At the dawn of independence,
incoming African leaders were quick to prioritize education on their
development agendas. Attaining universal primary education, they maintained,
would help post-independence Africa lift itself out of abject poverty.
As governments began to build schools and post teachers even to the
farthest corners of the continent, with help from religious organizations and
other partners, children began to fill the classrooms and basic education was
under way.
Africa’s current primary school enrolment rate is above 80% on
average, with the continent recording some of the biggest increases in
elementary school enrolment globally in the last few decades, according to the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
which is tasked with coordinating international cooperation in education,
science, culture and communication. More children in Africa are going to school
than ever before.
Yet despite the successes in primary school enrolment, inequalities
and inefficiencies remain in this critical sector.
According to the African Union (AU), the recent expansion in
enrolments “masks huge disparities and system dysfunctionalities and
inefficiencies” in education subsectors such as preprimary, technical,
vocational and informal education, which are severely underdeveloped.
It is widely accepted that most of Africa’s education and training
programs suffer from low-quality teaching and learning, as well as inequalities
and exclusion at all levels. Even with a substantial increase in the number of
children with access to basic education, a large number still remain out of
school.
A newly released report by the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP), Income Inequality Trends in sub-Saharan Africa: Divergence,
Determinants and Consequences, identifies the unequal distribution of essential
facilities, such as schools, as one the drivers of wide income disparities.
According to UNDP’s chief economist, “Quality education is key to
social mobility and can thus help reduce poverty, although it may not
necessarily reduce [income] inequality.”
To address education inequality, he says, governments must invest
heavily in child and youth development through appropriate education and health
policies and programs.
Higher-quality education, he says, improves the distribution of
skilled workers, and state authorities can use this increased supply to build a
fairer society in which all people, rich or poor, have equal opportunities. As
it is now, only the elite’s benefit from quality education.
Wealthy leaders in Africa send their children to study in the best
universities abroad, such as Harvard. After studies, they come back to rule
their countries, while those from poor families who went to public schools
would be lucky to get a job even in the public.
Another challenge facing policy makers and pedagogues is low
secondary and tertiary enrolment. According to UNDP report, while Africa has
made significant advances in closing the gap in primary-level enrolments, both
secondary and tertiary enrolments lag behind. Only four out of every 100
children in Africa is expected to enter a graduate and postgraduate
institution, compared to 36 out of 100 in Latin America and 14 out of 100 in
South and West Asia.
In fact, only 30 to 50% of secondary-school-aged children are
attending school, while only 7 to 23% of tertiary-school-aged youth are
enrolled. This varies by sub-region, with the lowest levels being in Central
and Eastern Africa and the highest enrolment levels in Southern and North
Africa, According to research.
Many factors account for the
low transition from primary to secondary and tertiary education. The first is
limited household incomes, which limit children’s access to education. A lack
of government investment to create equal access to education also plays a
part.
Another barrier to advancing from primary to secondary education is
the inability of national institutions in Africa to ensure equity across
geographical and gender boundaries. Disabled children are particularly
disadvantaged.
Often in Africa, decisions to educate children are made within the
context of discriminatory social institutions and cultural norms that may
prevent young girls or boys from attending school, According to research.
Regarding gender equality in education, large gaps exist in access,
learning achievement and advanced studies, most often at the expense of girls,
although in some regions boys may be the ones at a disadvantage.
UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics reports that more girls than boys
remain out of school in sub-Saharan Africa, where a girl can expect to receive
only about nine years of schooling while boys can expect 10 years (including
some time spent repeating classes).
More girls than boys drop out of school before completing secondary
or tertiary education in Africa. Globally, women account for two-thirds of the
750 million adults without basic literacy skills.
Then there is the additional challenge of Africa’s poorly resourced
education systems, the difficulties ranging from the lack of basic school
infrastructure to poor-quality instruction. According to the Learning Barometer
of the Brookings Institution, a US-based think tank, up to 50% of the students
in some countries are not learning effectively.
Results from regional assessments by the UN indicate “poor learning
outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa, despite upward trend in average learning
achievements.” Many children who are currently in school will not learn enough
to acquire the basic skills needed to lead successful and productive lives.
Some will leave school without a basic grasp of reading and mathematics.
The drivers of inequality in education are many and complex, yet the
response to these challenges revolves around simple and sound policies for
inclusive growth, the eradication of poverty and exclusion, increased
investment in education and human development, and good governance to ensure a
fairer distribution of assets.
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