A historic premiere for the African continent: Mamadou Amadou Ly, executive director of the Association for Research and Education for Development (ARED), has been named laureate of the prestigious Yidan 2025 Prize for the Development of Education. This global distinction, awarded by the Fondation Yidan Prize, places Africa in the spotlight of educational innovation. During a press conference held on Monday, Mamadou Amadou Ly did not hide his emotion and his pride in the face of this reconnaissance. He described the Yidan Prize as the “highest distinction in the field of education”, the equivalent of a “Nobel Prize”. “This world prize has just been won for the first time in Africa”, he declared. He had to underline that it was a collective victory for his whole team, for Senegal, and for the entire continent. The national languages, the key to innovation. At the head of ARED for 35 years, Mamadou Amadou Ly has based his work on a critical observation: according to the data, 53% of 10-year-old children in low-income countries are unable to read and understand a simple text, a figure aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic (more than 60%). The analysis of ARED sheds light on a major obstacle: the language of instruction.
Le Sénégal et l’Afrique à l’honneur: Mamadou Amadou Ly has won the prestigious Prix Yidan 2025
