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Regional Overview: Sub-Saharan Africa: On The Road To Education For All: Progress and Challenges

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Regional
overview:
sub-Saharan
Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa1 has made significant progress


On the road to Education for All:
since the Education for All goals were adopted progress and challenges
in 2000. Primary enrolment has risen and many
countries have made great strides towards gender The six Education for All (EFA) goals adopted in 2000 at
the World Education Forum in Dakar remain the benchmark
parity. However, many of these gains, as well as
for assessing progress on the international commitment to
other human development goals, are under threat expand learning opportunities for children, youth and adults
from the global economic downturn. Protecting by 2015. Advances have been made across the board in
vulnerable populations and ensuring that forward sub-Saharan Africa, but progress has been uneven and the
region generally lags behind others. In particular, early
momentum is not lost are now urgent priorities
childhood care and education, youth and adult learning needs,
for governments and aid donors alike. and education quality have received insufficient attention.
Countries also need to address internal disparities to improve
The EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010 details
equity in access and participation.
how marginalization deprives millions of children,
in rich and poor countries, of education and life Early childhood care and education
opportunities. They are victims of poverty,
Early childhood care and education can create the foundations
geographic isolation, conflict and discrimination
for a life of expanded opportunity. Strong and growing evidence
based on ethnicity, language, disability and ill finds that high-quality care in the early years can be a
health. Different layers of disadvantage often springboard for success in primary school, offsetting social,
combine to perpetuate a cycle of exclusion. The economic and language-based disadvantage, especially for
vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Yet every year millions
Report identifies the root causes of marginalization,
of children in sub-Saharan Africa enter school with learning
within education and beyond, and analyses the impairments stemming from malnutrition, ill health, poverty
ways in which governments and other actors are and lack of access to pre-primary education.
addressing them. It shows how proactive policies
Children who suffer nutritional deprivation in utero or
can make a difference, especially if directed at
malnutrition during the early years of life are at risk of
making education more accessible, affordable developmental delays that impede later learning. They tend
and inclusive, thus securing the right of all children to score worse on tests of cognitive function and develop-
to obtain a quality education. ment.The Young Lives Survey, which tracks children through
their early years in Ethiopia and three other developing
countries, suggests that by age 7 or 8, the malnutrition
penalty is equivalent to the loss of a full term of schooling.
Malnutrition is also related to late entry in school and the
risk of dropping out before completing a full primary cycle.

Progress towards the target of halving malnutrition under


the Millennium Development Goals has been painfully slow,
1. This is according to the EFA classification. See Table 2 for countries in the region. with most countries in sub-Saharan Africa off track.
2 REGIONAL OVERVIEW SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0

Childhood stunting and low birth weight are indicators of or more. Botswana, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Mauritius,
the long-term health impact of malnutrition. Thirty-eight Namibia and South Africa have reached child mortality
percent of children under age 5 suffer from severe or rates below the world weighted average of 74‰.
moderate stunting in sub-Saharan Africa; the highest
subregional rates are found in central and eastern Africa. Maternal health is intricately related to children’s health.
Of the forty-nine countries worldwide where stunting Mothers who are malnourished and suffering from
prevalence rates are 30% or more, thirty are in sub- micronutrient deficiencies face higher risk during
Saharan Africa (Figure 1). About one in seven children in pregnancy and childbirth, and are more likely to give birth
the region is born with low birth weight. In the Comoros, to underweight babies. The failure of health systems to
Guinea-Bissau, the Niger and Sierra Leone, the share rises provide effective antenatal support, safe delivery and post-
to about one in four or more. natal care also contributes to mortality, low birth weights
and child illness. The rate of births with skilled attendants
Child mortality rates help gauge children’s well-being. present is 45% in sub-Saharan Africa, among the world’s
While mortality rates are falling worldwide, most of sub- lowest. Being poor or belonging to particular indigenous or
Saharan Africa will not meet the Millennium Development ethnic groups increases the disadvantage for expectant
Goal of a two-thirds reduction from 1990 levels by 2015. On mothers. Successful policies to improve maternal and child
average, 158 of every 1,000 children born in the region will health include scaling up maternal and child care
die before reaching age 5. In Angola, Liberia, Mali and services,2 achieving results through international aid
Sierra Leone, the rate is over 200‰. Some progress has partnerships, removing cost barriers to vital maternal and
been made in some of the world’s poorest countries, child health services3 and assuring access to education.
including Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique and the United Nearly 40% of women with no education gave birth without
Republic of Tanzania, which have cut child deaths by 40% receiving any antenatal care, compared with 6% of women
with secondary education.

