The start of the new academic year in schools and universities across West Africa begins this month against a backdrop of problems ranging from teachers' strikes to socio-economic crises.

In Ivory Coast, 1,991 teachers began a hunger strike ahead of the new session, which starts on September 17th, to demand the payment of salary arrears for 12 months.

Togo fares little better. Courses at Lome University partially resumed Monday after several months of interruption following a student strike launched in April to demand the payment of mounting scholarship arrears and better teaching facilities.

The same situation is mirrored in Niger where the national Niger Teachers' Association (SNEN) Tuesday said they would boycott the new academic session, set to start on October 1st.

In Burkina Faso, the new term was scheduled for the start of September but has already been deferred by a month by the government.