Serigne Mbaye Thiam, Vice Chair of GPE and Minister of Education of Senegal, gave an interview to Spiegel Online in which he laid out how far his country has come in providing equal access to quality education for boys and girls. In the article published in German, he explains how his country began to promote girls' education in rural regions in 2000 and recruited additional female teachers. There are now more female students in primary and secondary schools than males.
With support from GPE, the government modernized 100 Koran schools that are now French-Arabic schools following a state prescribed curriculum. Investing in these reforms was a huge effort; it is also important to note that 95% of the financing for Senegal's education system now comes from its own budget.