Figure 1: High levels of child stunting are holding back progress in education Enrolment in pre-primary education has nearly doubled in
Severe and moderate stunting among children under 5, selected countries, 2000–2007 1 sub-Saharan Africa since 1999: around 10 million children
enrolled in pre-school programmes in 2007. On average,
Sub-Saharan Africa however, only 15% of children in the region were enrolled
Cameroon
in pre-primary education that year, compared with one-
Kenya third in developing countries as a group. Between 1999
Uganda and 2007, gross enrolment ratios (GERs) increased in
Côte d’Ivoire
Mali
most countries in the region, rising by more than 20%
Burkina Faso in Burundi, Liberia and Senegal. While seventeen
Guinea sub-Saharan African countries had coverage rates of less
Benin
C. A. R.
than 10% in 2007, GERs were above 50% in Cape Verde,
D. R. Congo Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Mauritius and South Africa,
Eritrea and above 100% in Liberia and the Seychelles.
Lesotho
Nigeria
Somalia Two of the most pronounced barriers to early childhood
U. R. Tanzania programmes are household poverty and low parental
Equat. Guinea
Liberia
education, regardless of age, gender or place of residence.
Zambia Lack of access also can be due to distance and cost. For
Sierra Leone example, children in Zambia’s poorest 20% of households
Chad
Guinea-Bissau
are twelve times less likely to participate in early childhood
Mozambique care than children in the wealthiest 20% of households,
Comoros and the factor rises to twenty-five in Uganda. Public
Angola
Rwanda
investment should be geared towards narrowing
Malawi disparities, targeting marginalized groups and providing
Ethiopia services that are of good quality and accessible to the poor.
Madagascar
Niger
Burundi

0 10 20 30 40 50 60
2. In the United Republic of Tanzania, increased health spending has focused on
Severe and moderate stunting (%) diseases that affect the poorest districts. Coverage of key maternal and child health
services was expanded and recruitment of community-based midwives and health
workers was increased.
Note: Countries included are those with a proportion of stunted children of 30% or more.
1. Data are for the most recent year available during the period specified. 3. Eliminating charges for basic health services is often followed by a rapid rise
Source: Table 2 below. in the uptake of services, especially by the poor, as evidenced in Ghana, Senegal,
Uganda and Zambia.

ED-2010/WS/8
E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA REGIONAL OVERVIEW 3

Universal primary education Figure 2: Progress towards universal primary enrolment has been uneven
Change in net enrolment ratios in primary education, selected countries, 1999 and 2007
Progress towards universal primary enrolment has been
significant in the region since the World Education Forum in Sub-Saharan Africa

Dakar, despite mixed results and slower gains in recent years.


Chad
The number of out-of-school children is dropping. These
Comoros
figures, however, remain high and do not include out-of-school
Côte d’Ivoire
adolescents of lower secondary age. Being born a girl still
D. R. Congo
carries a significant education disadvantage in many countries. Guinea-Bissau 1999
Geographic isolation, extreme poverty, social exclusion, Liberia
2007 (increase)
disability and conflict also take their toll. Getting all children Eritrea
2007 (decrease)
into and through primary education requires a far stronger Niger
focus on the marginalized. There is a risk that the global Congo
financial crisis might reverse positive trends. C. A. R.
Burkina Faso

Sub-Saharan Africa has registered remarkable progress Mali


Nigeria
since 1999 in reducing its out-of-school population by
Gambia
nearly 13 million, down to 32 million in 2007. Yet the deficit
Equat. Guinea
remains large: one-quarter of the region’s primary school
Ethiopia
age children were out of school in 2007, and the region Senegal
accounted for nearly 45% of the global out-of-school Lesotho
population. Nigeria alone represented over 10% of the Ghana
global total. Household surveys for twenty-five sub-Saharan Guinea
African countries also suggest that out-of-school numbers Mozambique
from administrative data could be underestimated by as Togo

much as 18%. Benin


Burundi
Botswana
Some countries with large out-of-school populations in
Cape Verde
1999 had made significant reductions by 2007 (e.g. Ethiopia,
South Africa
Kenya, Mozambique, the United Republic of Tanzania,
Kenya
Zambia), while others made limited progress (Liberia, Namibia
Malawi, Nigeria).4 Finding ways to reach large out-of-school Malawi
populations in conflict-affected areas such as the Central Swaziland
African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo Zimbabwe
is a major challenge. Some 59% of the out-of-school Rwanda
children in sub-Saharan Africa are likely never to enrol in Zambia

school – the highest of any Education for All region – and Uganda

32% are likely to enrol late. In Burkina Faso, Mali, the Niger Mauritius
S. Tome/Principe
and Senegal, more than 70% of out-of-school children are
U. R. Tanzania
expected never to enrol.
Madagascar

