Education in Africa

Precolonial Africa was made up of ethnic groups and states that embarked on migrations depending on seasons, availability of fertile soil, and political circumstances. Therefore, power was decentralized among several states in precolonial Africa ( many people held some form of authority as such power was not concentrated in a particular person or an institution).[5] Usually, a person's entitlement to land (which were mostly given patriarchally) gives the person some form of power within the person's household and or within the person's ethnic group.[5] Households were also economically independent such that members of a household produced their own food, shelter and security.[6] There was, therefore, no need for a formally organized education in certain pre-colonial African states, as members of each household learned their skills, values, responsibilities, socialization and norms of their community or household by observing and assisting older household members or community members.[6] State-organized formal schools existed among Sahelian kingdoms in West Africa.[7]

Education in many precolonial African states was in the form of apprenticeship, which was a form of informal education, where children and or younger members of each household mostly learned from older members of their household, and community.[8] In most cases, each household member learned more than one skills in addition to learning the values, socialization, and norms of the community/tribe/household.[8] Some of the common skills that people in precolonial Africa had to learn include, dancing, farming, wine making, cooking (mostly the females), and in some cases selected people learn how to practice herbal medicine, how to carve stools, how to carve masks and other furniture.[9]

Story telling also played a significant role in education during pre-colonial Africa.[10] Parents, other older members of households and Griots used oral story telling to teach children about the history, norms and values of their state, household and community.[10] Children usually gathered around the storyteller who then narrates stories, usually, using personifications to tell stories that encourage conformity, obedience and values such as endurance, integrity, and other ethical values that are important for co-operations in the community.[10]

Festivals and rituals in most cases were also used as means to teach younger members of a household or community about the history of their region or state.[10][9] Rituals were mainly used to teach young adults about the responsibilities and expectations of adulthood such as teaching females how to cook and care for a household and teaching the men how to hunt, farm, make masks, etc.[9] An example of a ritual which was used to teach young girls about womanhood is Dipo.[11] This ritual was used to teach young girls, usually, adolescents about cooking, motherhood, and other necessary womanhood skills and values before they marry (engage in sexually related activities).[11]

The origins of African education may be found in Egypt in Northern Africa. One of the first convenient mediums for retaining accurate information, papyrus, was used to develop systems for learning and developing new ideas.[12][13] In fact, one of the first forms of higher education in Africa were the School of Holy Scriptures built in Ethiopia and Al-Azhar which was in Egypt. These schools became cultural and academic centers as many people traveled from all over the globe for knowledge and instruction. Well before contact with external cultures, Africans had developed pools of understanding and educational tools.

The onset of the colonial period in the 19th century marked the beginning of the end for traditional African education as the primary method of instruction. European military forces, missionaries, and colonists all came ready and willing to change existing traditions to meet their own needs and ambitions. Colonial powers such as Spain, Portugal, Belgium and France colonized the continent without putting in a system of education. Because the primary focus of colonization was reaping benefits from commercial colonial economies, cash crop production, extraction of raw materials, other physically laborious tasks were prioritized. These economies did not expand to require jobs of a higher skill set or more labor, therefore intensive labor that required little skill was high in demand. Because of such circumstances, there was little demand to educate or train the colonized populations. Furthermore, colonial powers were unwilling to offer education to those they colonized unless it benefited them. Either colonial powers did not view investing in African education as a practical use of their revenue or they refrained from educating Africans in order to avoid any uprisings. Those in positions of authority were in fear of access to widespread access to higher education specifically. Colonial powers often found themselves in a debate whether or not to educate their colonized populations and if so, to what extent. Specifically, the British Education Committee of the Privy Council advocated for vocational education and training rather than one focused on academia. This vocational training however neglected professions such as engineering, technology, or similar subjects. Instead, the vocational training had a dominant racial overtone that stressed African training for skills fitting with their assumed social and mental inadequacy. Notably, the Belgians under Leopold II prohibited access to higher education in their colonies, whilst other colonial powers put in barriers in infrastructure or access such as limiting language of instruction to the language of the colonizer, limits on teaching curriculums, and ensuring the curriculum did not reflect any Afro-ethnicity. By demanding that communities create physical schools with strict curriculum, the foreign powers were able to dictate what the people learned, adjusting it to further their agenda. This not only forced new form and content to education, but abandoned the knowledge gained from the largely informal education. With less community awareness, efficiency in learning skills, and especially understanding of the past, African communities began to dwindle in education and prosperity. Aspects of colonialism and its tumultuous effects on the ethos of education are still prevalent in African countries that still struggle to escape the effects of colonization today.

