Executive Summary
The African Union’s designation of 2024 as the Year of Education highlights the critical importance of education for equipping young Africans with the skills essential for their own and the continent’s development. This report is the second in a series of three envisaged between 2022 and 2025, each covering some 12 countries of which a selection is examined in depth, in dialogue with education ministries and national stakeholders. The focus countries for this second Spotlight report cycle were Mauritania, Niger, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia
Key findings
- The out-of-school rate for children of primary school age in Africa fell from 35% in 2000 to 23% in 2010 but only to 19% in 2020. It is estimated that 18.5% of children of primary school age were not in school in 2023
- Data from 18 African countries that took the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) household survey module on foundational learning between 2017 and 2022 show that only 11% of children had precursor reading skills by Grade 3
- Almost one-third of children in 14 countries are taught in a language they do not speak at home. Yet over half of the countries on the continent have adopted bilingual or multilingual education policies, of which 23 call for a shift to the second language before grade 5
- Only 6 in 10 of the assessments carried out in 25 countries have made a report publicly available and only 3 in 10 have made the data available. Less than 1 in 10 can be used to report on the SDG indicator on learning.
- Households account for 27% of total education spending. While the richest households spend a slightly higher share of their budget on education, the share of the poorest households is not negligible. In countries including Kenya and Zimbabwe, households whose children attend public schools spend more out of pocket.
Conclusion
Total aid to education accounts for just under 5% of total education spending in the continent. Yet this number exaggerates the amount that goes through the government budget and systems. The size of grants in government revenue in Africa has fallen by 53% since 2010 to just 1.2% of GDP in 2021. The key recommendations are:
- Give all children a textbook – and all teachers a guide
- Teach all children in their home language – and train teachers accordingly.
- Provide all children with a school meal
- Make a clear plan to improve learning
- Develop teacher capacity.
- Prepare instructional leaders