GABON

HISTORY & BACKGROUND

Gabon gained its independence from France in 1960. It was ruled by autocratic presidents from then until the early 1990s when a new constitution provided institutional reform and a better electoral process. Oil was discovered in the early 1970s and now represents 50 percent of the economy; consequently, Gabon is one of the more prosperous countries in Africa with a GDP per capita estimated at $6,500 in 1999. The illiteracy rate was estimated to be 29.2 percent (males 20.2 percent, females 37.8 percent) in the year 2000. Also in 2000, the population was estimated at 1,208,436 people.

The first elementary schools in Gabon were established by American and French missionaries in the 1840s. To this day, Catholic and Protestant schools remain an important part of the educational system.

France applied the same educational policies in Gabon as elsewhere in Francophone Africa. Consequently, the institutions were similar and had a similar purpose: to assimilate the people and make them good French men and women who would spread French civilization and defend France's interests in the colony. Starting in 1883, France required that only French be used for instruction in the schools and that 50 percent of class time be devoted to teaching French language and culture. In the twenty-first century, French is still the official language.

Furthermore, opportunities for education were minimal and very few pupils were enrolled in schools. In 1931, Gabon, a country of about 400,000 people, had 3237 pupils in elementary school, most of them in the first three grades. After World War II, secondary schools were finally opened so students could receive the same diplomas as those awarded in France. At independence, however, Gabon still did not have enough educated citizens to meet its needs. The government, therefore, organized schools to train secondary school graduates for careers in government, forestry, and teaching in the lower secondary grades.

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM—OVERVIEW

In present-day Gabon, education is compulsory for 10 years from the ages of 6 to 16. The system is modeled on education in France and French is the language of instruction. However, primary education lasts six years rather than the five it does in France because students need an extra year to begin learning French.

PREPRIMARY & PRIMARY EDUCATION

Gabon offers minimal preprimary education. Primary education starts at six and lasts for six years. In 1995-1996, there were 1,147 schools with 4,943 teachers teaching 250,693 students, 50 percent of whom were female. The student-teacher ratio is a very high: 51 students for every teacher. In 1994, approximately 38 percent of the elementary school students were repeating a grade and only 61 percent of the students who began first grade together reached the fifth grade.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Secondary education lasts 7 years from the ages of 12 to 18. It is divided into two cycles: the first lasts four years and the second three years. In 1995-1996, there were 80,552 secondary students, of whom 47 percent were female, taught by 3,094 teachers, of whom only 18 percent were female. Most of the students were in general secondary education; only 7,588 students were enrolled in vocational education and 76 in teacher training.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Founded in 1970 and renamed in 1978, the Université Omar Bongo in Libreville has faculties of law, of letters and human sciences, and of medicine and health sciences, as well as schools of education, forestry and hydraulics, technical teacher training, and management studies. The academic year runs from October to June. The baccalauréat (secondary school certificate) is required for admission. French is the language of instruction. Students obtain a Licence-ès-Lettres in three years and a Maîtrise-ès-Lettres in four. The university also awards medical and engineering degrees. In 1998, the university had about 2400 students with an academic staff of about 300.

Gabon also has an Ecole Normale Supérieure (Higher School of Teacher Training), an Institut National des Sciences de Gestion (National Institut of Management), the Ecole Nationale D'Etudes Forestières at Cap Estérias (National School of Forestry), an Ecole Nationale de Secrétariat (National School of Secretarial Studies), and an Ecole Normale Supérieure de l'Enseignement Technique (Technical Teacher Training School).

The Université des Sciences et Techniques in Masuku, founded in 1986, has a faculty of sciences and an engineering school. In 1998, it enrolled about 550 students with an academic staff of about 110. In 1994-1995, there were 4,655 students in higher education institutions, of whom only 1,785 were women. From a different perspective, women represented 22.3 percent of the education students, 32.6 percent of the humanities students, 35.9 percent of the social science students, and 58.5 percent of the medical sciences students.

ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE, & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

France has had a great influence on the nature and organization of the institutions in Gabon. As in France, the Ministry of Education is responsible for both public and private education throughout the country.

NONFORMAL EDUCATION

The Campus Numérique Francophone de Libreville (The Francophone Digital Campus of Libreville) was being developed in 2001. One of its goals is to help university professors locally produce modules, seminars, publications, databases, and archives to support distance education courses as well as supplementary materials for local courses on the Internet in French. It also provides assistance to professors in the production of programs. It will bring together faculty from different parts of the university and help in the creation of university Intranets and in the development of tools to navigate the Web intelligently.

TEACHING PROFESSION

Students who have completed the maîtrise-ès-arts (Master of Arts) degree may take the entrance exam for the Ecole Normale Supérieure to prepare the C.A.P.E.S. exam to be certified as a teacher in the lycée or upper-secondary grades or for the C.A.P.C. exam to be certified as a teacher in the collège or lower-secondary grades. Students who want to teach in the Lycées Techniques (Technical Secondary Schools) study for five years after the baccalauréat in the Ecole Normale Supérieure d'Enseignement Technique.

SUMMARY

There is a tradition of student activism in Gabon. In spring 2000, students at the Université Omar Bongo boycotted classes for three months and participated in street demonstrations to protest the lack of computers and Internet access. During the demonstrations, some of the few existing computers were damaged. Students decided to end the boycott so as not to have to repeat the academic year, but they promised to renew the boycott in the future if computer access did not improve. One student leader declared that students wanted to enter the third millenium computer literate.

A more fundamental issue of course is the high grade repetition rate and the significant numbers of students who do not complete their education beyond the lower elementary grades. Both of these problems are related, and instruction in French, a language most of the students do not speak at home, may be one of the causes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Campus Numérique Francophone de Libreville, 20 January 2001. Available from http://ww.ga.refer.org.

Fatunde, Tunde. "Computer-deprived students end boycott but remain defiant." The Times Higher Education Supplement, 30 April 1999.

Europa. The Europa World Yearbook 2000, Vol. 1. London: Europa Publications, 1999.

International Association of Universities. International Handbook of Universities, Fifteenth Ed. New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc, 1998.

Gardiner, David E. "Gabon Republic." In The International Encyclopedia of Education, vol. 5. San Franciso: Jossey-Bass, 1977.

UNESCO. Statistical Yearbook/Annuaire Statistique 1999. Paris and Lanham, MD: UNESCO Publishing and Bernan Press, 2000.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The World Factbook 2000. Directorate of Intelligence, 1 January 2000. Available from http://www.cia.gov.

Université Omar Bongo, 15 January 2001. Available from http://membres.spree.com/education/uobsite.

—Gilles Labrie