Education in Africa

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Education in Africa began able a tool to prepare its young to take
their place in the African society. The African education experience was
strictly set up to prepare the young for society in the African community and
not necessarily for life outside of Africa. The schooling system pre- European
colonialism consisted of groups of older people teaching aspects and rituals
that would help them in adulthood. Education in early African societies such
things as artistic performances, ceremonies, games, festivals, dancing, singing,
and drawing. Boys and girls were taught separately to help prepare each sex for
their adult roles. Every member of the community had a hand in contributing to
the educational upbringing of the child. The high point of the African
educational experience was the ritual passage ceremony from childhood to
adulthood. There were no academic examinations necessary to graduate in the
African educational system.

When European
colonialism and imperialism took place it
began to change the African educational system. Schooling was no longer just
about rituals and rites of passage, school would now mean earning an education
that would allow Africans to compete with countries such as the United States
and those in Europe. Africa would begin to try producing their own educated
students as other countries had.

However, participation rates in many African countries are low. Schools often
lack many basic facilities, and African
universities suffer from overcrowding and staff being lured away to Western
countries by higher pay and better conditions.

Contents

1 Participation

2 Initiatives

3 See also

4 Footnotes

5 External
links

[edit]
Participation

According to UNESCO's Regional overview on
sub-Saharan Africa, in 2000 52% of children were enrolled in primary
schools, the lowest enrollment rate of any region. UNESCO also reported marked
gender inequalities: in most parts of Africa there is much higher enrollment by
boys, but in some there are actually more girls, due to sons having to stay home
and tend to the family farm. Africa has more than 40 million children, almost
half the school-age child population, receiving no schooling. Two-thirds of
these are girls. The USAID Center reports that as of 2005, forty percent of
school-aged children in Africa do not attend primary school and there are still
46 million school-aged African children that have never stepped into a
classroom.

The regional report produced by the UNESCO-BREDA education sector analyst
team in 2005 indicates that less than 10% of African children are now allowed in
the system. However 4 out of 10 children still did not complete primary school
in 2002/2003. So, five years after the World Education Forum and the adoption of
the Millennium Goals, progress at primary level is far from decisive. The
analysis highlights that principal efforts should be directed to reducing the
number of dropouts per level. It appears also that geographical disparities
(rural areas/urban areas) or economic disparities (low income households/wealthy
households) are more significant and take longer to even out than gender
disparities. From the quality point of view, studies such as SACMEQ (Southern
and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality) and household
surveys indicate very significant disparities in performance both between and
within countries.[1]

This report also shows that secondary (lower and higher levels) and higher
education enrollments have progressed proportionally more than primary
enrollment over the period 1990–2002/2003 which questions the reality of policy
priority given to primary education. The strong pressure for educational
continuity from the majority already benefiting from schooling explains this
trend. To this must be added the weakness of mechanisms regulating pupil flow
between the different levels of the education system.

In 2005, the inventory and trends show a definitive risk of not reaching
universal primary enrollment by 2015. 14.7% of the world's population is
occupied by Africa.

The education systems inherited from the colonial powers were designed for
the formal sector and public administration. However, ADEA (Association for the
Development of Education in Africa) has become aware of the informal sector's
relevance in developing countries, and thus recognized the need for increased
vocational school training as a way to help the informal sector. "Diverse forms of learning"

[edit]
Initiatives

Initiatives to improve education in Africa include:

British Airways'
"Change for Good in Africa" project which, in collaboration with UNICEF, opened the
model school Kuje Science
Primary School in Nigeria in 2002.

Elias
Fund - Provides scholarships to children in Zimbabwe to get a better
education.

Fast Track Initiative

NEPAD's E-school
program, an ambition plan to provide internet and computer facilities to
all schools on the continent.

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.

Benin Education Fund (BEF) For 10 years BEF has provided
scholarships and educational support to students from the Atakora province in
northeastern Benin. Over 450 students have been able to stay in school because
of their programs.

SACMEQ A consortium of 15 Ministries of Education in Southern
and Eastern Africa which 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.

The
African Children's Educational Trust Working through local organizations,
The African Children's Educational Trust is supporting thousands of youngsters
with long-term scholarships and a community rural elementary schools building
programme. It has built seven schools to date and is currently raising funds
for more.

[edit]
See also

Computers
for African Schools

Africa
portal

[edit]
Footnotes

^
Ross, Kenneth (2007). http://www.sacmeq.org/research.htm.

[edit]
External links

AET Africa | Portal for Agricultural Education and Training in
Africa - Provides information on agricultural education in Africa

PROTA - Provides information on the approximately 7,000
useful plants of Tropical Africa and to provide wide access to the information
through Webdatabases, Books, CD-Rom’s and Special Products.

Africa -
Education at the Open Directory
Project

Portal for education in Africa

Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational
Quality (SACMEQ)

The
African Children's Educational Trust

v • d • e

Education in Africa

Sovereign
states

Algeria ·
Angola ·
Benin ·
Botswana ·
Burkina
Faso · Burundi ·
Cameroon ·
Cape
Verde · Central
African Republic · Chad ·
Comoros ·
Democratic
Republic of the Congo · Republic
of the Congo · Côte
d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) · Djibouti ·
Egypt1 ·
Equatorial
Guinea · Eritrea ·
Ethiopia ·
Gabon ·
The
Gambia · Ghana ·
Guinea ·
Guinea-Bissau ·
Kenya ·
Lesotho ·
Liberia ·
Libya ·
Madagascar ·
Malawi ·
Mali ·
Mauritania ·
Mauritius ·
Morocco ·
Mozambique ·
Namibia ·
Niger ·
Nigeria ·
Rwanda ·
São
Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal ·
Seychelles ·
Sierra
Leone · Somalia ·
South
Africa · Sudan ·
Swaziland ·
Tanzania ·
Togo ·
Tunisia ·
Uganda ·
Zambia ·
Zimbabwe

States
with limited
recognition

Sahrawi
Arab Democratic Republic · Somaliland

Dependencies,
autonomies,
other
territories

Canary
Islands / Ceuta /
Melilla /
Plazas
de soberanía (Spain) · Madeira
(Portugal) · Mayotte /
Réunion
(France) · Puntland
(Somalia) · Saint
Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (United
Kingdom) · Southern
Sudan (Sudan) · Western
Sahara · Zanzibar
(Tanzania)

1 Transcontinental
country.

v • d • e

Africa topics

Culture

Architecture ·
Art ·
Cinema (Films ·
Film
festivals) · Cuisine ·
Etiquette ·
Languages ·
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(Writers
by country) · Music (Musicians) ·
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Largest
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and territories · Impact
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Natural
history · Regions ·
Rivers

History

Kingdoms
in pre-colonial Africa · Colonisation
(European
exploration · African
slave trade · Atlantic
slave trade · Scramble for
Africa) · Decolonization ·
Economic
history · Empires ·
Military
history (List
of conflicts)

Politics

African
Union · Elections ·
·  ·  · Human
rights · Pan-Africanism ·
United
States of Africa

Society

Caste
system · Media (Radio
stations · Television
stations) · Philosophy

Sport

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Games · All-Africa
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of Nations) · Confederation
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Cup) · FIBA
Africa · Stadiums
by capacity · Tour
d'Afrique

Years

2004 in
Africa · 2005 in
Africa · 2006 in
Africa · 2007 in
Africa · 2008 in
Africa · 2009 in
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