker Ousmane Sembène , the sculptor Ousmane Sow and the woman of letters Aminata Sow Fall are part of this national pantheon. In the Ouakam district of Dakar, the school now bears the name of Amath Dansokho , who died in August last year. The students, who play soccer on the sports field, will resume lessons on Monday in a high school whose name has changed.

Amath Dansokho was a figure of the Senegalese and African political world, major opponent, founder of the party of independence and work. Despite everything, his name remains little known at the Lycée de Ouakam where " ninety-nine percent [of the students] do not even know him ", explains Nafissatou Harb, in the science terminal (S) class. “ Dansokho, yes, he did a lot for Senegal. We could, at least, ask us a minimum of our opinion, before doing something ”.

Ibra Guèye, in first S, does not know Amath Dansokho either: “ I heard that he lived in Kédougou but why not… In Kédougou, there are high schools. Why not give its name to the high schools that are in Kédougou? Here in Ouakam, there are other characters ”.

The pupils then cite the names of certain religious dignitaries.

Joined by RFI, Yaya Diaw professor of history and geography in the establishment, can not explain the little notoriety of the former minister among these young people. " Perhaps it will be necessary to review the contents of the program, try to see how to integrate the names of these personalities according to their responsibilities or the events they have had to live ... Rename the lycée of Ouakam by giving the name of the late Amath Dansokho, I think it's a good thing . ”

Ironically, the school is at the foot of the Renaissance monument, a building that Amath Dansokho had always criticized.

See also: [Videos] In the intimacy of Ousmane Sow's work

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