Gender, income and location interact with other factors 20 40 60 80 100


of disadvantage, such as language, ethnicity and disability, Net enrolment ratios (%)
to multiply barriers to school entry. Almost 12 million girls Source: Table 2 below.
in the region are expected never to enrol, compared with
7 million boys. In Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia,
Malawi, the Niger, Senegal and Zambia, rural children
are more than twice as likely as urban children not to Total enrolment in the region stood at 124 million in 2007,
be in school. up by 42 million since 1999. Countries have advanced at
various speeds. Madagascar, the United Republic of
Between 1999 and 2007, the average net enrolment ratio Tanzania and Zambia have broken through the 90%
(NER) in sub-Saharan Africa increased from 56% to 73%. threshold towards universal primary enrolment, and
Country NERs range from 31% in Liberia to 98% in Benin, which had one of the world’s lowest NERs in 1999,
Madagascar and the United Republic of Tanzania (Figure 2). is now on track for universal enrolment by 2015. Some
of the countries once furthest from the goal are moving
towards the 90% threshold, including Burkina Faso,
4. While Liberia now has peace and stability, 447,000 of its children were out of school
in 2008 – an increase of almost 180,000 over 1999. Ethiopia and the Niger.
4 REGIONAL OVERVIEW SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0

Some countries are making no progress towards universal override gender discrimination. Aid donors can play an
primary education while others are registering reversals. important role in supporting gender parity efforts. In Chad,
Progress has been limited in countries with no data for instance, a USAID-funded programme is providing
available on net enrolment for either 1999 or 2007, including scholarships for girls and backing community sensitization
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and campaigns to promote girls’ schooling.
Somalia. Primary school participation backtracked in Cape
Verde, Equatorial Guinea and Malawi. Eritrea and Liberia For millions of children entering primary school, their
suffered reversals related to current or recent conflict. journey is often marked by late entry, dropout and grade
repetition. While intake rates are going up in the region, in
The expansion of primary education has gone hand in hand half of the countries 50% or more of the children entered
with progress towards gender parity.5 Seventeen of the school over the official starting age in 2007. In Burkina Faso,
forty-one countries with data in sub-Saharan Africa have most children entering school at the appropriate age
achieved gender parity in primary education (see Table 2). progress through to completion, but the net intake rate in
The regional gender parity index (GPI) of the GER was 0.90 in 2006 was just 27%. Conversely, Malawi had a 62% net intake
2007, compared with 0.85 in 1999, but eighteen countries rate in 2006, but fewer than half the official age entrants
remain below that average. In countries with low enrolment made it through to completion. In half the countries in the
levels, such as Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, moving towards region, almost one in three children enrolling in primary
gender parity from a low starting point has helped generate school drops out before completion. Even the first hurdle
large increases in primary enrolment. In Equatorial Guinea, is challenging: in 2006, the median percentage of students
Liberia and Togo, greater parity was achieved at the cost of in the region who dropped out of the first primary grade
decreased boys’ enrolment. Girls’ enrolment might outstrip was 9%. Malawi and Uganda have relatively high NERs,
that of boys in some areas where the demand for boys’ yet between one-quarter and one-third of pupils drop
labour is higher. For example, poor rural families in out of first grade, in some cases never to return. Repetition
highland areas of Lesotho are particularly dependent on is also common: the region’s median percentage of primary
boys to herd cattle, with the result that dropout rates are school repeaters in 2007 was 13%, and the maximum was
high after grade 3. 32% in Burundi.

