Senegal : our partner SIDH submits information on the right to education to the United Nations

Dakar - Paris, September 6, 2019

On our initiative and with our technical support, the International Society for Human Rights - SENEGAL (SIDH) today transmitted an alternative report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  on the implementation of the right to education in the country.

The implementation of this right guaranteed by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will be reviewed by this Committee on 7 and 8 October 2019 in Geneva.

This note presents the progress made by the country in this regard as well as the obstacles impeding access to quality education for all.

In Senegal, despite the compulsory schooling law, which requires 10 years of compulsory schooling for all children aged 6 to 16, a significant proportion of children in this age group are not in school. The results of the national survey of children out of the education system revealed that in 2016 [1], 37.2% of children aged 6 to 16 were out of the education system. These results highlight the acuteness of the problem of non-schooling, which positions the issue of access as the main challenge for achieving universal enrollment in Senegal.

Our partner is also worried about the education of street children, who are high in Senegal, both in the capital and in some of the inland areas. This phenomenon has reached a worrying level in recent years despite the measures aimed at the care and removal of street children.

[1] National Study on Children and Youth Outside the Education System in Senegal USAID 2017.