Press Releases

Ceremony for the Ambassador's Program for Girls' Education in Guinea

February 22, 2005

United States Ambassador to Guinea Jackson McDonald, in cooperation with Minister of Pre-University and Civil Education Galema Guilavogui, will mark a significant point in the Ambassador’s Program for Girls’ Education in Guinea with an official scholarship award ceremony for 12 girls from the 5th and 6th grades from four schools in the Boke prefecture.  The ceremony will take place on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 at Tanene-Hamdalaye primary school in the Region of Boke.

The girls represent the 6000 other young Guinean girls from 5th and 6th grade from the regions of Boke, Faranah, Kankan, Kindia, Labé, Mamou and N’Zérékoré during the course of the school year.  The Parent-Teachers Association and the Local Alliance for Girls’ Education in Tanene are recognized for their efforts in girls’ education, having recently mobilized funds to build a secondary school in the area that will promote girls’ education and retention in schools.

Each scholarship, worth about $100, comprises a package of materials that includes textbooks, notebooks, pens, and school uniform material.  The program will also finance activities that promote girls’ education, including tutoring programs, community-based projects that promote girls’ education, and the celebration of the National Day of the Girl in Guinea.

This scholarship program is aimed at encouraging recipients to finish primary school.  The program lends significant support to the motivation and encouragement to girls, who make up the highest percentage of school dropouts.  This program also targets girls from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, orphans, children separated from their families, handicapped students, teenage mothers, and children of HIV-positive parents.  The program also aims to motivate and encourage girls to overcome barriers to pursuing their education and, to motivate and encourage those with high grades to become role models for their classmates.

The Ambassador’s Girls’ Education Scholarship program is part of President George W. Bush’s African Education Initiative and is included in the Guinean program of Education for Everyone, whose objective is to assure  universal primary education in Guinea by 2015. The Ambassador’s Girls’ Education Scholarship Program is financed by a USAID grant of $850.000 and is directed by the American non-governmental organization, “World Education.”

To reinforce and attain the objectives of this program, USAID plans to provide 2000 scholarships to girls in the 5th and 6th grades in Conakry and in the interior of the country not currently targeted by the Ambassador’s Scholarship Program, through the American non-governmental organization “Education Development Center.” In addition to providing educational support, the scholarship awardees will also benefit from a formal tutoring program and will be rewarded for their accomplishments in school.