Djibouti’s education sector has made significant strides in recent years thanks to the government’s efforts to increase the number of learning opportunities available and reduce inequality. Although the gender disparity and a lack of access to education in rural regions remain challenges, the government has made progress in these areas. The translation of the national curriculum into Arabic and English is helping Djibouti provide education to its broader refugee population.
Efforts to improve the country’s education ecosystem in recent years have paid off. A March 2019 report published by UNICEF on the Education Action Programme 2017-19 (Plan d’Action de l’Education, PAE) noted several positive results from the PAE, including the development of a preschool strategy, a study conducted on children who are not enrolled in school, the recognition of second-chance education centres by the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (Ministère de l’Education Nationale et de la Formation Professionnelle, MENFOP), the mainstreaming of life skills and citizenship education, and the addition of ICT courses to the basic education curriculum. UNICEF also emphasised the importance of the inclusion of refugee children in the national education system, and this is in line with the government’s commitment to the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR).
The Global Partnership for Education, the World Bank and the Qatar-based foundation Education Above All have allocated some $30m in grants to widen access to basic education, a sum expected to be matched by other partners – including the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement, AFD) – and delivered by UNICEF through 2023.
Oversight
The Djibouti Vision 2035 economic plan outlines the key aims for the country’s education system through to 2035. The early stages of its implementation were supported by the Education Sector Plan 2010–19. In line with Vision 2035, the government is focusing on rolling out inclusive education for all adolescents by improving access for those with mental and physical disabilities, as well as for disadvantaged and female students. In 2018 government spending on education accounted for 3.6% of the country’s GDP, supported by additional funding from partner organisations. Per-capita public spending on education was reported to be DJF84,900 ($478) in 2016 compared to DJF68,300 ($384) in 2013.
MENFOP oversees Djibouti’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) curricula and institutions. It is supported by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, which is responsible for overseeing Djibouti’s tertiary level institutions. The Ministry of Women, Family and Infants (Ministère de la Femme et de la Famille, et de l’Enfant, MFFE) works closely with MENFOP to encourage greater equality in Djibouti’s schools, as there remains a gender disparity among students, particularly in rural areas.
In addition to the national bodies that are responsible for overseeing Djibouti’s education sector, the government also works with several international organisations to improve education. For example, UNICEF co-leads an education sector working group, alongside the UNHCR, the World Food Programme, the World Bank, the JICA, USAID and the AFD.
Education Policies
The education system is managed by the 10-year Education Sector Plan and supported by the three-year PAE. The 10-year plan is designed around the findings of a diagnostic report on the education sector that reviews the progress made under the previous PAE and other challenges. The PAE for the 2010-19 education sector plan was oriented around six objectives: developing preschool education in collaboration with the private sector, the community and public institutions; attaining 100% enrolment in primary education and 79% in middle school; achieving gender equality in primary and secondary education; providing students with at least 75% of the skills taught in the language, mathematics, science and life skills curriculum; reforming TVET at the secondary level to support the labour market; and improving governance practices across all education institutions. The most recent PAE from 2017 to 2020 had been revised and extended to improve Djibouti’s current education system. The government aims to provide universal access to education by 2024 through the construction and development of new schools and transport routes to improve access across the country.
MENFOP released the “National Consultation Report on the Transformation of Education in Djibouti” in June 2022 as part of the country’s participation in the UN’s international Transforming Education Summit 2022, which Mohamed Abdallah Mahyoub, vice-minister of education, attended. At the pre-summit Mahyoub discussed the efforts undertaken to transform the country’s education system since 2018, noting the delays resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Mahyoub noted some of the current challenges, including gender disparity, access in rural areas and the digitalisation of schools. However, the country’s policies are starting to show results. Mahyoub highlighted some of the education sector’s achievements, such as the rollout of smart classrooms and digital technologies in some schools, as well as the development of public-private partnerships to increase investment in education.
Structure
Djibouti’s education system is based on the French system, with most schools teaching in French and Arabic. There are five years of primary school, four years of middle school and three years of secondary school. After secondary school, students can continue their education in a TVET for three years or attend the University of Djibouti.
The percentage of children that were enrolled in primary school rose from 67% in 2010 to 73% in 2021, while school enrolment at the secondary level more than tripled from only 16% of adolescents in 2001 to 55% in 2021. The student-to-teacher ratio has also seen a marked improvement, going from 34 students per teacher in 2008 to 29 as of 2018.
There are several persistent challenges to Djibouti’s school system, including the gender disparity, the quality of curriculum and facilities, and access. These are primarily issues in rural areas, in particular among poorer communities and refugee populations. MENFOP estimated in its April 2020 report that around 50.5% of students lived within 1 km of a school, while 3.3% resided further than 10 km from their nearest school. Illiteracy rates are relatively high among the country’s adult population, particularly since Djibouti’s school system was previously oriented toward the country’s French-speaking population. According to the 2020 report, 59% of those surveyed between the ages of 15 and 49 said they were able to read and write.
