Mariama Saliou Camara

Senegalese educator who pioneered girls' education initiatives in rural West Africa

Mariama Saliou Camara (b.1952) is a visionary educator from Senegal who transformed girls' access to education in Francophone Africa. Growing up in a polygamous family with limited educational opportunities, she became the first woman in her village to complete secondary school. In the 1970s, she co-founded the Women's Education and Leadership Development (WELD) network that established 120 girls' hostels across Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso.

Her innovative mobile classroom concept (1980s) used bicycles to transport teachers to remote villages, reaching over 15,000 girls. Camara's 1990s campaign to integrate reproductive health education into school curricula faced significant backlash but eventually led to Senegal's 1997 national policy requiring girls' health education. Her work inspired the UNICEF Senegal girls' education programs that now serve 200,000 students.

In 1999, she launched the Open Classroom Initiative, which replaced traditional rote learning with interactive methods. Her autobiography 《The Girl Who Stared at the Sun》 became a required text in African studies programs. Despite her 2001 arrest for 'undermining traditional values,' her efforts contributed to Senegal's 2005 law mandating free primary education for girls.