Education    Technical Skills

The level of illiteracy in Guinea is very high.  In an interview with Guineoscope magazine, the minister of national education explained that governmental action has helped increase the rate of schooling to 48% in 1996.  The goal is to increase the rate to 53% by 2000 and 100% by 2010 he further explained.  To combat illiteracy, the government is has also putting into place a program for Guineans that have not been able to go school.  Furthermore, the ministry has created centers whose objective is fight against illiteracy by ensuring that all children are attending school, especially girls. The problem is most critical in rural areas where the means are scarce and children spend their time helping to gather food instead of going to school.  To solve this problem, the ministry has created a project called “Education on Matters of Population” whose role is to help families in rural communities send their children to school. ("Guinea at the Dawn of the Third Millenium"; Chantal Colle; 1997). The country has three universities: one in the capital Conakry, and two in rural regions.

The population itself is very conscious of the illiteracy problem, and sometimes they take matters into their own hands instead of waiting for the government to do so.  People from same villages living in the capital often combine resources and send money to their village to build schools.  Indeed, many rural schools have been build thanks to money being forwarded by successful family members living in the capital.

Back to Top       Home

Technical Skills:

Guinea has a shortage of technical skills, mostly caused by the high illiteracy rate and the lack of resources. This a major problem preventing many foreign companies to invest in Guinea.  Some companies, such as Telecom Malaysia, are brave enough to train the local employees or export better skilled labor from abroad.

According to the agreement with the government, Telecom Malaysia is expected to transfer to the country its technological know how by training and employing local people. Unfortunately, because the country lacks the qualified labor, the company had to bring Malaysian engineers whose role is to train young Guinean workers.  In an interview with the Guineowscope magazine in 1997, the director of the company, Dr. Ahmad Sobri Ismael, explained that ensuring that his employees have the skills required is a high priority.  To that effect, the company is planning to organize seminars and workshops for employees. There are already training sessions thought by experienced Malaysian tutors that all employees are expected to attend.  Further, the company also sends about 10 employees each year abroad to form themselves. ("Guinea at the Dawn of the Third Millennium"; Channel Cole; 1997)

The Institute of Polytechnic of Conakry provides training in telecommunications.  The institute is being assisted in its development program by the World Bankd and GTZ.  The main university also has an IT center specialized in providing training in new technologies, and it has access to the Internet thanks to IIP/RINAF that belongs to UNESCO.  The University is also being supported in this domain by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research that has provided a UUCP email link to the Internet via dialup to the USA. This link also uses Cylink spread_spectrum sytem to connect the Ministry to the campus.  There is a project underway to extend the link to the other two universities .

Besides the University, there are now many quick formation schools in the main cities offering classes on basic computing skills. The USAID also provides IT training.  Through its Leland Initiative Project, it has established training centers and schedules that focuss on introduction to Internet and how to use its resources. In addition, the two Internet Providers (BINTTA/MiriNet and ETI-Bull) and Sotelgui (the countries PTO) also provides trainging services, consulting services and web page creations.

Back to Top    Home

kadiatou@hotmail.com
________________________________________________________________________________________
Last updated: 12/18/99