However, a 2021 study found that colonial education systems may also have had some positive effects on education levels in Africa, namely on numeracy. The increase of numeracy in Africa had been accelerating since the 1830s, but it picked up speed during the late 19th and the first two decades of the 20th century. This suggests that colonial education was a determining factor for better education. This positive relationship might have existed due to the effort to spread European schooling among native populations to legitimize colonial power, since this accelerated the organization of schools. At the same time, demand for European-prompted education was rising because the colonial economy brought about new export opportunities, which African farmers responded to.  [14]

Between the 1950s and 1990s, African countries finally regained their independence. With this recovered freedom, they began to rebuild their traditional forms of education. What had inevitably evolved, however, was a hybrid of the two models. With the collaboration of donor agencies and Western demand, pushes for development of African education and the building of human capital dominated global conversation. Namely, the 1960s were known as the First Development Decade by the UN. Policymakers prioritized secondary and tertiary education before also setting their sights for universal primary education around 1980. This set the precedent for educational planning. Although children and adults may learn from their families and community, a sense of individuality has also developed that today both drives ingenuity and creates separation between groups and cultural tradition. African education programs have developed that involve both groups; an HIV/AIDS awareness program, for example, may involve members coming into communities and sharing their knowledge. Although this is a direct, cognitive approach, they also try to involve all members of the community, allowing for the creation of ownership and cultural acceptance.

The use of education as a tool of colonization was widespread throughout the French Colonial Empire. Hubert Lyautey, the first Resident-General of French Morocco, advocated for the facilitation of ruling and conquest through cooperation with native elites. To facilitate the relationship with this "bourgeois" class of francophone Africans, selective educational institutions were established across the French Empire.

The teaching of the French language in Moroccan institutions of higher education, such as the University of Fez, was intended to "promote economic development and political compliance without assimilating or deracinating the students or preparing them for political agency".[15] This system allowed colonial authorities to educate a class of native Moroccans that could carry out administrative roles and functions. In his book, French Colonial Education and the Making of the Francophone African Bourgeoisie, Program Chair of Africana Studies at Washington and Lee University, Mohamed Kamara writes, "For the kind of society the colonialist had in mind, he must create and nurture an elite that will assist for as long as possible in the administration and exploitation of its vast overseas territories".[16]

In classrooms, students were given a predetermined curriculum. The basic goal of this classroom practice was to provide only a limited selection of information for students, leaving very little margin for questioning or critical thinking. Only a limited number of families were permitted to send their children to school, which fit with the underlying goal of creating an exclusive class of native-born Moroccans, who would serve as a sort of liaison between white colonial officials and the masses.[15]

Education in British Colonial Africa can be characterized by three primary phases. The first of these is from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of the First World War, then the Interwar Period, and finally, the conclusion of the Second World War until independence.

From the late 19th-Century until the First World War, British colonial education in Africa was largely carried out by missionaries at mission schools. Although these schools were founded with religious intent, they played a significant role in the early colonial machine. Much like in French Colonial Africa, British colonists sought out English-speaking natives who could serve as 'liaisons" between them and the native population, however, this was done far more out of an economic incentive than a political one.[17] As the demand for English-speaking Africans increased, mission schools provided training in the form of teaching of the Bible. As time went on, however, British industrialists began to complain about the lack of skilled labor, and as such, the British Government supplied mission schools with grants for the vocational training of Africans in various trades critical to British industrial efforts.

