By Hindaty Traore, Girls’ Project Coordinator

Each year, 9th grade students in Mali face a huge challenge – the three-day national graduation exam (called the DEF). Failure rates are high on this test, and without a passing result students cannot continue their education. This is an especially big problem for girls, who are often forced to drop out of school if they do not pass the exam on their first try.

This year in the five current Girls’ Project villages (Diorila, Sebela, Zambougou, Tamala and N’tentou), we had 45 girls who presented themselves at the national exam. We are pleased to report that 34 of the girls – 76% -- passed with flying colors!  

However, the 11 girls who did not pass the test are now at risk of dropping out. To avoid this, we visited the families of the girls who failed to make sure the girls return to school when the new school year begins. The goal of our one-on-one meetings is to encourage both the parents and the girls not to give up because of one failure -- failures are part of life. We discuss the importance of resilience -- that after a failure you have to know how to get back up to become even stronger!

This year was especially challenging for students due to a late start to the school year as a result of the pandemic and numerous teacher strikes. So, for the girls who did not pass, it is not necessarily as a result of a lack of trying.

For example, we met with 18-year-old Bintou Samaké and her family. She attends Denik Middle School in  Zambougou. Bintou lives three kilometers from Zamboubou and makes that walk each day to school. She was very sad to hear about her exam failure as she had studied a lot this year. She worries she has made all the effort of studying for nothing.

Bintou and her parents were not very keen on her returning to try again this school year because they felt it was a waste of time and they felt the new school year would be worse. Bintou’s parents are farmers, they want bintou to spend her time in the fields helping out. 

But I had to try to get Bintou back in school, because I could not stand to  see her dream of becoming a great pediatrician shattered. In my meeting with her parents, I focused on convincing the parents of Bintou to give her another chance.

At that meeting, another young woman’s testimony really helped change Bintou’s parents’ minds. Sabou samaké told us that she regrets giving up studing after she too failed her first try at the graduation exam. She explained that her girlfriend Dougouyé was in the same class as her but took stuck with school, took the exam, and graduated the following year. Then, Dougouyè studied for a year as a midwife, funded by a Mali Rising Inspiration Scholarship. Dougouyè is currently doing an internship at a local health center, and is ready to earn her own salary and be successful. Sabou said that if she had gone back to school and tried again on the exam like Dougouyè, she would be helping people and looking forward to a life-long income.

In the end, Bintou’s parents agreed – Bintou should return to school and try again on the graduation exam. In fact, thanks to our intervention, all 11 girls will be able to go back to school.

Among the 11 families we met, 85% of families were reluctant to let their daughters take DEF again. Now, these girls will get the second chance they deserve! Why? Because Girls’ Project is about fighting for a cause, winning together, losing together, and standing up with strength.