Talibés : Senegal’s Forgotten Children

Dishan Kanapathipillai 6. May 2026

More than 100’000 boys beg daily on the streets of Senegal. Sent to Quranic schools to learn, many find exploitation instead. The issue is not the daara tradition itself, but the way some schools use children for forced begging.

A stable democracy with a deep religious tradition

Senegal is often described as one of West Africa's most stable democracies. The country borders the Atlantic Ocean and counts roughly 18 million inhabitants, the vast majority of them Muslim. Religious education has long played a central role in social life. Quranic boarding schools known as daaras are part of a centuries-old tradition. They were originally rural institutions where boys learned the Quran while contributing to the community. The problem is therefore not Quranic education itself, but the lack of protection in some daaras.

From village to city: who is a talibé?

A talibé is a student enrolled in a daara, usually a boy between five and fifteen years old. He often leaves his family to live with a marabout, a Quranic teacher who acts as his guardian. Many talibés are sent from rural villages to urban daaras in cities such as Dakar, Saint-Louis or Touba. Some even cross borders from Guinea-Bissau, Gambia or Mali (Human Rights Watch 2019). In many urban daaras, this religious education is now mixed with daily begging and harsh living conditions.

Behind the begging bowls: a documented pattern of abuse

Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 100’000 talibés are forced to beg every day for money, food, rice or sugar (Human Rights Watch 2019). Many sleep in overcrowded, unsanitary buildings. Between 2017 and 2018 alone, researchers documented sixteen deaths, sixty-one cases of beatings and fifteen cases of sexual abuse in abusive daaras (Human Rights Watch 2019). Children who fail to bring back their daily quota of money are punished. Some are chained, others run away. Despite repeated government promises, new cases of beatings and even deaths have continued to be reported in recent years. (Human Rights Watch 2023)

Poverty, tradition and a regulatory void

Several factors help explain why this abuse continues. Rural poverty pushes many families to entrust their sons to a marabout, hoping for both religious education and one less mouth to feed. Because many daaras are not closely controlled, abusive practices can continue for a long time without consequences. Some marabouts have turned begging into a business model, using children to generate income. Senegalese law prohibits forced begging and child trafficking, but enforcement remains weak and convictions are rare (Coly, 2021). Families, religious leaders and the state are all part of the problem, but in practice children are often left without real protection.

Government responses and NGO work

It is important to underline that not every daara is abusive. Many Quranic teachers care for their students and provide a serious religious education. The challenge is to separate this tradition from the unregulated structures that exploit children. Since 2016, the Senegalese government has launched several phases of a programme called retrait des enfants de la rue, designed to remove children from the streets. The results have been limited and uneven (Human Rights Watch, 2019). In practice, much of the support comes from local organisations. Shelters such as Maison de la Gare in Saint-Louis welcome runaway talibés. Terre des Hommes Suisse has been active in Senegal for over twenty years and supports local partners on child protection, education and the prevention of violence, with current projects in the Dakar suburb of Guédiawaye and the Diourbel region (Terre des Hommes Suisse, 2025). These figures are not only statistics. They describe children who often live with hunger, fear and pressure every day. The aim should not be to attack Quranic education, but to protect children from abuse within unregulated daaras. A religious tradition should not be used to excuse forced begging or violence against children.

Bibliography

Human Rights Watch. (2019). “There Is Enormous Suffering”: Serious Abuses Against Talibé Children in Senegal, 2017–2018.

Human Rights Watch. (2023). Senegal: Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Coly, A. (2021). The Plight of Talibé Children in Senegal. Harvard Human Rights Journal.

Terre des Hommes Suisse. (2025). Nos projets au Sénégal.

Plateforme pour la Promotion et la Protection des Droits Humains & Human Rights Watch. (2019). “These Children Don't Belong in the Streets”: A Roadmap for Ending Abuse, Exploitation of Talibés in Senegal