British colonial education in Africa during the Interwar Period can be characterized by a push for uniformity, despite colonial authorities demonstrating their acute awareness of the notable differences between the different regions of the Empire. Critical to this, as well, was the universal recognition of nationality as a basic human right under the Covenant of the League of Nations. Colonies were, as outlined by the League of Nations, to be eventually granted independence, with the European powers entrusted as the stewards of "civilization" for their respective colonies. Colonies were only to be allowed independence once they could demonstrate their capacity for self-rule. In former Governor General of Nigeria (1914–1919), Lord Lugard's, 1922 book, The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa writes,

"...do not enter the tropics on sufferance, or employ their technical skill, their energy, and their capital as 'interlopers' or as 'greedy capitalists', but in the fulfillment of the Mandate of civilization".[17]

In accordance with this, in 1923 the British Government established the Advisory Committee on Education in British Tropical Africa (with the word 'tropical' removed to broaden its jurisdiction). With its establishment, for the first time, the colonial authority would be uniformly administering its educational goals across all British African colonies. Programs begun under the new committee were aimed at increasing the "self-sufficiency" of village economies and providing community incentives to counteract flight into big cities. Educational practices under the CEBA came to be known as 'adapted', as it was sought to adjust western education to the contemporary European understanding of the 'African Mind' as inherently different; education was often administered through local contexts and practices, all the while teaching western curriculum. In his essay British Colonial Education in Africa: Policy and Practice in the Era of Trusteeship, Aaron Windel of Bowdoin College describes it as such,

"Typical lessons in a village school operating on adapted principles focused on hygiene, vernacular word building, drill, and basic local geography. Ideally, lessons would be taught on the principle of 'teach by doing' and would include objects from village life. One geography lesson used a bicycle pump, a pail of water, and a small gourd to simulate a ship carrying sugar from India and caught in a monsoon. Adapted pedagogy could also include dramatizations of 'African tribal histories' or special holiday plays with an African focus".[17]

Most British officials (including Lord Lugard) believed that trusteeship would continue for many generations to come, and the goals of 'civilizing' the native population began to take precedence. Treatment of colonial subjects continued to vary wildly as determined by race, and white settlers were continuously given preferential treatment in the distribution of land and opportunities for careers, among other benefits.

The British education system proved to be quite effective. A 2021 study observed a positive effect of British colonization on education levels. Areas that were influenced by the British education system showed a rapid increase in numeracy. For example, in South Africa – where the colonial education and political system switched from Dutch to British in 1806 – the increase in numeracy was rapid since the early-19th century. The reliance on local resources and languages in education as well as missionary largely being run by Africans seem to have had a positive impact.[14]

As British-administered schools were taking shape during the Interwar Period, a number of independent schools focusing on literacy and offering alternative curricula began to emerge. Such schools were thought of as a threat to the colonial system and colonial governments were worried that these so-called 'outlaw' schools would instill thoughts of subversion and anti-colonialism in the native populations. One such independent school was formed in Kenya among the Kikuyu, and made English as its language of instruction, with the ultimate goal of enabling the Kikuyu to fight for land property rights in colonial legal and administrative bodies. Over time, as anti-colonial sentiment gained momentum, independent schools were increasingly viewed by the colonial government as breeding grounds for freedom fighters and independence advocates, which culminated in their banning in 1952 as part of the Mau Mau Emergency.[17]

Due to high linguistic diversity, the legacy of colonialism, and the need for knowledge of international languages such as English and French in employment and higher education, most schooling in Africa takes places in languages that teachers and pupils do not speak natively, and in some cases simply do not understand. There is considerable evidence that pupils schooled in a second language achieve poorer results than those schooled in their mother tongue, as lack of proficiency in the second language impairs understanding and encourages ineffective rote learning.[25][26] Although UNESCO have recommended since the 1950s that children be taught early literacy in their mother tongue, progressing later to other languages, not all African countries implement this effectively. Even where the earliest grades are taught in the mother tongue, pupils are typically forced to switch to languages such as English and French before acquiring proficiency in these languages.[27]

