 What is Ndiagamar?
Gorgui Diallo, chairman of the Senegal-based organisation Action Enfance Senegal, is the man behind the
idea of setting up the School of Ndiagamar. He is a teacher and has several years' work experience in
education. In his work he daily witnesses how, despite the strong willingness of the Senegalese
schoolchildren to learn, their schoolwork is often interrupted as a sum of poverty-driven factors. Gorgui
decided to do something about this with his colleagues and friends.
The School of Ndiagamar opened its doors in Dakar in 2003. At present the school has approximately 200
pupils, aged 6 – 18, in three different levels, and there are eight volunteers who work as teachers. There are
also two instructors for extra-curricular activities. The school is located in the area of Pikine in Northern
Dakar, in Diamagučne, which is a suburb of 70 000 inhabitants.
The primary objective of the school is to provide access to education for the underprivileged children of the
region and to campaign against the situation where schoolchildren are prematurely uprooted from school to
work and beg on the streets.
There are altogether 15 000 school-aged children in Diamagučne, out of which approximately 6000 follow
the public education system provided by the state and around 3500 pupils go to private schools. School is
obligatory in Senegal but the public sector is overcharged and there simply are not enough schools.
Every year around 25% of all schoolchildren interrupt their school and a substantial part of those who drop
out are girls, who are too soon obliged to take on responsibilities to support the family. The school of
Ndiagamar wants to pay special attention to this problem – 60% of the pupils are girls. Ndiagamar as a
name derives from the Wolof language and means 'schoolgirl'.
The monthly expenses of the school are approximately 1,5 € (1000 CFA) per pupil. Many families struggle to
meet with these expenses and yet the school of Ndiagamar keeps the doors open to all.
The School of Ndiagamar in Darou Salam, Pikine, Dakar 2007
During and after the rainy season a considerable amount of the buildings in the region turn unusable and
inhabitable because of insufficient infrastructure in the suburb. The school of Ndiagamar had to abandon the
initial school premises because of serious damages caused by rain and consequent flooding. Now two out
of the three classrooms in the new premises of the school in Darou Salam are in the second floor, which
makes it better prepared for the challenges ahead. Yet these premises are extremely modest and help is
needed.
Join us in force for the continuity of the school of Ndiagamar.
Greetings from Gorgui
Many greetings from sunny Dakar! On behalf of Action Enfance Senegal and especially on behalf the
pupils of the Ndiagamar school I welcome you to the website of the Finnish association Ndiagamar. I
would like to use this opportunity to invite you to learn about our activities and I hope that you can join
us in giving underprivileged children access to education.
As volunteers of the Ndiagamar school project, we are all eager to give our time to the children and look
at their lives from their own perspective, on their terms. We want to give our support to children who are
victims of different types of abuse and neglect and whose schooling has been interrupted by poverty,
economic hardship and family break-up. We want to help build a better future for these children.
You can also take part in the development of the Ndiagamar school and make the prospects of these
children a little brighter. We are very grateful for your help, your spare time, your attention and your
suggestions.
Gorgui Diallo
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