The number of girls not attending primary school fell from 42,620 in 2001 to 16,872 in 2021, while the number of boys fell from 39,088 to 15,284 over the same period. Although the number of children not in school has fallen, a lack of access to educational institutions remains an issue. Of all age groups, dropout rates are highest among 11- to 13-year-olds, according to the April 2020 MENFOP report, which found that of 10,000 students who had dropped out, more than half who had done so were between the ages of 11 to 13.
There were around 31,000 refugees in Djibouti at the beginning of 2022, with many displaced from conflicts in Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Yemen. Providing education to refugee children is vital, as the UNHCR estimated in a January 2021 report that forced displacement can result in children missing three to four years of education. Through the World Bank’s Expanding Opportunities for Learning project, Djibouti is providing more education opportunities for its refugee population. The national curriculum has been translated into English and Arabic, and teachers have been trained to deliver educational materials in the local languages of Afar and Somali. Teachers at refugee schools have received specialised training to teach these groups. Education previously provided to refugee students in other countries is now recognised by the government, allowing students to take the Djibouti Baccalaureate exam at the end of high school.
Access to education appears to have a significant impact on job prospects in Djibouti. For example, the annual average wage for those who finished primary school was DJF500,000 ($2820) compared to DJF1.5m ($8450) for those with an undergraduate degree.
Public & Private Schools
The MENFOP report found that schools in Djibouti were small, with 28.5% of institutions having 100 students or fewer, 30% having between 100 and 300 students, and 24% with over 500 students as of April 2020. Rural schools were smaller, with an average of 120 students compared to 527 for urban areas. However, public schools were larger than their private counterparts, with an average number of 381 students versus 234 in private French-speaking schools and 223 in private Arabic-speaking schools.
Around a quarter of secondary schools are privately run and are generally regarded as better than their public counterparts. Some of the most reputable private institutions include the QSI International School of Djibouti, a pre-K-12 school in Djibouti City located on the Gulf of Tadjoura; the International School of Djibouti, which teaches in English; the International School of Africa, which offers an English-language curriculum, as well as French, Arabic and ICT courses; and the Lycée d’Etat de Djibouti, the curriculum for which is derived from the French education system.
Pre-primary education is dominated by the private, urban sector. However, the MFFE has lobbied to institutionalise community kindergartens and nurseries to expand public pre-primary education nationwide. As of January 2020 there were 71 pre-primary institutions across Djibouti, with 4400 children in pre-schools in 2018, or 13% of the pre-primary age group.
Higher Education
The University of Djibouti is the country’s only tertiary education institution, offering undergraduate and graduate courses in pure sciences, life sciences, civil and industrial engineering, and liberal arts. The number of students has risen significantly, with more than 11,000 enrolled in 2022 compared to just 461 in 2000. The university employs nearly 600 teachers and specialised administrative staff, and the focus of much of the university’s fields of research is on topics of importance to the local and regional market.
TVET is at the centre of Djibouti’s education policies to provide the necessary skills to compete in the workforce. Unemployment was 28.4% in 2021 – 39.4% for women and 24.6% for men, based on estimates by the International Labour Organisation. The government has expanded the TVET network, opening seven technical high schools and four higher vocational training centres to help provide Djiboutians with the training necessary to find new and specialised jobs.
Enrolment in TVET institutions in the country rose from 11.8% of total enrolment in secondary education in 2012 to 21.3% by 2021. As of the end of 2022 the World Bank had committed to providing funding for two TVET training programmes – the Djibouti Digital Foundations Project and the Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project – to support TVET education in the country. Some of the targeted industries or sectors are transport and logistics, construction and related trades, ICT and energy.
Pandemic Response
The government closed schools in April 2020 and suspended all related activities until August of that year. To ensure that students still had access to their education, MENFOP developed a distance-learning programme for students in urban and rural areas, with courses televised to avoid a reliance on internet connectivity. In addition, the government developed educational radio programmes; e-learning platforms for secondary students; pre-service teacher training; and booklets and paper materials for rural communities and refugees.
MENFOP focused on providing books, school uniforms and meals to vulnerable children, supporting the government’s goal of enhancing access to education and reducing inequality. These efforts were supported by World Bank funding through a $3.5m grant for 2020 and 2021. This supported improvements in access to remote learning, as well as helped schools re-open. The programme also provided electronic devices and internet connectivity to schools.
Outlook
The government of Djibouti has made significant strides in providing greater access to education in recent years by bolstering facilities in rural areas and taking further steps to reduce the gender disparity. In addition, the rollout of the national curriculum in Arabic and English – as well as the teaching of it in Somali and Afar, both of which are widely-spoken in Djibouti – has allowed the country’s refugee population to access educational materials delivered by teachers with specialist training. The development of the country’s TVET sector is expected to alleviate unemployment across the country, while external funding is expected to bolster government efforts to make universal access to quality education available.
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