N’Ko Writing System

N’Ko writing system was invented by Solomana Kante, generally known as “The Teacher”, around 1947. It is a flexible language he created to increase literacy among Manden people. For a long time, he was concerned about the education level among the people. He concluded that it would be much easier, in the long run, to increase the literacy rate by using N’Ko rather than French, the official language, or Arabic, the religious language of the countries. He believed that it was much easier to learn in ones own tongue than in a foreign language. He was right! Today, N’Ko education is spreading throughout West Africa, from the Atlantic Ocean to the sands of the Sahara. Various books are being written, and graduate students from all over the world are going to Africa to learn and write about N’Ko and its impact on Manden education and culture.