Between Education and Catastrophe': Côte D'ivoire's Programme D'éducation Télévisuelle and the Urgency of Development (1968-1983)

Abstract

Côte d'Ivoire's Programme d'Éducation Télévisuelle (PETV) was one of postcolonial Africa's most innovative educational reforms. And yet, PETV was implemented by a country exemplary for its educational conservatism. This apparent paradox is explained by the Ivorian state's developmentalist vision had crowned education its 'priority of priorities'. By charting the adoption and termination of PETV, this article argues for the centrality of formal schooling to the history of development.