Minister of Economy Reviews Mauritania’s Vision on Refugee Children Inclusion in Education System
As part of the Global Forum on Migration events, Mr. Abdessalam Ould Mohamed Saleh, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, participated, as a keynote speaker, in the high-level panel on Education entitled: Securing Sustainable Futures – Towards a Shared Responsibility to Uphold the Right to Education and Include Refugee Children in National Education Systems”.
In his speech, the Minister of the Economy took stock of the current situation of refugees in Mauritania, noting that it is very different from that of 2019, due to the intensification of the conflict in Mali.
He indicated that the current number of forcibly displaced people in the territory has doubled: more than 123,000 forcibly displaced people are present in the territory, 86% of whom are installed in the Mberra camp in Hodh El Charghi.
Ould Mohamed Saleh added that the prolonged and increasing nature of the movement of refugees and asylum seekers in Mauritania calls for a new approach and increased efforts for their educational inclusion, given that education is a fundamental human right. He revealed that education constitutes a sectoral priority of the country, within the framework of which Mauritania has made immense progress in terms of access to education with significant enrollment rates in 2021. However, continues the minister, several children and adolescents are still outside the school system, as shown by the net enrollment rate which is 80%. The gross enrollment rate of refugees is even more limited: 38% in primary education and only 8% in secondary education, hence the urgency and necessity of putting in place an overall system that offers quality education at all levels, as he put it.
In this context, he affirmed that a favorable context therefore exists to maximize the scope of investments made in this sector, so that they benefit all populations, recalling that the Ministry of Education works closely with the UNHCR and the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) of UNESCO to evaluate the cost and modalities of the inclusion of refugees in the national education system through a Budgeted Action Plan (BAP) for inclusion of refugees. However, the lasting success of this plan requires a set of conditions which are: the mobilization of sufficient financial resources: 240 million over 10 years are necessary; the effective engagement of refugees and host communities as well as educational authorities by aiming at capacity building and increased awareness-raising of the importance of education in addition to the coordination of all actors in the sector.
At the end of his speech, the Minister hoped that the Forum and this event would enable the international community to produce concrete elements for the realization of this multi-party commitment to the sustainable inclusion of refugees in national education systems, of which Mauritania is proud to be part.