Another reason for the low education rates in Africa is the lack of proper schooling facilities and unequal opportunities for education across countries. Many schools across Africa find it hard to employ teachers due to the low pay and lack of suitable people. This is particularly true for schools in remote areas. Most people who manage to receive education would prefer to move to big cities or even overseas where more opportunities and higher pay await. Thus, there will be an overly large class sizes and a high average number of students per teacher in a school. Moreover, the teachers are usually those unqualified with few teaching aids and/or textbook provision. Due to this, children attending schools in rural areas usually attain poorer results in standardised tests compared to their urban counterparts. This can be seen in the reports given by the Northern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ).[28] Those taking the tests in rural areas score much lower than those in small towns and big cities. This shows a lack of equal education opportunity given to children from different parts of the same country.

With teachers being less qualified than others in urban areas the teaching to learning environment takes an effect amongst the students. In one instance teachers took the same test as their students and three-fourths of them had failed.[29] In addition, those that do not receive the same education to those in the bigger cities have trouble even after graduation with reading, writing, and doing math.[30] Students who do not attain the same equal education to those in urban environments do not achieve the same outcome in establishing success with a career. With education being a major concern towards achieving a career and establishing a future, Africa needs to be aware that equal education needs to be established within all schools throughout the countries.

Emigration has led to a loss of highly educated people and financial loss. The loss of skilled people can only be replaced with another huge cost which imply the loss of money spent educating people who leave and new people to replace them. Even though an almost 5.5% of GDP investment in education,[31] the loss makes it difficult for the government to budget another amount in education as they will need to prioritize other needs such as military budget and debt servicing.[32]

Western models and standards still continue to dominate African education. Because of colonization African institutions, particularly universities, still instruct using Euro-centric curriculums with almost no connection to life in Africa. This is further perpetuated by the use of European and American imported textbooks. Many view this lack of self sufficiency as an ongoing effect of colonization upheld by the modern, corrupt African elite. This attitude rests on the basis that during colonization the African ruling elite exploited their own people for their own benefit rather than advocate for the interests of their own people.

The global water crisis has severe effects on education in rural countries in Africa. Limited access to education and health issues can be further compounded by inadequate water systems or disease that may follow. Malaria, cited to be a main cause of death in Africa,[33] is a mosquito-borne disease that can commonly be found in unmanaged pools of still water. The mosquitos breed in such pools and consequently, children who drink from these pools can die or fall severely ill. Furthermore, such an intense illness can later affect the cognitive abilities of children who fall ill at a young age. This is not only applicable biologically but also as an effect of falling ill: children who miss a significant amount of school are unable to optimize their education due to missing lessons.

Military spending is causing education spending to decrease immensely. According to a March 2011 report by UNESCO, armed conflict is the biggest threat to education in Africa. While the number of dropouts across the continent has been increasing dramatically, one of the influences of war and conflict on education is the diversion of public funds from education to military spending. An already underfunded system is losing more money. Twenty-one African countries have been identified as the highest spenders of gross domestic product on military globally compared with the amount directed toward education. Military and conflict also leads to the displacement of children. It often forces them to remain in camps or flee to their neighboring countries where education is not available the world is going to explode to them.[34]

• NEPAD's E-school programme is an ambitious plan to provide internet and computer facilities to all schools on the continent.
• SACMEQ is a consortium of 15 Ministries of Education in Southern and Eastern Africa that undertakes integrated research and training activities to monitor and evaluate the quality of basic education, and generates information that can be used by decision-makers to plan and improve the quality of education.
• For 10 years, the Benin Education Fund (BEF) has provided scholarships and education support to students from the Atakora province in northeastern Benin. Over 450 students have been able to stay in school because of their programmes.

