Salif Sodré from Burkina Faso visits Kinderpostzegels

In the beginning of 2004, at the start of the pdde programme, research showed that only 40% of the children in this area were attending school. One reason for this is that many children have not been officially registered and therefore have no birth certificate to enrol for education. Another problem is that many children are victims of child trafficking. 

dsf encourages parents to make their children go to school, instead of sending them out to work or to be trafficked, by means of information meetings, radio broadcasts, film and theatre performances. In addition, dsf is involved in providing further training for the teachers. These activities are organised in 45 villages. Now, after more than three years, 8,350 children go to school, well over 2,500 more than at the start of the programme. dsf has also been able to increase the admission capacity of some schools by providing evening classes. The Kinderpostzegels Foundation made this possible, for example by providing the necessary lighting. In particular, it is children between the ages of 9 and 15 years who are too old to be admitted to the lowest class of primary school, but who still want to learn to read and write, who attend the evening classes. In 2006, there were 200 of them. The teaching material for these strongly motivated children is adapted to their age and life experience. Kinderpostzegels will continue to support the activities of dsf in 2007.