Tamou, Issa
Research Interests:
Educational Science
Geographical Area:
Benin
Current Project :
Moving in diverse spaces - spatial acquisition of knowledge and mean as a resilience strategy for young people facing an uncertain future: the case of northern Benin.
Following the Education for All conferences in Jomtien (1990) and Dakar (2000), African countries launched a large campaign for children's education. This campaign has had a positive impact on school enrolment, especially in rural areas. However, far from achieving its objectives, it has created a generation of young people who are constantly questioning their future. Indeed, many of these children will drop out before reaching secondary school. In addition, population growth, land scarcity, the growing importance of civil service entrance exams and the specific problems of the formal labour market are emerging as obstacles to the transition to adulthood. The young people who represented the hope of change or an improvement in their family's social status will face many challenges. And yet it is precisely at this moment, when they are coming of age, that they have more and more needs to satisfy and dreams to make come true. Given the many challenges these young people face and an education system in crisis (mismatch between curricula and labour market needs), multi-space learning and/or jobs become necessary strategies for them to achieve economic independence and cope with the strong social pressures of the community. Moreover, some of them are ready to engage in activities that could be described as "sot métier", given their level of education.
What's more, in the digital age, the media space is proving to be indispensable in this learning process to earn livelihood. In fact, many young people, even in rural areas, resort to it. These virtual spaces, such as cyber cafes, whatsapp, facebook, etc., are now an important learning tool for these young people, as well as a source of financial opportunities.
In this process of working and learning, young people find themselves in a dynamic relationship with a variety of actors and spaces with which they interact. In addition to school, these spaces are the best places for young people to acquire not only knowledge but also the financial resources they need to earn a living.
This study refers to the ongoing debate on the crisis of formal education and aims to contribute to the debates on alternative learning spaces and, in particular, on the need to engage with spaces other than school in the learning process in order to facilitate the acquisition of other knowledge that will increase young people's opportunities in a context of increasingly difficult access to employment.