• She's the First is a New York City, New York-based non-profit organization. The organization seeks to empower girls in Asia, Africa, and Latin America by facilitating the sponsorship of their education through creative and innovative means.[35]
• Working through local organizations, The African Children's Educational Trust is supporting thousands of youngsters with long-term scholarships and a community rural elementary school building programme. It has built seven schools to date and is raising funds for more.
• British Airways' "" project which, in collaboration with UNICEF, opened the model school Kuje Science Primary School in Nigeria in 2002.
• The Elias Fund provides scholarships to children in Zimbabwe to get a better education.
• The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in association with Humanity First, an international charity organisation, has built over 500 schools in the African continent and is running a 'learn a skill' initiative for young men and women.
• Fast Track Initiative
• The Volkswagen Foundation has been running a funding initiative called "Knowledge for Tomorrow – Cooperative Research Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa" since 2003. It provides scholarships for young African researchers and helps to establish a scientific community in African universities.[36]
• The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program is a foreign assistance program in which the United States donates agricultural commodities and money to support school feeding programs in foreign countries, many of which are in Africa.

African communities are very close knit; activities, lifestyles, particularities of individuals are nearly always common knowledge. Because of this, it is difficult for any one member or group within an area to take a significantly different approach to any facet of life within the community. For this reason, program planners for adult learners in Africa find higher rates of success when they employ a participatory approach. Through open and honest dialogue about the fears, motivations, beliefs and ambitions of the community as a whole, there is less social strain concerning individual divergent behavior.

In addition to strong traditional beliefs, years of slavery through colonization have led to a sense of unity and common struggle in African communities. Therefore, lesson plans in these areas should reflect this cultural sensibility; collaboration and cooperation are key components of successful programs. Teaching techniques that utilize these ideas may include story-telling, experiential simulation, and the practice of indigenous traditions with slight modifications. Every program and lesson must be tailored to the particular community because they almost always learn, live, and achieve as a group or not at all.

Informal education plays a strong role within indigenous learning in African communities. This poses a significant challenge to western-style program planners that emphasize formal learning within a designated time-frame and setting. These requirements must often be abandoned in order to achieve success in communities that have no strong affinity for time and formal education. Programs must be planned that become ingrained into the daily life of participants, that reflects their values and add positive functionality to their lives. Successful programs often involve more long-term learning arrangements consisting of regular visits and the free, unforced exchange of information.

African philosophy of adult education recognizes the western ideas such as liberalism, progressivism, humanism and behaviorism, while complementing them with native African perspectives.

• Ethnophilosophy is the idea that the main purpose of adult education is to enable social harmony at all levels of society, from immediate family to community and country. It is of primary importance to ensure the retention of knowledge passed down from one generation to another concerning values, cultural understanding and beliefs. This philosophy promotes active learning – learning by doing, following, practicing the work of the elders. Particular lessons may be taught through activities such as role-play, practical demonstrations, exhibitions, discussions or competitions.[47]
• The nationalist-ideological philosophy separates itself from ethnophilosophy in that it less concerned with the methods of learning and more with its use. As a philosophy born of the revolutionary movements of the 1950s, it is unsurprising that its main focus is to be able to apply knowledge to active participation in politics and civil society. Although it is important in this philosophy to retain the communal nature of traditional African society, functionalism for social understanding and change takes prime importance in its implementation.
• Professional philosophy represents the strongest bridge between western and traditional African educational systems. It promotes a hybrid approach to adult programs, allowing for a wide range of learning techniques, even purely cognitive lecture, so long as community values are accounted for within the lesson. Finally, philosophic sagacity suggests that the only true African philosophies are those that have developed with no contact with the West whatsoever. Rather than a specific approach, this idea simply notes the huge range of educational techniques that may exist throughout the continent by a wide variety of people. It essentially states that there is no one correct method, and that the subject and activities should always be set by the participants.[48][49][50][51]

