Burkina Faso Education

Education

Education is free and officially compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 13 years; however, only about one-third of all children aged 6 to 11 attended primary school in the late 1980s, and only 6 percent of those aged 12 to 17. Less than 15 percent of the adult population is literate. In the late 1980s about 411,900 pupils were annually enrolled in primary schools, and some 57,200 pupils in secondary schools. Vocational schools had some 4800 students.
A university with an enrollment of 4800 is at Ouagadougou, and government grants are available for higher education in European and African universities. A number of individuals study at Dakar, Sénégal, at Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and overseas.

Burkina Faso, formerly Upper Volta, republic, western Africa, bounded on the north and west by Mali, on the east by Niger, and on the south by Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Cote d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast). The area of Burkina Faso is 274,200 sq km (105,869 sq mi).

Land and Resources
Burkina Faso is located on a plateau sloping generally to the south and situated from about 200 to 715 m (about 650 to 2350 ft) in elevation. The plateau is drained to the south by the Black Volta (Mouhoun), Red Volta (Nazinon), and White Volta (Nakanbe) rivers and to the east by small rivers connecting with the Niger; none is navigable. Most of the country is covered with grass and small trees. Animals include the elephant, hippopotamus, buffalo, antelope, and crocodile.

Climate
A dry, cool season in Burkina Faso extends from November to March; a hot, dry one from March to May; and a hot, wet one from May to November. Rainfall decreases from more than 1016 mm (more than 40 in) in the southwest (the most productive part of the country) to less than 254 mm (less than 10 in) in the north and is heaviest in the summer. Temperatures vary from 21.1° to 26.7° C (70° to 80° F).

Natural Resources
Burkina Faso is known to have rich deposits of manganese and gold and also resources of copper, iron ore, cassiterite (an ore of tin), and phosphates. Water supply is a problem in so dry a country and offers few opportunities for irrigation. About 11 percent of the land is cultivated, and about 37 percent is pasture.

Population
The population of Burkina Faso is predominantly rural. The Mossi constitute the largest ethnic group. Other important groups are the Bobo, Sénoufo, Lobi, Gourounsi, Mande, and Fulani.

Population Characteristics
The population of Burkina Faso (1993 estimate) was 9,852,529. The overall population density was about 35 persons per sq km (about 93 per sq mi).

Political Divisions and Principal Cities
Burkina Faso is divided into 30 provinces, which are subdivided into 250 departments. Ouagadougou, the capital and largest city, has 442,223 inhabitants (1985). Other major cities are Bobo-Dioulasso, an important economic center (231,162), and Koudougou (51,670).

Language and Religion
French is the official language. Languages of the Sudanic family are spoken by about 50 percent of the population. About 65 percent of the people of Burkina Faso follow traditional religions. About 25 percent are Muslims, and 10 percent are Roman Catholics.

Economy
The basis of the economy of Burkina Faso is agriculture, primarily for subsistence consumption. Although economic assistance, chiefly from the European Union, has subsidized Burkina Faso since independence, the nation remains one of the world's poorest. The estimated annual budget included $303 million in revenue and $323 million in expenditure in the late 1980s.

Labor
The total labor force of Burkina Faso numbers about 4.1 million, with more than 85 percent engaged in agriculture. Unemployment and underemployment are widespread, and many workers seek employment permanently or seasonally in richer nations to the south, especially Côte d'Ivoire.

Agriculture
Aridity and erosion seriously hamper agricultural development, and most farming is concentrated in southern and southwestern Burkina Faso. Leading crops, with annual production in the late 1980s, were sorghum (1 million metric tons), millet (817,000), corn (227,000), peanuts (161,000), rice (39,000), and cotton lint (61,000). The principal wealth of Burkina Faso is its livestock: 2.8 million cattle, 3 million sheep, 21 million poultry, 500,000 pigs, and 270,000 horses and asses. Efforts were under way to rebuild the nation's livestock industry following severe losses due to the recurrent drought in the Sahel during the late 1960s, early 1970s, and early 1980s.

Mining and Manufacturing
Mining is of modest importance to the economy, contributing less than 1 percent of the gross national product. Mineral output in the late 1980s included manganese (15,000 metric tons), phosphates (3000 metric tons), and gold (3000 kg). Still in its infancy, manufacturing in Burkina Faso is principally related to processing agricultural products, particularly cotton, oils and fats, and sugar, and the production of such consumer items as soap, footwear, motorcycles, and motor scooters.

Energy
The country's electricity is produced in thermal installations, most of which burn refined petroleum. In the late 1980s, 125 million kwh of electricity was generated annually.

Currency and Banking
The currency of Burkina Faso is the CFA franc, issued by the Central Bank of West Africa (286.4 CFA francs equal U.S.$1; 1990). The country has several banks that finance economic development.

