The announcement was made by the ORTM: the start of the school year, initially scheduled for the beginning of October, was postponed to November 4 due to the “state of national disaster” caused by the recent floods in Mali, according to a press release from the Ministry of National Education broadcast Monday.
Since the start of the rainy season, floods in Mali have caused the death of 75 people and left 148 injured, affecting more than 250,000 people, according to figures presented at the last meeting of the interministerial crisis management committee. . Thousands of people, including many children, took refuge in schools due to the destruction caused by the torrential rains.
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These downpours, described as “a stark reminder of the growing impact of climate change”, devastated several countries in the region, causing the death of more than 1,500 people and affecting nearly 4 million individuals across Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and Niger, according to a report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The IOM indicates that the rainfall in Mali is the heaviest recorded since 1967. This government decision comes in a tense climate with teaching unions.
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