While most of the Millennium Development Goals face a deadline of 2015, the gender parity target was set to be achieved a full ten years earlier – an acknowledgment that equal access to education is the foundation for all other development goals.[54] Gender disparity is defined as inequalities of some quantity attributed to the reason of gender type. In countries where resources and school facilities are lacking, and total enrollments are low, a choice must often be made in families between sending a girl or a boy to school.[55] Of an estimated 101 million children not in school, more than half are girls.[56] However, this statistic increased when examining secondary school education.[55] In high-income countries, 95% as many girls as boys attend primary and secondary schools. However, in sub-Saharan Africa the figure is just 60%.[57]

The foremost factor limiting female education is poverty.[58] Economic poverty plays a key role when it comes to coping with direct costs such as tuition fees, cost of textbooks, uniforms, transportation and other expenses.[58] Wherever, especially in families with many children, these costs exceed the income of the family, girls are the first to be denied schooling. This gender bias decision in sending females to school is also based on gender roles dictated by culture. Girls usually are required to complete household chores or take care of their younger siblings when they reach home. This limits their time to study and in many cases, may even have to miss school to complete their duties.[59] It is common for girls to be taken out of school at this point. Boys however, may be given more time to study if their parents believe that education will allow them to earn more in the future. Expectations, attitudes and biases in communities and families, economic costs, social traditions, and religious and cultural beliefs limit girls' educational opportunities.[58]

Additionally, in most African societies, women are seen as the collectors, managers, and guardians of water, especially within the domestic sphere that includes household chores, cooking, washing, and child rearing.[60] Because of these traditional gender labor roles, women are forced to spend around sixty percent of each day collecting water, which translates to approximately 200 million collective work hours by women globally per day[61] and a decrease in the amount of time available for education, shown by the correlation of decrease in access to water with a decrease in combined primary, secondary, and tertiary enrollment of women.[62]

Whatever the underlying reason(s) are, about having large numbers of girls outside the formal schooling system brings developmental challenges to both current and future generations. According to the UNESCO, the rates of female children out of primary school is higher than that of male children in all the African countries where data is available.[63] Until equal numbers of girls and boys are in school, it will be impossible to build the knowledge necessary to eradicate poverty and hunger, combat disease and ensure environmental sustainability.[54] Millions of children and women will continue to die needlessly, placing the rest of the development agenda at risk.

In Africa and the Arab world, promoting gender equality and empowering women is perhaps the most important of the eight Millennium Development Goals.[64] The target associated with achieving this goal is to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary enrollment preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.[65] Women deserve the instrumental effects of gender equality in education and the intrinsic dimension of female education; which in essence derives from the role of education in enhancing a woman's set of capabilities.[66] Thus, in theory, there is a direct effect from female education to income (or growth).[66] Education, especially for girls, has social and economic benefits for society as a whole.[55] Women earn only one-tenth of the world's income and own less than one percent of property, so households without a male head are at special risk of impoverishment.[54] These women will also be less likely to immunize their children and know how to help them survive.[54] Women who are educated tend to have fewer and healthier children, and these children are more likely to attend school.[55] Higher female education makes women better-informed mothers and hence could contribute to lowering child mortality rates and malnutrition.[67] In Africa, limited education and employment opportunities for women reduce annual per capita growth by 0.8%. Had this growth taken place, Africa's economies would have doubled over the past 30 years.[68] It is estimated that some low-income countries in Africa would need up to $23.8 billion annually to achieve the Millennium Development Goal focused on promoting gender equality and empowering women by 2015. This would translate from $7 to $13 per capita per year from 2006 to 2015, according to OECD-DAC. [68] Education is also key to an effective response to HIV/AIDS. Studies show that educated women are more likely to know how to prevent HIV infection, to delay sexual activity and to take measures to protect themselves.[69] New analysis by the Global Campaign for Education suggests that if all children received a complete primary education, the economic impact of HIV/AIDS could be greatly reduced and around 700,000 cases of HIV in young adults could be prevented each year—seven million in a decade.[69] According to the Global Campaign for Education, "research shows that a primary education is the minimum threshold needed to benefit from health information programmes. Not only is a basic education essential to be able to process and evaluate information, it also gives the most marginalized groups in society—notably young women—the status and confidence needed to act on information and refuse unsafe sex."[69]

