The education system in Benin corresponds to the French system. Six years of primary school are followed by a two-tier secondary school. This ends after four years with the average maturity or after a further three years with the Bachelor. Benin has three universities, two of them in the south, one in the north. The universities have medical schools, but only a few students will be admitted each year. The authorization is regulated by the State.
The compulsory education is six years. For a long time, school fees had to be payed in public schools, which meant that the very large families did not send especially girls to school because they could not afford the school fees. In the end of the 1990s, the government has therefore abolished school fees for the first six years. As before, however, the problem is that there is no public school in some regions in the radius of 5 kilometers. The literacy rate therefore is currently only around 50%.
The Catholic school system is well established and well known for its good quality.