Sustained progress towards gender parity in the region Cohort tracking can provide a more integrated perspective
requires changing attitudes towards girls and household on the distance to universal primary education than gross
labour practices as well as maintaining girls in school once intake rates and NERs alone. Using Malawi as an example,
they reach puberty. In West Africa, some of the world’s Figure 3 shows the proportion of children entering primary
poorest countries with low enrolment ratios have shown that school at the official age and tracks their progress to
political leadership and practical measures, such as building completion. For every 100 children of the appropriate
separate latrines and community satellite schools, can primary school entry age, 62 will enter on time and only 11
will complete the last grade. By and large, cohort tracking
5. Gender parity is considered to be reached when the GPI is between 0.97 and 1.03. underlines the daunting scale of the challenge: many

Figure 3: Children who start primary school have varying chances of completing the last grade
Net cohort completion rates: the example of Malawi
100
Primary In Malawi, the net intake rate into the
school entry first grade of primary school was 62% in
age pupils
2006. The survival rate to grade 5 was 43%
and the primary completion rate 18%.
From these rates, it is possible to estimate
62 the prospects of a cohort of pupils aged 6
Net intake rate Cohort that
into first grade
(the primary school starting age)
enters at the
of primary (62%) correct age completing the six-year cycle.
If repetition and dropout rates remain
unchanged, 62 of 100 pupils will enter the
27 first grade of primary school at the correct
Survival to grade 5 Net cohort age. Of these, 27 will make it to grade 5,
(43% of the cohort survival to
entered) grade 5 11 and 11 will graduate from the final grade.
Primary completion Net cohort
rate (18% of the completion rate
cohort entered)

Sources: Global Monitoring Report Team calculations; EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010, annex, Statistical Tables 4 and 7.
E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA REGIONAL OVERVIEW 5

governments in sub-Saharan Africa have to double the will be some 25% by 2025. Almost two-thirds of the
net intake rate by 2010 to make universal primary entry population is under 25. Every year between 7 million and
possible by 2015. 10 million young Africans enter labour markets
characterized by high unemployment, low productivity,
In sub-Saharan Africa, there were more than 21 million chronic insecurity and poverty-level incomes. In countries
out-of-school adolescents in 2007, equivalent to 38% of the such as Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, young
lower secondary school age group. Thirty-nine percent of people face about five years of reported inactivity before
lower secondary school age adolescents were still enrolled finding work. Also, youth with secondary and tertiary
at the primary level. Cost, distance to school, labour market education have higher rates of unemployment than those
demand and – especially for girls – social, cultural and with lower levels of attainment in Burundi, Cameroon,
economic barriers limit smooth transitions from primary Kenya and Nigeria.
to lower secondary. This concern is now at the centre of the
Education for All agenda in many countries: in sub-Saharan Vocational programmes have suffered from a combination
Africa, universal basic education is an increasingly of underfinancing, poor design and weak links to labour
prominent policy goal. markets. Deep spending cuts in the region during the 1980s
and 1990s further compromised quality in vocational
Youth and adult skills: expanding education. Other difficulties include the fact that many
countries track students into vocational streams far too
opportunities in the new global economy
early – often in the face of concerted resistance from
Technical and vocational education programmes can parents. Evaluations point to low rates of absorption
strengthen the transition from school to employment, offer of graduates into the workforce – under half in some
second chances and help combat marginalization. Vocational countries, including Madagascar, Mali and the United
education is offered through a bewildering array of institutional Republic of Tanzania.
arrangements, public and private providers and financing
systems. While some countries supplement general education Traditional apprenticeships and on-the-job training are by
in schools with vocational options from companies or training far the most important routes to skills development for the
institutes, others offer distinctive vocational options in majority of African youth, but they tend to be biased against
secondary school. Governments in sub-Saharan Africa have women and the very poor. Research in Ghana has
to strike a delicate balance between general and vocational highlighted a bias in vocational enrolment towards regions
education. The latter is often considered a safety net for failing and social groups that are already better off. In Burkina
students. Improving its quality and relevance is the most Faso, only one-third of interventions involving vocational
effective antidote to that perception. education were oriented towards disadvantaged groups,
mainly through microcredit programmes. In the United
The region’s secondary GER was the world’s lowest at 34% Republic of Tanzania, out of twenty-eight programmes
in 2007. Country GERs ranged from less than 11% in the reviewed, only three targeted the poorest youth, three
Niger to more than 97% in the Seychelles and South Africa. targeted rural areas where the vast majority of the poor
The share of technical and vocational education in secondary live and only one targeted youth with no education.
enrolment in the region was also among the world’s lowest
at 6% in 2007. In thirteen of the twenty-five countries with Across the region, vocational education is undergoing major
data, the share was less than 5%, but it was around 20% reform. In Cameroon, four ministries have developed a
in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. sector-wide vocational training plan linked to the national
National skill development policies are likely to succeed poverty reduction strategy. In Ethiopia, new curricula have
only if they dramatically increase the flow of students into been drawn up and qualification systems restructured to
secondary schools generally. Girls are being left behind match skills development with labour market needs. In
in general secondary and even more so in vocational Rwanda, a 2007 strategy set out to change the image of
education. Between 1999 and 2007, the average GPI in vocational education and a Workforce Development Agency
secondary education slipped from 0.82 to 0.79, and girls has been created to oversee coordination and facilitate
account for 39% of technical and vocational enrolments private sector involvement. There are also signs that
in 2007. Public policy interventions need to strengthen vocational education is re-emerging as a priority in
opportunities for young girls to make the transition development assistance.
from primary school.
The priority is to increase enrolment, retention and
Vocational education broadly aims to equip young people progression through basic education into secondary school.
and adults with the skills and knowledge they need to cross Vocational education has the potential to play a far greater
the bridge from school to work. The economic crisis has role, however, not least in providing second-chance
made that crossing even more hazardous. The region’s opportunities to marginalized groups.
share of the world’s youth population, currently about 17%,
6 REGIONAL OVERVIEW SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0

