Language Policy and Girls’ Education in Francophone West and Central Africa

Across Africa, weak states, poverty, high fertility, and early marriage pose barriers to girls’ schooling. Francophone West and Central Africa registers the continent’s lowest female literacy rates, in part because it inherited a weak educational infrastructure at independence, and is home to Muslim communities that initially rejected schools of Christian origin. Policies insisting on exclusively French-medium instruction have also been an obstacle to girls’ schooling. Such schooling was perceived as preparation for state employment not expected of females. Moreover, French-medium schools were perceived as a cultural threat even as girls were central to communities’ efforts to resist assimilation.