The national literacy rate is 30 per cent for males, and 15 per cent for females. Only about 40 per cent of children go to primary school. And just nine per cent continue to secondary school. Schools are usually in a reasonable condition and have basic equipment, but there are not enough of them and, in any case, many children's parents cannot afford to send them.
Parents have to buy exercise books, pens, and pencils as well as pay school fees.
Legally the size limit for one class is 65 children, but in many rural areas classes are much bigger because there are not enough schools. If a school is full, some children cannot get a place and they have to stay at home and try again the next year. The school week runs from Monday to Saturday lunchtime, and the school is closed on Thursdays. Lessons are taught in French, the country's official language, which is many children's second or third language, especially in rural areas. At school the pattern of lessons is set by a national curriculum which timetables each subject for each year group, so that around the country children of the same age are always studying the same subject at any given time.