Mauritania

Education in Mauritania is mandatory from ages 6 to 16. The school year runs from October to June. Primary and secondary education is divided into three quarters, the first one lasting 11 weeks and the remaining two lasting 13 weeks. Higher education is split into two six-month periods. The languages of instruction are both Arabic and French.

Primary education begins at age six and lasts for six years. General studies include arithmetic, science, and language. Upon successful graduation from Ecole Fondamentale, students are awarded a Certificat d'Etudes Primaires. Despite efforts to make primary education more accessible to girls, large disparities still remain among the sexes. Primary school enrollment reached 61 percent for males and 53 percent for females in 1997.