Pobe, Benin---Felix Ayededjou is first to the chalk board with the answer during a mental arithmetic lesson. Azizath Boussari furrows her brow and finds it more difficult.
The 17-year-olds are among 18 students at an accelerated learning programme (PCA) in Pobe, a rural community of some 150,000 people in southeast Benin.
The school gives a second chance to children aged 10 to 17 who are outside the education system, giving them three years' tuition in French and maths when normally it would take six.
The numbers of children at school in Benin increased in 2013 to 98 percent but there are still an estimated 700,000 teenagers out of education in the impoverished west African nation.
Primary school education is free but for large families who have to pay for uniforms, equipment and lunch, it's often too expensive.
- Schoolwork and apprenticeships -
Felix and Azizath are in the classroom every day from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. They then work as apprentices making clothes, sometimes long into the evening, depending on the number of orders.
Like his three brothers and sisters, Felix, who lives in a village outside Pobe and comes to school on a motorbike, was illiterate.
His boss, Denis Omolekan is head of the PCA parents' association, and enrolled him in the school two and a half years ago.
"I was wondering what I would do with him and I heard about the PCA on the radio. I had the chance to go to school. I speak French and not just Yoruba or Gun. That allowed me to develop," he said.
Omolekan gently corrects Felix's mistakes at the workshop as the teenager compared not knowing how to read or write as effectively being dead.
"But now I know everything. And I'm happy. When my boss is not here, I can see the clients and take the measurements on my own," he said proudly with a shy smile.
"School is good," he added enthusiastically. "We don't buy anything there. We learn. I'm grateful to those who set up the school."
Azizath dropped out of school at the age of eight when her father died. She lives with her grandmother. An uncle put her into the PCA then found her a job at the workshop.
"I like to stitch and I also like to learn," she whispered timidly. "As I had to stop school early I don't know anything."
- Investment for the future -
Azizath's boss, Irene Fakambi, also agreed to allow her to go to school, leaving eight other apprentices to cut and sew colourful cloth.
She said the teenager is a gifted student and is catching up quickly. She also sees Azizath's education as an advantage.
"A girl who goes to school understands quickly and learns the job in two years. A girl who hasn't gone to school can take five years. Education is important, especially for women," she added.
Such bosses are rare. The majority don't want their apprentices to leave, believing education to be a waste of time and effort, even in Pobe, where the first PCA was launched in 2012.
Pobe's mayor, Saliou Akadiri, is a former diplomat and admitted that parents and even children themselves were resistant and preferred learning a trade over school.
AFP
