Negotiations between the government of Cote d’Ivoire and rebels who hold the north of the country have yielded the first nationwide registration of school students since civil war divided the nation in 2002.

Students have been lining up this week outside schools in the north and the south of Cote d’Ivoire to register for the new school year.

When classes begin later this month, the same agreement should mean synchronisation of curricula and teaching methods.

“In the days ahead they will get their schedules and we are working on going full force for the school year 2006-2007,” Pascal Ake, headmaster of a school in Abidjan in southern Cote d’Ivoire said.

Since a brief civil war divided Cote d’Ivoire in 2002, schools in the south were overwhelmed with students who fled the north, while schools in rebel-held areas have been desperately short of teachers and resources.

The United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) has estimated that more than one million children have been denied an education in Cote d’Ivoire since 2003 because of the crisis.

“I am very happy to be going back to school, but especially because now I know that my friends in the north will have the same kind of education,” said Elisa Kouadio, 15.

UNICEF is trying to improve enrollment with a back-to-school campaign in conjunction with the government and other UN agencies. The campaign, launched last year, has enabled schools to be re-established in places where parents were unable to invest in their children’s education, particularly in the northern areas of Bouna, Korhogo and Odienne.

UNICEF said that nearly 2,000 schools are now open compared to just over 800 before the campaign started. It also said the number of girls enrolled in school had doubled.