General view of pupils revising their lessons in the library at the Lycée Moderne de Cocody in Abidjan, on 22 September, 2027. A handful of students puzzled over equations on the blackboard of an Abidjan maths class. Next door, the humanities classes were all packed. This is becoming a familiar sight across west Africa, where fewer and fewer students are choosing to study science. In Ivory Coast, just 0.6 percent of students sitting the baccalaureate in 2022 were on the elite maths-and-physics track, according to education ministry figures. Another 38 percent took the broader sciences stream, down from 45 percent in 2015. But Ivory Coast is not alone. Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Senegal and Niger have all seen interest in science dwindle, despite repeated government promises to produce more engineers, researchers and innovators. (Photo by Sia KAMBOU / AFP via Getty Images)