"It's Never Too Late" by Chiara Pezzali photos: Leonardo Greco In Senegal, hot on the trail of non-formal education, dedicated to those who never attended school or left it too early. Literacy courses and professional practice to protect the weaker classes - and the future of the entire country.

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It's Never Too Late
by Chiara Pezzali - photos: Leonardo Greco
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In Senegal, hot on the trail of non-formal education, dedicated
to those who never attended school or left it too early. Literacy
courses and professional practice to protect the weaker classes
- and the future of the entire country.
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Education in Senegal
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is one of the country's
many contrasts: even if 40%
of the public budget is
allocated to education,
n e a r l y 6 0 % o f t h e
population is illiterate.
I n e f fi c i e n t s p e n d i n g ,
dissipation of resources in
non-transparent channels,
the need of an early work
to support family's budget
are just some of the
reasons that explain this
phenomenon. The French-
speaking, post-colonial-
heritage public school
partially reaches the inland,
the rural villages and the
C a s a m a n c e r e g i o n ,
reconciled after years of
civil war: for most of
Senegalese people, whose
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G D P p e r c a p i t a i s
approximately $2,000 per
year, the access to classes is
still a luxury.
During the Fifties in Italy,
TV teacher Manzi taught
Italians to read and write,
overcoming the barriers of
regional dialects.This is not
an option in Senegal, where
27 languages are integral
part of the national identity
of each ethnic group:
literacy means first of all
encoding idioms within the
community, preparing ad-
hoc pedagogic supports
and teaching in the same
language that belongs to
everyday life.
In order to face the
c h a l l e n g e o f t h e s e
complexities, CNRE –
Centre National des
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Ressources Éducationnelles –
was founded in 2009 in
Dakar: a ministerial body
targeting mainly those who
have never attended any
class, or left too early:
“descolarisés” adolescents,
elderly adults (mostly
women) and illiterates. It is
the world of non-formal
education: a lean and
customized approach,
outside the compulsory
school system, attractive
and successful because able
to combine literacy with a
professional training that
can be spent immediately
in the local community.
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Above: Manuscripts in Wolof and Pular language at the CNRE, waiting to be published. They
are just two of the 27 Senegalese national languages identified by legislative decree.
Below, clockwise: CNRE team, Mr. Same (Director), Ms. Sall (Research, Action, Capitalization),
Mr. Sow (Communication) and Mr. Sarr (Programs and Training).

3. A block of white plaster
surrounded by asphalt and
sandy roads, CNRE central
office is a building burnt by
the sun in the center of
Dakar. In the maze of
offices we meet the
Director, Mr. Sidy Same, and
his hardened team of
collaborators: Mr. Sow
(Communication), Ms. Sall
( R e s e a r c h , A c t i o n ,
Capitalization) and Mr. Sarr
(Programs and Training).
T h e i r a c t i v i t i e s a re
presented on slides, an
evocative watercolor that
f a d e s q u i c k l y w h e n
j u x t a p o s e d t o t h e
contrasting reality of the
villages.
Heading south toward
Malika, we immediately
realize to be far from the
touristic, contaminated by
European presence coast
of Senegal.We climb on the
top floor of a building,
where the offices of
A l p h a d e v ( N G O
supervised by the CNRE
and active in literacy
p r o g r a m s ) a n d t h e
classrooms of the Centre
d'Apprentissage Populaire
are located.The classes are
open to boys and girls
between 15 and 22 years
old who have never
attended school or have
dropped out too early: in
the three-year course new
b l a c k s m i t h s , t a i l o r s ,
carpenters, hairdressers
and agronomists are born
who can write and count,
t u t o r e d b y l o c a l
professionals during the
afternoon workshops.
In Malika's school, teachers
blend the traditional
teaching method with in-
depth pedagogical analysis:
while in African villages
children hardly have the
right to speak, in this
school they are invited to
express themselves, as a
mean of safeguard both
within family and civil
society. In line with this
holistic approach the NGO
provides children with
health care, accident
insurance and lunch: this
proved to be so successful
that Alphadev has started a
“preparatory” class to face
the increasing number of
requests and thus prevent
further leakage.
We visit two classes: a
Wolof-speaking one, the
most common language in
the country spoken by
over 40% of the population,
and a second one, French-
speaking. We also meet
boys who have previously
attended a “médersa” and
now favored in learning
because they are already
used to study the Suras by
heart, in these Koranic
schools that are a sort of
parallel education system.
Important note: Senegal's
Islam is deeply influenced
by C h e i k h A h m a d o u
Bamba, the founder of the
b ro t h e r h o o d o f t h e
Mourides, ambassador of a
tolerant and laborious
Islam, father of the peaceful
coexistence of Muslims,
Christians and Animists.
Left: students at Malika, during a break. In the middle: a Wolof teacher. Right: a boy during the
afternoon workshop at a local blacksmith.
Top: some carpenter’s apprentices in Malika. Below, clockwise: a teachers meeting; a French
language teacher in the classroom; assembling a wooden door during the afternoon workshop;
a poster of Alphadev professions.

4. A few days later we are on
the road again toward Joal
Fadiouth, where we meet a
class of Wolof women in
school Santhie III, aged
between 15 and 60 years.
Today's lesson, part of a
two-year training project
supported by the Spanish
N G O I n t e r v i d a a n d
supervised by CNRE, is
about budget and balance
sheet: students have to
calculate income and
expenses in relation to
goods to be sold at the
market – in this case
barrels of oil at a price of
3,000 CFA each. Once the
test has been corrected by
the teacher and the
facilitator (a kind of
supporting teacher, a
student who profitably
attended the same literacy
course), we move to the
workshop that is part of
the schooling process: the
production of soap. Using
o i l , c a u s t i c s o d a ,
disinfectant and other local
materials, women produce
large white boards. Once
solidified inside wooden
crates they are then cut
into bars of soap to be sold
at the local market. The
m o n e y e a r n e d i s
immediately poured into a
common fund, successfully
managed thanks to the
tools learned at school, and
t h e n r e i n v e s t e d i n
additional purchases of raw
materials. We buy 24 bars
of soap for 7200 CFA
(about € 11), that we'll
bring as a tribute to the
Minister of Education of
Senegal, that we are to
meet a few days later. On
the door - image of a
s u r r e a l a n t i t h e t i c a l
sweetness - a swarm of
children, waiting for their
m o t h e r s a n d t h e i r
grandmothers to get out of
school.
The delicate fragrance of
the homage soap holds all
t h e e x c i t e m e n t a n d
humility of women from
Joal Fadiouth, but is coldly
welcomed by the Minister:
due to divergent political
positions and the upcoming
elections there's not much
interest in the reasons of
our journey – firstly the
support to CNRE projects
and secondly raising their
awareness on media. We
were not even allowed to
take pictures of the
meeting, even if the
students of Joal Fadiouth
would have certainly
appreciated the Minister's
photograph holding the
outcome of their work. So,
once back, we proudly
spread the photos you are
looking at in these pages,
superb and dignified,
b eyo n d i n s t i t u t i o n a l
protocols, oils on canvas
saturated with passion.
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For more information
and to support the
projects of CNRE: http://
cnre.sn/sitenew/l
Above: Macky Sall, a facilitator at Joal Fadiouth. Below, clockwise: girls waiting moms-students;
a student of the Medersa; the production of soap.
Below, left: a student of the class of Joal Fadiouth learning to count in Wolof. Right: the test on
the chalkboard about budget and financial statements.

5. On this page: preparation of soap bars to be sold at the local market of Joal Fadiouth.