35,000 school kits helping to reduce inequality

At Capitaine Mamady Sy school in Bamako, Mali, students still remember a day last September when Fadjoungou Keita arrived with boxes filled with school supplies. An Orange employee and Head of the Customer Test Center in Bamako, he was there as a volunteer with the Orange Foundation to help distribute school kits.

Among the students was Bintou Kane, a sixth-grade pupil. With her new backpack on her shoulders, she knows just how important these supplies are. “Thanks to this support, I can work better at school and make my family proud,” she says. After losing her father during armed conflict, Bintou is one of many children for whom access to basic school supplies is essential to staying in school.

The school is part of the Orange Foundation’s Digital Schools network, which provides equipment such as servers and tablets to give students access to educational content. Alongside this digital support, the Back to School program focuses on simple but essential items: backpacks, pencil cases, erasers, notebooks, and pencils. “These kits help reduce inequality within schools,” explains Fadjoungou Keita, Orange Foundation volunteer.

Like Bintou, this year, 35,000 students benefited from the Back to School 2025 initiative. School kits were distributed across 16 countries: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Tunisia.

 

 

Support beyond the supplies
For families with limited resources, the distribution of school kits is a powerful moment. This photo report captures these moments from schools on the ground.
Habib Bamba, from the Orange Foundation in Côte d’Ivoire, hands out a school backpack as part of the Back to School 2025 initiative.
The entire school community in Toumodi, near Côte d’Ivoire’s administrative capital Yamoussoukro, benefited from the school kits.
Notebooks, erasers, pens and other everyday essentials for students in central Côte d’Ivoire.
Families gather to attend the distribution at Capitaine Mamady Sy School in Bamako.
A group photo after the distribution at Capitaine Mamady Sy School in Bamako.
Orange Tunisia volunteers visit each classroom to hand out supplies.
Our volunteers play a key role in this initiative, working closely with school staff to make it happen.

 

Directly supporting local economies

These school kits didn’t travel halfway around the world. Wherever possible, they were designed, produced, and packed locally, in the same countries where they were distributed. This is a deliberate choice by the Foundation. By prioritizing local supply chains, we support local economies, reduce logistics costs, and limit our carbon footprint. It’s how we stay true to our sustainability commitments while supporting education on the ground.

 

 

 

 

Bringing

smiles back

Providing school kits helps boost motivation for everyone involved. Hear the stories of Bintou Kane, a Bamako student who having lost her father, dreams of making her family proud, Fadjoungou Keit, an Orange Foundation volunteer, and Fanta Diaby of Orange Mali Foundation whose goals is, "to remove a major barrier: the lack of resources".

Digital learning starts with the basics

Since 2014, Orange’s Digital Schools program has rolled out to 1,400 schools, reaching more than 600,000 students. But as Fanta Diaby from Orange Foundation Mali reminds us, screens can’t replace the basics:

“Many children simply don’t go to school because they don’t have the minimum they need: a backpack, notebooks, pens. By giving them these kits, we’re not just providing supplies. We’re giving them the motivation to come back to class.

Belhassen Sghaier, from Orange Foundation Tunisia, adds:

“When a child comes back to school smiling, it has a ripple effect. It encourages classmates, reassures parents, and helps bring the whole school community back to life.”

 

Helping to boost education across an entire community

 

The kits are part of the “Equipment” pillar of the Education+ program. This also includes educational workshops, teaching support, and school scholarships. The priority is clear: making sure every student, especially every girl, can continue their education with the best opportunities ahead.

 

 

 

Simple action, big impact

For many Orange employees, taking part in this program feels like an obvious choice. As Mohamed Anis Feriani, telecom operations manager in Tunisia, puts it: “We share really meaningful moments with the students during the distributions. For me, it’s a way to bring more meaning into my life, through empathy and compassion.”

This work is part of a long-term effort. According to UNESCO, more than one in five children aged 6 to 11 in Africa are not in school. For children aged 12 to 14, the figure rises to one in three. Providing basic school supplies helps tackle this reality. “It’s a powerful symbolic gesture,” adds Fanta Diaby from Orange Foundation Mali. “It shows these children that they matter, that their future has value, and that they’re not alone.”

By placing a pencil in a child’s hand, we’re sending a simple message: education is a right. And that right is built through practical actions. A notebook, a ruler, a tablet. Every child deserves the tools they need to learn.