About Mali

Mali, the largest country in West Africa, is bordered by seven other states: Algeria lies to the north and northeast, Niger to the east, Burkina Faso to the southeast and, with the Ivory Coast, to the south. On the west are Senegal and Mauritania.

The larger northwestern region of the country, which extends into the Sahara, is almost entirely arid desert or semidesert. Mali's single most important geographic feature is undoubtedly the great Niger River, which traverses both the Sahel and the southeastern section of the country. The Niger, like the Nile, is both a critical source of sustenance and a major transportation artery--and in this latter capacity it is an excellent venue for boat travel.

Although Mali is today one of the poorest countries in the world, it has a long and illustrious past as an integral part of great African empires. The first of these empires was the empire of Ghana, which from the 4th to the 11th century controlled the trans-Saharan caravan routes. Ghana fell under invasions by the Muslim Almoravids, but it was soon supplanted by the Mandinka Empire of Mali. Mali reached its pinnacle of power and wealth during the 14th century, extending over almost all of West Africa and controlling virtually all of the rich trans-Saharan gold trade. It was during this period that Mali's great cities, Timbuktu and Djenne, became fabled centers of wealth, learning, and culture. Mali's power didn't last much longer. In the 15th century it fell to the Songhai, who had established their own capital at Gao. The Songhai held sway until the end of the 16th century, their empire collapsed under both internal and external pressures. The end of the Songhai Empire also marked the conclusion of the regions history as a trading centre, for the trans-Saharan trade routes quickly lost their vitality after the establishment of sea routes by Europeans.

In the late nineteenth century, Mali became a French colony, and in 1960 it became independent. The country has suffered from periods of internal and external strife, as well as from an extended drought in the early 1970s, but today it appears to by moving toward a stable, multi-party democratic government.

Mali's population comprises a number of different peoples, including the Bambara (who are the largest single segment), the Songhai, Mandinka, Senoufo, Fula, and Dogon. The last of these groups, the Dogon, are world-renowned for their artwork, and a visit to their traditional cliffside villages is a fascinating experience. The majority of Mali's people are Muslim, and the official language is French. Bambara, however, is the country's true lingua franca.

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Scarcity of Schools and Poor Education Quality

Mali inherited a formal education system from its former colonial power, France. The inherited system was ill-suited to the country’s socioeconomic demands because France had designed it to form small elite individuals that could serve the colonial administration. Education was restricted to handfuls of local children in an attempt to minimize the risk of emancipation and uprising.

Shortly after Mali had obtained independence in September 1960, the leaders of the newly-born nation emphasized education among their priorities. The early leaders’ awareness of the importance of education led them to adopt the Reform Act of 1962, which mandated free, quality education for all children.

To mandate free, quality education for all children of a country is a noble ambition. But it also remains a big challenge for a poor country like Mali, which according to the 2006 United Nations Human Development Index, ranks as the third least livable country in the World. That is why more than forty years after independence; Mali still barely has 8,000 primary schools for 15,000 villages. There is a big disparity between urban and rural areas with regard to school distribution. In fact, the vast majority of the existing schools are centered in urban areas even though the country is predominately rural.

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