With two thirds of its land desert or semi-desert, Mali is one of the twenty five poorest countries in the world with some 80% of its population engaged in subsistence farming and 10% leading a nomadic lifestyle. According to recent data four out of five adults are illiterate which naturally hampers employment opportunities. As such, education is seen as a priority for the country, however many children in Mali have no access to schools at all, and those who do find themselves in classrooms of over one hundred children often without tables and chairs or even books and pens which all cost despite the education itself being free.

Some Mali school children attend residential Koranic schools mainly at the insistence of their fathers who not only want them schooled in Islamic tradition but also because of poverty and an inability to provide for their children. Many of these children end up begging on the streets which is seen by the schools as an integral part of their religious instruction. This video gives a goof insight into a rural school in Mali, and shows how, by providing good food, children are encouraged to attend.