Education Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: Diagnostic Elements and Recommendations. International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century. Draft Version.

Overview & Synopsis

Focusing on the education situation in Sub Saharan Africa, this paper states that while education systems in the region are faced with tremendous problems, over-generalization should be avoided, because all the problems referred to are not equally serious, and they are more acute in some countries than in others. The analyses and comments in the paper relate to 47 countries in Sub Saharan Africa, covering almost all of the area concerned with the exception of South Africa. The paper is divided into 9 sections: (1) the evolution of overall enrollment figures over the past two decades; (2) enrollments at different levels; (3) the enrollment of girls; (4) teachers: number, training, and status; (5) higher education: costs, types of graduates, the brain drain, research; (6) the efficiency and evaluation of education systems; (7) the financing of education systems; (8) education and employment; and (9) external aid to education. When the overall data relating to the number of pupils enrolled in the region was examined, researchers noted the very rapid increase in pupil intake; in the 20 years from 1970 to 1990 the figure rose from 23.5 million pupils to 70.7 million. No other education system in the world has had to cope with such a growth. Education systems in the region vary considerably in size. Enrollment indicators vary from one country to another. If trends in some countries are not reversed, the majority of the populations of working age of the least educationally developed countries will be illiterate in a hundred years. (DK)