By Adama Kone, Teacher Project Coordinator

A school without a principal is less than a school! Our principals have a lot on their plates and Mali Rising wants to help them do the best job they can. One of our goals is to have great and frank partnership with our principals. As part of that, we host regular Principal Peer Meetings where we gather 5 to 6 Mali Rising principals to share their challenges and solutions with each other. At our most recent peer meeting in the town of Ouelessebougou, we got to talk with several our principals who participated in it. We already shared the experiences of Principal Cisse earlier this week. Now, let’s hear from Mali Rising’s only female principal, Djenebou Coulibaly:

My name is Djenebou Coulibaly and I am a school principal in the middle school of Mana. I got appointed as principal in 2017. I have a great relationship with most of my teachers and other partners. I love my job and I am very motivated for it since it allows me to acquire great knowledge and have good experiences.

I have 151 students enrolled in my three grades this school year (7, 8 and 9). I really enjoyed this principal peer meeting and I hope Mali Rising will multiply this kind of opportunity so we get to share many things and learn from each other. It is really a great pleasure for me to be here today because it’s the place where we have chance to talk to our partner and other principals.

Today I have got a lot of strategies from my peers on how to run my school fees that each student pays each year. As one of the goals for this peer meeting is to discuss our concerns, I am thrilled that all my three biggest challenges have been discussed (staff management, wall around my school and shortage of teaching materials and textbooks). I thank all our partners, especially the great donors who never forgot us.