Teachers at village schools often come from the local community. The teachers sometimes feel bad if a family is too poor to afford the small school fee. Rather than see their friends’ and neighbours’ children going without an education, some teachers even pay the money for them ...

"I don't want to make life difficult for any of these people because I am one of them. The school has been open for two months and 15 days this year and some parents haven't paid anything so far. I don't harass them for the money because I know they would pay if they could. They are very willing to pay for the children's education but they simply don't have the means sometimes. For example, last year, there were parents who paid nothing from January until August. I once travelled 50 kilometres to collect the money from one family. They paid what they owed but they were so poor that I ended up giving them 1000 CFAs of my own money, because they are my people. They want very much for their children to go to school, but life is very difficult for them."
Primary school teacher