Youth and adult literacy Improvement in access to education across generations


is one of the motors driving increased literacy levels in
Illiteracy in youth and adulthood is the price people and the region. The youth literacy rate in 2000–2007 was 16%
countries are paying for past failures of education systems. higher than the average for all adults. In Botswana, Eritrea
When people emerge from school lacking basic reading, and Nigeria, the proportion of literates among all adults
writing and numeracy skills, and obtain no other education, is at most half the proportion for younger adults.
they face a lifetime of disadvantage. At the World Education
Forum in Dakar in 2000, governments pledged to achieve a Sub-Saharan Africa will not reach the literacy target set for
50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015. The pledge 2015. Projections indicate that the adult illiteracy rate will
was ambitious and the target achievable, but it will be missed have fallen by 31%, nearly two-thirds to the 50% reduction
by a large margin. Nonetheless, several countries have goal. Despite the United Nations Literacy Decade
demonstrated that targeted policies can effectively promote (2003–2012), literacy continues to receive insufficient
adult literacy. attention and financial commitment and is often not
incorporated into wider poverty reduction strategies.
An estimated 38% of the adult population in sub-Saharan
Africa, or 153 million adults, lack the basic literacy and The quality of education
numeracy skills needed in everyday life. Ethiopia and Nigeria
are among the ten countries in the world with the largest Achieving Education for All hinges not just on delivering
numbers of illiterate adults. Twelve countries have illiteracy more years in school, but also on ensuring that children
rates in excess of 50%; in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and acquire the necessary skills to shape their future life
the Niger, more than 70% of the adult population is illiterate. chances. Poor-quality education is jeopardizing the future
On a positive note, adult literacy rates of around 90% or of millions of young people, many of whom face the prospect
above were registered in Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, of lifelong illiteracy.
South Africa and Zimbabwe. Gender disparities contribute to
high adult illiteracy rates, with women accounting for more International assessments measure disparities in
than 60% of the region’s adult illiterate population. In Chad, student learning achievement among countries. Although
Ethiopia and Mali, women are around 1.5 times as likely as sub-Saharan Africa is poorly covered by such assessments,
men to be illiterate. the limited evidence suggests acute problems. For
example, the Trends in International Mathematics and
The idea that countries are powerless to combat adult Science Study conducted in 2007 among eighth grade
illiteracy is refuted by the positive experience of some students shows large gaps in learning achievement
countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, the adult literacy rate between developed and developing countries (with
climbed by an average of 17% between 1985–1994 and Botswana and Ghana representing sub-Saharan Africa).
2000–2007 to reach 62%. Burkina Faso and Chad, with Average test scores for students in the top-performing
some of the world’s lowest literacy rates in the first country, the Republic of Korea, were almost twice as high
period, respectively doubled and almost tripled their rates. as in Ghana. The average student in Botswana and Ghana
Other countries also registered large increases, such as stands alongside or below the poorest-performing 10%
Benin, Burundi and Senegal. of students in higher-performing countries.

