The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced plans to invest 142 million US dollars (over 92 billion CFA francs) into Niger’s education sector.

UNICEF’s country representative, Djanabou Mahodé, made the announcement on Monday after a meeting with Niger’s Prime Minister, Mahaman Ali Lamine Zeine, and the ministers responsible for education.

Mahodé, stated that the meeting aimed to assess the progress on the submission of a crucial document and discuss important measures to advance the education system in Niger.

He spoke of strengthening children’s access to education and praised Niger’s effort to ensure that children can learn in a healthy educational environment by transforming the various classrooms into straw huts made from permanent materials.

The meeting takes place as Niger implements measures to revamp its education sector, which has been significantly affected by severe flooding during the 2024 rainy season.

As a reminder, the start of the 2024-2025 school year in Niger was postponed by over three weeks due to severe floods that damaged numerous classrooms and forced thousands of individuals to take refuge in school buildings after losing their homes.

The heavy rains impacted nearly 4.5 million pupils across the country.