Education in Africa: Obstacles and Opportunities

Africa is diverse-countries vary dramatically in size, economic structure, level of development, ethnic makeup, and type of educational systems. Yet the continent faces many common challenges in terms of improving basic education.1

Children Out of School

• More than 46 million children are not in school in Africa. They represent more than 40% of the world's out-of-school children.2
• To achieve universal primary education in Africa by 2015, nearly 80 million new places in schools need to be created to accommodate all children.
  

Education for All

In April 2000, 164 countries participated in the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, and adopted the Dakar Framework for Action to reaffirm their commitment to achieving Education for All (EFA) by the year 2015. Yet without a strong and concerted effort to reverse current trends, this goal will remain a dream for Africa.3

High Proportion of Youth

• One person in three is of primary or secondary school age in Africa, compared with one in five in Latin America, and one in six in the United States. Large proportions of youth create burdens on school systems.
• When Kenya eliminated primary school fees in 2003 as an important step toward achieving universal primary education, an unexpected 1.5 million previously out-of-school children enrolled. This tremendous response to the offer of free education has strained the educational system; average class size has risen from 40 pupils to 120.4

Slow Economic Development and External Debt

• Income per capita in sub-Saharan Africa has fallen at an annual average rate of 1% over the past 25 years, according to the IMF.1
• Currently more than 300 million people in the region live on less than $1 a day. This number is expected to increase to 345 million by 2015.1
• Africa has a debt burden of $230 billion-the continent spends $14.5 billion each year servicing its debt. Many countries spend more on debt repayment than on education.5, 6
• Sub-Saharan Africa is not well developed-only 12% of the roads are paved, and only 3% of the population has access to a telephone line or mobile phone.3

Civil Conflict

• During the 1990s, war and civil conflict affected nearly one-third of African countries. The region is home to more than 5 million refugees.1
• Conflict greatly diminishes access to education, damages school facilities, and diverts vital resources from schools to military or security purposes.7

HIV/AIDS

• Over 70% of the 42 million people with HIV/AIDS worldwide are in sub-Saharan Africa.1
• The epidemic creates teacher shortages-an estimated 860,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa lost teachers to AIDS in 1999. For every teacher who dies, an entire classroom is left without instruction.8
• HIV/AIDS also forces students to leave school. As parents fall ill and die, adult responsibilities shift to children-particularly girls. In one South African province where adult HIV prevalence exceeds 30%, first-grade enrollment dropped 24% in 2000.9

Food Shortages in Southern and Eastern Africa

• During 2002, food shortages intensified throughout the region. An estimated 38 million people are at risk of death by starvation in Africa in 2003.10
• In Ethiopia alone, 20% of the population is facing the effects of the food crisis: 11 million people are in need of emergency assistance, and 3 million more are at risk.10

Girls in Africa

• Girls in Africa are at a disadvantage-more than 24 million of them are not in school. Even though excellent gains have been made in Guinea, Senegal, Benin, Mauritania, and the Sudan, gender disparity continues to favor boys in North Africa, and the overall gender gap in sub-Saharan Africa has widened in the last 10 years.2
• Girls face many challenges at school. Outdated curricula, poorly trained teachers, a lack of female teachers, and gender biases in the classroom leave girls with little motivation to succeed.11

Despite the numerous challenges that face educational systems in Africa, Namibia's substantial commitment to education has resulted in improvements in both access and quality. At independence in 1990, Namibia's educational system was deeply divided along racial and ethnic lines and great inequalities in the allocation of resources between regions existed. In 1991, half the learners in grade 1 repeated the grade.

Since 1991, Namibia has strengthened its commitment to education. Currently the government appropriates more than 25% of its budget-close to 10% of the country's total GNP-to education. It developed new learner-centered curriculum, built over 3,000 new classrooms, and increased the number of teachers by 30%. As a result, 90% of school age children now attend school, repetition rates in all grades have reduced, and dropout rates have plummeted. Today, more than 80% of children in grade 1 are promoted to grade 2 on time. 12

[show print version] [back]