Togo Education

By | May 26, 2021

The Togolese school system is based on the French model. It consists of the six-year primary school (with compulsory schooling), the two-tier secondary school and the universities. Unfortunately, the current school situation is extremely inadequate and in need of reform. In addition, there are great inequalities in the use of the already ailing education system. In the past, there have been repeated strikes by teachers and students demanding better salaries and conditions, and schools have sometimes been closed. The World Bank and Togo agreed on a subsidy in the amount of $ 27.8 million for the implementation of the ‘Plan Sectoriel de l’Education’. For years, the government has wanted to invest in higher education and also reduce the number of illiterate adults.

The schools of the Catholic and Protestant Church, but also of Islam, complement the state offer. In Lomé, there has been a growing demand for private schools in recent years, as many parents see no future opportunities for their children in the poorly equipped state schools. Deutsche Welle describes the lack of educational opportunities when attending school in Togo in an article. Despite the contrary legal situation, private schools are also used Physically abused children. Using the example of the Lycée Moderne in Sokodé, the project of a Pasch school is presented and the German lessons at a school in Togo are briefly described. The Togolese German teachers formed an association, and German is also popular outside of schools, as the Club of Germanophiles shows.

According to eningbo, the Togolese university system is also very much based on the former colonial power of France. Some of the universities in Togo play an important role in the education of the country’s elite, but many Togoers leave the country after completing their baccalaureate or a first university degree to begin or continue studying abroad. Many Togolese people in good professional positions have at least partially studied abroad.

The University of Lomé (formerly Université du Bénin) was founded in 1970 and today has more than 50,000 students. Almost a third of you are enrolled in the humanities faculty, followed by economics and law before the natural sciences. There is also a chair for German studies, which has a partnership with the University of Bayreuth. In 2009 the Confucius Institute for Chinese Language and Culture was opened at the University of Lomé. At the end of 2014, the Council of Ministers decided to expand the university’s range of courses to include two new faculties. With the support of UNESCO, a virtual campus was created at the University of Lomé furnished.

A second university was established in Kara in 2004, and around 14,000 students are currently enrolled at this university. Since 2017 there has been a new course offering that trains specialists in decentralization in a three-year course. The Conseil africain et Malgache de l’Enseignement Supérieur (CAMES) held a competition at the University of Kara in 2017 to improve the level of teaching. 23 Togolese professors and scientists from the two universities of Lomé and Kara took part.

In addition to the two state universities and a number of private universities, Togo has both state and private Ecoles Supérieures (Techniques), which mostly offer more practice-oriented courses and mostly have an educational character. Almost all of them are in Lomé, like the private Formatec technical college. Private universities charge very high tuition fees, which very few Togolese can afford. Many of the private universities advertise alternative teaching methods to face-to-face teaching and better infrastructure such as well-equipped libraries and computers / Internet. Research into this, however, is carried out almost exclusively at the two state universities.

Even if a university career in Togo has a high social reputation, the working conditions are extremely challenging: The supervisory ratio is often 100 or more students per university professor, and administrative tasks must also be taken over by the teaching staff. The academic training of future university teachers also suffers, only a small proportion have a doctorate.

In the last few years there have been repeated unrest, strikes and demonstrations at universities because of criticism of the study reform, poor study conditions and the implementation of financial aid for students. The job problems for graduates are great.

School class in Assahoun Togo