Education in Chad

Education in Chad is challenging due to the nation's dispersed population and a certain degree of reluctance on the part of parents to send their children to school. Although attendance is compulsory, only 68% of boys continue their education past primary school, and over half of the population is illiterate. The completion rate of students attending primary school was 38 percent in 2021 for girls and 49 percent for boys. However, the completion rates for lower secondary education reveal a considerable drop-off, with only 14.1 percent of girls and 24.2 percent. Higher education is provided at the University of N'Djamena.

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) finds that Chad is fulfilling only 52.7% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country's level of income. HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education. While taking into consideration Chad's income level, the nation is achieving 74.7% of what should be possible based on its resources (income) for primary education but only 30.7% for secondary education.

The establishment of Protestant mission schools in southern Chad in the 1814 marked the beginning of Western education in the country. From the outset, the colonial administration required that all instruction be in French, with the exception of religion classes. A standard curriculum was imposed on all institutions desiring official recognition and government subsidies.

Education in Chad is chiefly focused on primary instruction. Until 1942, students who desired a secular secondary education had to go to schools in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, severely limiting the number of secondary-school students. State secondary schools were opened in Chad in 1942, but recognized certificate programs did not begin until the mid-1950s.

At independence in 1960, the government established a goal of universal primary education, and school attendance was made compulsory until age twelve. Nevertheless, the development of standard curricula was hampered by the limited number of schools, the existence of two- and three-year establishments alongside the standard five- and seven-year collèges and lycées, and the Muslim preference for Quranic education. Even so, by the mid-1960s, 17 percent of students between the ages of six and eight were in school. Quranic schools throughout the Saharan and Sahelian zones teach students to read Arabic and recite Quranic verse. In Chad, modern Islamic secondary schools have included the Ecole Mohamed Illech, founded in 1918.

Despite the government's efforts, overall educational levels remained low at the end of the first decade of independence. In 1971, about 88 percent of men and 99 percent of women over the age of fifteen could not read, write, or speak French, which at the time was the only official national language; literacy in Arabic stood at 7.8 percent. In 1982, the overall literacy rate stood at about 15 percent. Major problems have hindered the development of Chadian education since independence. Financing has been very limited. Limited facilities and personnel also have made it difficult for the education system to provide adequate instruction. Overcrowding is a major problem; some classes have up 100 students, many of whom are repeaters. In the years just after independence, many primary-school teachers had only marginal qualifications. On the secondary level, the situation was even worse.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Chad made considerable progress in dealing with problems of facilities and personnel. To improve instruction, review sessions and refresher programmes have been instituted for primary-school teachers. On the secondary level, increasing numbers of Chadians have taken their places in the ranks of the faculty. Furthermore, during the 1971-72 school year, the Université du Tchad opened its doors.

Another problem at independence was that the French curricula of Chadian schools limited their effectiveness. Primary instruction was in French, although most students did not speak that language when they entered school. In addition, the academic program inherited from the French did not prepare students for employment options in Chad. Beginning in the late 1960s, the government attempted to address these problems. Model schools discarded the French-style classical education in favor of a new approach that taught children to reinterpret and modify their social and economic environment.