While much progress has been made in recent years on the continent, this new collective mobilization is an important step to ensuring quality education for all.
The African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa has just officially declared 2024 the “Year of Education”, calling on all governments to accelerate progress towards achieving quality education for all.
Significant progress has been made in broadening access to education in Africa over the past few decades. The out-of-school population in Sub-Saharan Africa at primary and secondary levels dropped from 44% in 2000 to 29% in 2020 – as referenced in the latest UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2023. During this period, the youth literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa increased from 66% to 77.5%, and the adult literacy rate from 52.6% to 64.3%.
African countries’ ambitions to improve access to quality education for all children are also evidenced in a SDG 4 scorecard released on 7 February. It shows that African States are committed to reducing primary out-of-school rates from 19% in 2022 to 11% by 2025. They are also committed to ensuring that 79% of teachers at the pre-primary level and 85% at the primary level are trained, given the significant shortage of qualified teachers across the continent.
Addressing the funding gap and teacher shortage
Despite this progress and these commitments, Africa is still home to the largest out-of-school population in the world: 98 million school-aged population do not go to school.
According to UNESCO, an additional $77 billion is needed annually for African countries to reach their national education targets and provide quality education for all.
Source: Unesco.org
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