Photos: Community unites in Senegal’s Dakar to clean dilapidated school

Students, teachers and volunteers in a working-class Dakar neighbourhood have joined forces to clean up the dilapidated Medina Gounass Elementary School in advance of the new academic year, highlighting wider concerns over public education and sanitation in Senegal’s capital.

On Saturday, pupils, members of environmental organisations and residents swept classrooms, cleared drains and collected piles of plastic and household waste from the school in Medina Gounass, a densely populated suburb of Dakar.

The initiative comes as the 2026-27 school year is set to begin on Monday for staff and Tuesday for students.

Footage from the scene shows young students wielding brooms and shovels alongside older volunteers.

Medina Gounass, like many outlying districts of Dakar, struggles with inadequate waste management, blocked drainage and overcrowded classrooms, problems that often worsen during the rainy season.

Organisers say the cleanup is meant not only to ready the school for reopening but also to raise awareness among students and residents about the importance of environmental protection and shared responsibility for public spaces.