A Poisonous Mix - Human Rights Watch

to vulnerable children, with the notable exception of children with disabilities and children
in nomadic communities. 322
Though the number of children enrolled in primary school has significantly increased since
1998, many children of primary school age are still out of school. 323 Mali remains far below
the average in Sub-Saharan Africa. 324 Access to secondary education is even lower. 325 A
significant number of children have never been enrolled in school. Of those who do, many
do not attend school regularly and drop out early. 326
There is also a large gender disparity in education. The net enrolment rate for girls is 54.6
percent, compared with 66.8 percent for boys, and only 48.6 percent of girls complete
primary school, compared with 64.1 percent of boys. 327 In higher education, the gender gap
is even bigger. 328 While the government has emphasized increasing girls’ access to
education, the majority of the children officially out of school are girls. In 2007-2008, over
half the girls between 7 and 12 were out of school. 329
As illustrated above, one reason for low enrollment is cost. Parents have to pay expenses
for school, such as registration fees, books, materials, uniforms, or fees for the school
management committee. 330 In many African countries, school fees and indirect costs of
schooling are major obstacles to obtaining an education for the poor. By contrast, the
abolition of school fees has been proven to increase school enrollment and attendance
significantly, particularly among the poor and among girls; it is also required by
international law. 331 Other obstacles to schooling include the distance to school and the
322 Government of Mali, “Programme d’Investissement pour le Secteur de l’Education 2010-2012”, pp. 15-16.
323 World Bank, Le système éducatif malien – Analyse séctorielle pour une amélioration de la qualité et de l’efficacité du
système, (Washington : World Bank, 2010), p. 10.
324 In 2009, the net school enrolment rate at the primary level was 77 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa. See UNESCO, “Universal
Primary Education,” UIS Fact Sheet, May 2011, no. 8, http://www.uis.unesco.org/FactSheets/Documents/fs8-2011-en.pdf
(accessed on June 28, 2011), p. 1. In 2009-2010, the gross school enrolment rate at primary level was 79.5 percent in Mali, also
significantly below the regional average. The gross enrollment rate is the number of children enrolled in primary school, regardless
of their age, divided by the population of the age group that officially corresponds to primary school level.
325 Ministère de l’Education, de l’Alphabétisation et de Langues nationales, “Annuaire National,” p. 88.
326 World Bank, Le système éducatif malien, p. XXIII.
327 Ministère de l’Education, de l’Alphabétisation et de Langues nationales, “Annuaire National" pp. 85, 91.
328 World Bank, Le système éducatif malien, p. XXVI.
329 Oxfam, “Delivering Education for All”, p. 12.
330 Ibid., p. 19.
331 Klaus Deininger, “Does cost of schooling affect enrolment by the poor Universal primary education in Uganda,”
Economics of Education Review, vol. 22, (2003); Samer Al-Samarrai and Hassan Zaman, “Abolishing School Fees in Malawi:
The Impact on Education Access and Equity,” Education Economics, vol. 15, no. 3 (2007), p. 370.
69 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2011