Despite these positive trends, the number of illiterate adults The Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for
increased by nearly 20 million in the region. Some countries Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) conducted
witnessed large absolute increases in the number of adult assessments between 2000 and 2002. Findings showed
illiterates: over 1 million each in Burkina Faso, Senegal and that over 70% of grade 6 students in Malawi, Namibia
the United Republic of Tanzania and 4 million in Ethiopia. and Zambia and over 50% in Lesotho and South Africa had
not acquired basic numeracy skills. National income levels
Rising literacy rates have been accompanied by increasing are not the only factor influencing learning achievement:
gender parity. In Burkina Faso, Burundi and Malawi, female Lesotho and South Africa have much higher per capita
literacy rates more or less doubled and have increased incomes and government resources than Kenya, but
twice as fast as male rates. Still, in 2000–2007, the region’s register lower primary school learning achievement.
average GPI of the adult literacy rate was 0.76, and female
adult literacy rates were still below the 1985–1994 average The poor quality of education in childhood is reflected
for male literacy. Gender disparities are magnified by wider by illiteracy rates among adults who spent several years
structures of disadvantage and marginalization. In South in school. In twenty-one sub-Saharan African countries,
Africa, for example white youth and white adult women 22- to 24-year-olds with five years of education had a 40%
have near-universal literacy levels, compared with just probability of being illiterate. Those with seven years of
70% among black women. education had a 20% chance of being illiterate.
E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA REGIONAL OVERVIEW 7

Once girls are in school, they tend to perform as well as, Pilot studies in Mali and the Niger in 2007 also
or better than, their male classmates. Among francophone demonstrated promising approaches to improving reading
countries in sub-Saharan Africa participating in the skills at relatively low cost.
Programme d’analyse des systèmes éducatifs de la
CONFEMEN (PASEC), there were no large gender One of the most important requirements for sustained
differences in second and fifth grade performance in French progress towards better quality in education is an improved
or mathematics. For the thirteen countries participating in learning environment, encompassing school infrastructure,
the 2000–2002 SACMEQ assessments, gender differences textbook availability, the learning process and the
in sixth grade English were on the whole either statistically interaction between children and teachers.
insignificant or small. In mathematics, about half the
participating countries showed no statistically significant – A poor school environment with badly ventilated
gender difference. In the rest, males’ average scores classrooms, leaking roofs, inadequate sanitation or lack
tended to be higher but the differences were not large.6 of materials represents a significant barrier to effective
learning. A recent survey of primary schools in two
In many developing countries, including in sub-Saharan Nigerian states found that over 80% of classrooms
Africa, differences in performance across schools are in Enugu and 50% in Kaduna either did not have a
linked to the teaching environment, often marked by large blackboard, or had one that was barely usable.
variations in class size, availability of books and teaching
materials, teacher quality and school building standards. – A detailed evaluation of Ghana’s basic education system
In the 2000–2002 SACMEQ countries, differences among found that improvements in mathematics and English
schools accounted for 37% of the variation in student test scores from 1988 to 2003 had been brought about
reading performance. in part through increased availability of textbooks.

Home language and family composition also affect student – Time spent on effective learning is what matters for
performance. Fifth grade students from Cameroon’s achievement. In Ethiopia, children were in class and
Bamileke language group scored 48% on the PASEC literacy learning for a third of the time schools were officially
test, compared with 56% for students from the Ewondo open.
language group. A longitudinal study in Ethiopia found that
42% of 12-year-olds who had lost their mother between Teachers are the single most important education
ages 8 and 12 were unable to read, while for children with resource. In many countries, shortages of trained
both parents living the figure was 23%. teachers pose a major barrier, at all education levels, to
achieving Education for All. Within countries, marginalized
Small-scale reading assessments conducted in several groups are particularly disadvantaged with regards to
low-income countries paint a worrying picture. While these access to trained teachers. The pre-primary pupil/teacher
tests are not nationally representative, they often point to ratio is 40:1 or higher in Benin, Liberia, Uganda and the
very low levels of fluency in reading. Estimates vary, but United Republic of Tanzania. In Kenya, the national ratio
reading fluency in excess of forty words per minute is of pupils to trained pre-primary teachers is 54:1, but in
thought to be required for comprehension. In the Gambia, the arid, largely pastoral district of Turkana, one of
children in grades 1 to 3 were able, on average, to read six Kenya’s poorest, the ratio is 123:1.
words correctly in a minute. In Liberia, students in grade 2
could read eighteen words per minute and fewer than forty Increasing the recruitment of primary teachers has gone
words by grade 3. A 2008 study of grade 3 students in hand in hand with higher enrolment in primary education
the Woliso district in Ethiopia found that 36% could not since 1999. Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa –
read a single word in Afan Oromo, the local language. including Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Niger and Senegal7 –
have more than doubled the teacher workforce, in most
Assessing reading skills early in primary school provides cases improving the pupil/teacher ratio. Although countries
an opportunity to identify children with low learning set their own targets for pupil/teacher ratios, the most
achievement and take remedial measures that can help widely used international ceiling in primary education is
prevent dropout and grade repetition. Involving schools and 40:1. In 2007, twenty-two countries in sub-Saharan Africa
communities is a key to successful policies to improve had ratios above this ceiling.
reading skills. In the Malindi district of Kenya, teachers were
trained for five days on a set of carefully designed lessons The lack of trained teachers is also of concern. In 2007,
to teach effective reading skills to grade 2 students: reading the share of trained primary school teachers in the region
speeds improved by 80%, on average, after the training. ranged from 15% in Togo to around 100% in Côte d’Ivoire,