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly and acceded to by 180 States, sets down rights for women, of freedom from discrimination and equality under the law.[54] CEDAW has realized the rights and equality of woman is also the key to the survival and development of children and to building healthy families, communities and nations. Article 10 pinpoints nine changes that must be changed in order to help African women and other women suffering from gender disparity. It first states, there must be the same conditions for careers, vocational guidance, and for the achievement of diplomas in educational establishments of all categories in rural as well as in urban areas. This equality shall be ensured in pre-school, general, technical, professional and higher technical education, as well as in all types of vocational training.[70] Second, is access to the same curricula, the same examinations, teaching staff with qualifications of the same standard and school premises and equipment of the same quality.[70] Third, is the elimination of any stereotyped concept of the roles of men and women at all levels and in all forms of education. This is encouraged by coeducation and other types of education which will help to achieve this aim and, in particular, by the revision of textbooks and school programmes and the adaptation of teaching methods.[70] Fourth, the same opportunities to benefit from scholarships and other study grants.[70] Similarly, fifth is the same opportunities of access to programmes of continuing education, including adult and functional literacy programmes, particularly those aimed at reducing, at the earliest possible time, any gap in education existing between men and women.[70] Sixth, is the reduction of female student drop-out rates and the organization of programmes for girls and women who have left school prematurely.[70] Seventh concern listed is the same opportunities to participate actively in sports and physical education.[70] Lastly, is access to specific educational information to help to ensure the health and well-being of families, including information and advice on family planning.[70]

Other global goals echoing these commitments include the World Education Forum's Dakar platform, which stresses the rights of girls, ethnic minorities and children in difficult circumstances; and A World Fit for Children's emphasis on ensuring girls' equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.[56] In April 2000 more than 1,100 participants from 164 countries gathered in Dakar, Senegal, for the World Education Forum.[71] Ranging from teachers to prime ministers, academics to policymakers, non-governmental bodies to the heads of major international organizations, they adopted the Dakar Framework for Action, Education for All: Meeting Our Collective Commitments. The goal is education for all as laid out by the World Conference on Education for All[72] and other international conferences. Between 1990 and 1998 the net enrollment of boys increased by 9% to 56%, and of girls by 7% to 48% in sub-Saharan Africa.[71] However, these figures mask considerable regional variations. In countries of the Indian Ocean, both girls and boys attained over 70% net enrollment.[71] The most outstanding progress in terms of percentage increase of boys' enrollment was in East Africa, where the net enrollment of boys increased by 27% (to 60%) and of girls by 18% (to 50%).[71] For girls in Southern Africa, the comparable figures for girls were 23% (to 7%) and for boys, 16% (to 58%).[71] This is the resurgence of a vibrant Africa, rich in its cultural diversity, history, languages and arts, standing united to end its marginalization in world progress and development[71] to create a prosperous Africa, where the knowledge and the skills of its people are its first and most important resource.

The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) announces a call for the second round of research proposals from research institutions for its Strengthening Gender Research To Improve Girls' And Women's Education In Africa initiative. The initiative, which is supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), promotes girls and women's education through the integration of gender into education policy and practice in sub-Saharan Africa.[73] FAWE believes it is vital to invest in research in Africa as a way to produce current information for advocacy in education policy. This three-year research initiative aims to work collaboratively with established research institutions to produce pertinent and robust research,[73] which can be used to constructively engage government, policy makers and other regional bodies on strategies to advance girls' education in Africa.[73] Findings from the research will be used to inform FAWE's advocacy work and help redress gender inequities that hinder women's fulfillment of their right to education and meaningful participation in Africa's social and economic advancement.