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International schools in Mali

Are you looking for an international school in Mali? Search for the best international schools in Mali; you can find a list of selected schools at the bottom of this page. Use the search filters to select only girls' or boys' schools, prep schools, senior schools or sixth forms; or you can search for schools that offer a particular curriculum, such as the International Baccalaureate, the UK or US national curriculum or the International Primary Curriculum.

Mali’s capital Bamako is home to two long-established international schools: one that prepares students for the American high-school diploma and one that offers the French Baccalaureate. Today, the International Baccalaureate Diploma is also on offer in the city, after a new high school was launched in 2018 by Enko Education group.

The French-medium Lycée Français Liberté De Bamako, which was founded in 1960, is the largest international school in the Francophone African country, with 1,400 students on roll across its primary and secondary departments. But the small American International School of Bamako, which was set up in 1977, attracts children of more than 35 nationalities with its English-medium education from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. 

Several preparatory schools following French or American curriculums also operate in the city. Bamako International Academy, which takes children from pre-kindergarten (pre-K) to grade 12, and Grace International School, which runs from pre-K to grade 6, are both modelled on independent schools in the United States. The French-medium Ecole Maternelle Les Lutins offers three years of kindergarten and five years of primary schooling. 

Enko Bamako International School, which admits students aged 12-18, offers a bilingual education in English and French and entered its first cohort of students for the IB Diploma programme in September 2019. Enko Education, which operates 12 schools across nine African countries, aims to prepare African students for the world’s top universities, while charging affordable fees. 

Education is compulsory from age six to 17 in Mali, which is one of the world’s poorest countries. But following six years of ethnic conflict, civil unrest and terrorism, more than two million children were out of school in 2018, while 50 per cent of young people aged 15-24 were illiterate. Net enrolment was 59 per cent at primary level and 30 per cent at secondary level in 2018, while gross tertiary enrolment was five per cent in 2019.