Senegal: controversy over school bags bearing the effigy of political leaders
Photo posted on Mame Boye Diao's Facebook page.
© Facebook / Mame Boye Diao
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Notebooks and satchels bearing the effigy of political figures are controversial in Senegal.
At the start of the school year, supplies were distributed free of charge to students by some officials, with their photos appearing on them.
This raises questions, especially in view of the local elections scheduled for next January.
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With our correspondent in Dakar,
Charlotte Idrac
These are classic school notebooks, small format and large squares ... but, on the cover, the photo of Mame Boye Diao, national director of the Estates, also responsible for the Alliance for the Republic (APR), the presidential party and potential candidate for mayor of Kolda, in the south of the country.
The distribution of these supplies last weekend made Abdoulaye Fané jump.
For the president of the National Union of Parents of Pupils and Students of Senegal, this misplaced generosity is propaganda and these notebooks have no place in schools:
“
This practice is not new.
We disapprove of this and ask the ministry to take charge of this very important issue, to avoid all the private factories that do this.
We want to deposit a copy with the ministry, to see if these effigies have an educational character.
Let it stop.
"
The Minister of Youth, Néné Fatoumata Tall, candidate for the next local elections, had also offered colored backpacks with her photo to the students of her locality, Guédiawaye, in the suburbs of Dakar.
On the side of the Ministry of Education, no comments at this stage.
"
We are in the process of collecting all the information on these reported cases
", simply indicates his spokesperson.
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Senegal
Education