Commerce and Trade
Like many developing nations, Burkina Faso imports far more than it exports. Imports consist of food, petroleum, textiles, iron, steel, metal products, vehicles, electrical equipment, and machinery. Major exports include raw cotton, livestock, karite nuts, and peanuts. In the late 1980s imports were valued at some $434 million annually, and exports totaled about $155 million. Major trading partners include France, Italy, and Côte d'Ivoire.

Transportation and Communications
A railroad links Ouagadougou to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and current development plans call for it to be extended 360 km (224 mi) north to rich manganese ores at Tamboa and the Mali border. The country has about 11,230 km (about 6980 mi) of roads, of which about half are improved. Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso are served regularly by French airlines. The national airline is Air Burkina. A government-owned television service provides transmissions six days a week, seen in both Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso. Radiobroadcasts are made in French and 13 African languages. The nation has six daily newspapers.

Government
The constitution of 1977 was suspended when the military seized power in November 1980. A new constitution was approved by national referendum in June 1991. An uncontested presidential election took place in December, and multiparty legislative elections the following May.

Executive
Under the 1977 constitution, executive power in the country was vested in a president who was directly elected to a 5-year term. The Military Committee for National Recovery and Progress, established after the 1980 coup, was superseded in late 1982, after another coup, by the People's Salvation Council. After yet another coup, in August 1983, the National Revolutionary Council became the chief governmental authority, and its chairman became head of state. This council was abolished after a military coup in October 1987. After a transitional period, a presidential election was held in December 1991, and a 29-member cabinet was named in June 1992.

Legislature
The unicameral National Assembly was dissolved after the 1980 military coup, when all political parties were abolished. Multiparty voting was reintroduced in 1992 with the election of a 107-member National Assembly.

Judiciary
The judicial system of Burkina Faso consists of people's revolutionary tribunals under the supervision of two appeals courts, one in Ouagadougou and the other at Bobo-Dioulasso.

Health and Welfare
The government provides hospitals and rural medical services and special health services for schools. An old-age and veterans' pension system was established in 1960, and workers' insurance plans were started in 1967. Average life expectancy in the late 1980s was only 49 years for women and 45 for men.

Defense
Military service is voluntary. The armed forces included about 8700 persons in the late 1980s; another 45,000 persons served part-time in the People's Militia.

History
The history of Burkina Faso is largely the history of the ancient Mossi Kingdom. Various Mossi states were built up about the 14th century by peoples migrating from the north of modern Ghana. They evolved a strong administrative system and a tradition of divine kingship, which enabled them to prevent their incorporation by any of the Sudanic empires. The kingdom of Songhai, however, conquered the Mossi.
By the 19th century, the Mossi states were weakened. In 1896 the French set up a protectorate over the kingdom of Ouagadougou, and in 1904 the area became part of the colony of Haut-Sénégal-Niger. In 1919 it was made into a separate constituent territory of French West Africa, only to be divided up in 1932 between the French Sudan and Côte d'Ivoire. It was reconstituted the separate territory of Upper Volta in 1947.
Following the reforms of the French Union in 1957, Upper Volta became, in 1958, a self-governing republic and a member of the new French community. A government was formed, headed by Maurice Yaméogo, leader of the political party known as the Voltaic Democratic Union. In 1959 Upper Volta joined the council of the Entente, a loose association based on mutual political and economic interests. The Entente was composed of Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Dahomey (now Benin), and Togo. After its independence on August 5, 1960, Upper Volta remained an associated state of the European Community (now called the European Union).
Yaméogo was elected president in 1960 and reelected in 1965; he was the sole candidate. Following the adoption by the National Assembly of austerity measures in December 1965, a crisis erupted between the government and the labor unions. At the call of the latter, General Sangoulé Lamizana, then army chief of staff, assumed power on January 3, 1966, and suspended the constitution. Shortly thereafter, the new government embarked on an austerity program of its own, which eventually succeeded in arresting the deterioration of the economy. Under the constitution of 1970, Lamizana became president for four years.
In the early 1970s the effect of a 5-year drought threatened famine in Upper Volta and five other West African countries. The resulting economic dislocation brought a second dissolution of the government. Lamizana ruled as dictator until the reintroduction of parliamentary government in 1978, when he won the presidency in a democratic election. Two years later he was ousted in a bloodless military coup; two more coups followed during the next 33 months. On August 3, 1984, the first anniversary of the coup that brought Captain Thomas Sankara to power as head of the National Revolutionary Council, the official name of the country was changed to Burkina Faso, and a new national flag and anthem were decreed. In October 1987, Sankara was ousted and executed in a coup led by his chief adviser, Captain Blaise Compaoré, who ruled as head of the Popular Front. Compaoré, who survived two coup attempts in 1989, introduced limited democratic reforms during 1990, and a new constitution took effect the following year. Compaoré was reelected without opposition in December 1991, and his Organization for Popular Democracy-Labor Movement won a legislative majority in multiparty elections in May 1992.