| Education System in the Central African Republic |
The Central African Republic has been ravaged by decades of civil war, and the devastating effects of aids. There are 4 levels in the education system, namely nursery school, primary school, secondary school and tertiary education. School is compulsory, in principle at least, from age 6 to age 14, and delivered in French.
The first 5 years of these are spent at primary school (primary level 1). At the end of this period, children are tested to decide who will continue with academic education, and who will follow the vocational training route instead.
Primary level two equates to middle school, and completes the compulsory education period. Students must complete both phases to register at secondary school.
Secondary education takes a further 3 years to complete. There are 2 streams, namely general, and technical & professional education. A general school secondary baccalaureate opens doors to university, while students in the other stream are trained to work in various trades, and receive proficiency certificates instead.
Vocational training has 2 focus points. The first is to teach the rural poor to grow their own food, with perhaps a surplus they could sell. The second is to find ways to reintegrate war veterans back into civil society. Many of these soldiers are boys grown up to soon.
The only higher education institution is the University of Bangui, established in 1969 and illustrated here. It provides professional training in health sciences & medicine, teacher training, agriculture, and business management.
It also has faculties of health sciences, economics & management, law & political science, sciences, and arts & sciences, through which it educated its students towards bachelor’s, masters and doctorate degrees. It has no distance learning facilities.
