President of Republic Calls For Creating Alliance for Education in Sahel

His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani indicated that the countries of the Sahel face countless economic, social, political, and security challenges that they must imperatively meet, adding that any truly lasting solution to these problems, requires, as an inescapable prelude, the establishment of effective and qualitatively efficient education systems. The President of the Republic, who was speaking today at the opening of the Nouakchott Summit on Education in the Sahel, also called for the creation of an Alliance for Education in the Sahel. Here is the full text of the speech: "Excellency, Mr. Mohamed Bazoum, the President of the Republic of Niger; Excellency, Mr. Choguel Maiga, the Prime Minister of the Transitional Government of Mali; Excellency, Mr. OUARO Stanislas, the Representative of the President of Faso; Excellency, Mr. Merci Kosmadji, the Representative of the Chadian Head of State; Excellency, Mr. the Prime Minister; Excellency, Mr. the Speaker of the National Assembly; Excellency, Mr. the President of the Constitutional Council; Excellency, Mr. the Leader of the Democratic Opposition; Excellencies, Members of the Government; Mr. the Vice-President of the World Bank; Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Ambassadors; Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the delegations; Honorable guests. It is a real pleasure for me to welcome you to Mauritania and express my sincere thanks for having accepted to participate in this summit for exchanging and discussing the issue of education in the Sahel. I also thank the World Bank Group for the support it provides to our countries in their fight for economic and social development, at the heart of which is the crucial issue of education. Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, Our Sahel countries face innumerable economic, social, political, and security challenges that they must meet. Any truly lasting solution to those problems requires, as an inescapable prelude, the establishment of effective and qualitatively efficient education systems. Indeed, nowadays, only the school can recreate a civic bond, which is strong enough to establish stable and solid social and national cohesion. As an effective shield against extremism and obscurantism, education positively impacts the fight against poverty and inequalities. It strengthens the social fabric by educating for citizenship and driving sustainable socio-economic development, contributing thus to the stability and security of states. Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, Aware of this situation, the Mauritanian Government, with the support of its partners, has been working, for two years, on an in-depth reform of its education system. Work has just taken a decisive step with the establishment of the National Council of Education and the approval of a white paper on education called "the school we want". The major challenge that we must all work to meet consists in succeeding in significantly increasing access to basic education, promoting excellence and scientific and technical education, correcting distributive inequalities, and, above all, improving the skills, professionalism, and the level of initial and continuing training of teaching and supervisory staff. Because, with insufficiently trained teachers, or with teachers working in an unsuitable environment, the quality of education will remain inexorably in deficit, whatever the volume of investments and efforts made. Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, The G-5 Sahel teaches us, every day, the importance of pooling resources and synergizing efforts; both in the security area and in the various areas of socio-economic development. This pooling of resources and synergy of efforts is even more necessary when it comes to education. Also, I call for the creation of an Alliance for Education in the Sahel, which will constitute a space for enrichment, exchange of experiences, and convergence of the support of our partners, just as we call for the creation of a higher institute of the Sahel for the sciences of education and pedagogical innovation, and we are ready to host it in Mauritania. I also address a call to the World Bank, whose commitment to our side has never been lacking, to support these initiatives and contribute to the mobilization of other technical and financial partners. Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced that the results of this summit, thanks to the level of exchanges and the quality of your contributions and recommendations, will have a positive impact on our collective fight, to address, together, the challenge of effective and efficient education, a guarantee of sustainable economic and social development. Thank you".