After hearing Traoré's suggestion.
Sankara realized that he might have oversimplified education. He also realized that Traoré, whom he had appointed on a whim, might be a talented man.
Sankara believed in a saying-
"Leave specialized work to the professionals."
Sankara could not guarantee that Traoré was an expert in this field, but the fact that he could say what he had just said meant he should at least be better at it than Sankara himself.
After thinking for a moment, Sankara said:
"I oversimplified things and was too idealistic."
"All I can say is, thank goodness you were here to point out the biggest flaw in this plan. Otherwise, I don't even dare imagine what kind of trouble might have followed."
"How about this... I'll give you control over how these fifty billion North African francs are spent. I'll only supervise. You'll have the final say on the specifics."
"And I have only one requirement!"
"Ten years from now, I want to see a university with at least a thousand students here in our Republic of Burkina. Can you do it?"
At present, the mainstream school system internationally consisted of six years of primary school, three years of junior secondary school, and three years of senior secondary school.
Six plus three plus three made twelve!
In other words, barring any unexpected developments, it would take at least twelve years to educate a student to the point of just entering university as a freshman.
And now, Sankara had given him only ten years!
If the Republic of Burkina already had a well-developed education system, Sankara's requirement would have posed no problem at all. The problem was that the Republic of Burkina did not have one.
It had only a dozen or so dilapidated primary schools and a few seminaries founded by priests.
There were no senior secondary schools anywhere in the Republic of Burkina, let alone any so-called universities!
So... could Traoré do it?
He sank into thought once again!
"Tick, tock, tick, tock..."
The clock on the wall ticked away as time passed, second by second.
This time, Sankara did not lower his head to deal with official business. Instead, he simply watched Traoré in silence, waiting for his answer.
An unknown amount of time passed.
At last, Traoré raised his head, fixed Sankara with a resolute gaze, and answered firmly:
"Ten years from now, Mr. President, I will have you giving a speech at the freshman welcoming ceremony of our very own university!"
Traoré had not directly answered whether he could do it.
But those words of his.
Had already said everything!
Yet there was actually another question hidden in Traoré's words!
Could Sankara himself remain president of the Republic of Burkina for a full ten years?
Before this,
The longest-serving president of the Republic of Burkina had lasted only four years before being ousted in a military coup launched by others.
Sankara picked up on that question.
"Is that so?"
Sankara smiled, a happy smile, then offered his own promise in the form of a "joke":
"Then I'd better spend these ten years giving my speech some serious thought!"
Sankara remembered those so-called "ten-year promises" from his previous world.
And now,
Did this count as another kind of ten-year promise?
"Knock, knock, knock-"
"Come in!"
A middle-aged man with thinning hair, who looked close to fifty, entered Sankara's office with several documents held against his chest, accompanied by Meyev.
He walked up to Sankara's desk.
There was a chair right there, but he did not dare sit down.
Instead, he bent at the waist with a fawning smile and said in a humble tone:
"Mr. President, I heard from the people at the President's Office that you had something very important to discuss with me?"
"Yes!"
Sankara put down his fountain pen and nodded. Seeing that the man was still standing, he gestured invitingly and said with a smile:
"It is indeed very important, but we can sit down and take our time discussing it."
In Sankara's field of vision.
Name: Robert Lucide Nationality: Republic of Burkina Age: 47 Position: Minister of Health and Public Health Rank: Ministerial Loyalty: 68
"Thank you, Mr. President!"
Hearing Sankara's words, Lucide hurriedly sat down, though only half his backside rested on the seat, while his legs still bore all his weight.
Rather than sitting on the chair, he was practically holding a horse stance.
"No need to be so nervous. Relax!"
Sankara noticed his nervousness but did not quite understand why he was so tense. He could only do his best to reassure him before continuing:
"I called you here to discuss providing free vaccinations for children nationwide, as well as how to protect pregnant women so they can give birth safely!"
"What!?"
Lucide, who had been cautiously "holding a horse stance," shot to his feet and stared at Sankara in shock, saying incredulously:
"So that was why you called me here, Mr. President!? I thought you were going to..."
But before he finished, he forcibly swallowed the rest of his words.
"You thought I was going to do what?"
Seeing such a strong reaction, Sankara grew a little curious.
"Uh..."
As though a fish bone had caught in his throat, Lucide hemmed and hawed for a long while before finally shaking his head and answering weakly:
"N-no, nothing."
Sankara gave him a scrutinizing look. Seeing that he was unwilling to speak, he did not press him, instead returning to the subject Lucide had interrupted:
"Only when our children can grow up healthy can our country have a healthy future!"
"In the past, because of certain historical issues, our government failed to give proper attention to children's health and safe childbirth for pregnant women."
"Our country's infant and young child mortality rate once reached a staggering thirty percent. Even among those fortunate enough to survive, twenty percent would die from various diseases!"
"That is unimaginable in other countries!"
"So I intend to provide a special fund to vaccinate all children under twelve nationwide free of charge. At the same time, we'll import a batch of medical equipment specifically for prenatal examinations and childbirth."
"If possible, I also intend to hire some foreign experts in this field at high salaries and have them provide our doctors and nurses with specialized training!"
"That is what I called you here to discuss!"
"What I just outlined is only a rough idea of my own, and it's far from complete. Your Ministry of Health will still need to draw up the specific plan!"
Perhaps the emergence of Traoré, the Minister of Education, had given Sankara an idea.
So he also intended to see whether Lucide, as Minister of Health, had the ability to handle this.
If he did.
Sankara intended to leave all these matters to Lucide as well, taking only a supervisory role himself.
"..."
After hearing Sankara's ideas, Lucide was so shocked that he froze.
He sat back down in the chair.
This time, his entire backside rested on the seat.
Only after taking quite some time to recover and letting his somewhat rusty, nearly fifty-year-old brain digest the information he had just received did Lucide slowly speak:
"Mr. President, may I ask exactly how much money this special fund you mentioned would contain?"