6. Seychelles was the exception: girls’ performance compared with that of boys was 0.65 7. In Senegal, the increase in teachers is due to the creation of more schools, upgrading
of a standard deviation higher in English and 0.38 higher in mathematics. of schools with incomplete primary education cycles and double-shift teaching.
8 REGIONAL OVERVIEW SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0

Kenya, Mauritius and the United Republic of Tanzania. The EFA Development Index
Furthermore, Madagascar, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and
Togo had ratios of pupils to trained teachers in excess of The EFA Development Index (EDI) looks beyond individual goals
80:1. In Togo, the share of trained teachers in the workforce to provide a composite measure of progress, encompassing
has fallen from 31% to 15% as recruitment has shifted access, equity and quality. The index includes only the four
towards contract teachers. most easily quantifiable goals, attaching equal weight to each:
universal primary education (goal 2), adult literacy (first part of
A recent review of teacher deployment patterns examined goal 4), gender parity and equality (goal 5), and quality (goal 6).9
differences across subnational regions in ten countries in The EDI value for a given country is the arithmetic mean of
sub-Saharan Africa. In some countries, pupil/teacher ratios the four proxy indicators. It falls between 0 and 1, with 1
varied by a factor of three. While low ratios are often found representing full achievement of Education for All. For the
in rural areas with highly dispersed populations, high ratios school year ending in 2007, EDI values are calculated for
tend to be concentrated in areas marked by poverty and twenty-five countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Table 1 situates
acute disadvantage. In Uganda, northern regions affected these countries in relation to the full achievement of Education
by conflict were marked by pupil/teacher ratios in excess for All: an EDI value of 0.97 to 1.00.
of 90:1 – nearly double the national average.

An additional 1.2 million teachers have to be recruited in Table 1: Most countries in sub-Saharan Africa are far from achieving EFA
sub-Saharan Africa to reach universal primary education Distribution of countries by EDI score and distance to EFA overall achievement, 2007
by 2015. Although the effort needed to close the gap varies
by country, many governments have to expand recruitment EFA achieved Close to EFA
by 4% to 18% annually. For some countries, this means (EDI between 0.97 and 1.00) (EDI between 0.95 and 0.96)

maintaining the rate of increase registered since 1999. None None


Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Kenya and Uganda will need
to step up the pace of recruitment and budget for new
posts. In addition to increasing recruitment to achieve (0) (0)
universal primary education, sub-Saharan Africa needs
to recruit and train an additional 1.3 million teachers Intermediate position Far from EFA
to replace those expected to retire or leave their posts (EDI between 0.80 and 0.94) (EDI below 0.80)

before 2015. Thus, a total of 2.4 million 8 teachers is Botswana, Cape Verde, Kenya, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi,
Mauritius, Namibia, Sao Tome Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana,
needed in the region by 2015. and Principe, Swaziland, Zambia Guinea, Lesotho, Madagascar,
Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger,
Senegal, Togo, Uganda
Recruitment is just one part of a far wider set of issues (8) (17)
that governments have to address. Attracting and retaining
well-qualified candidates and improving teacher morale Source: Table 2 below.
are increasingly difficult. Balancing teacher salaries with
budgetary constraints increases the risk that less qualified
teachers might be recruited. There is evidence from West
Africa that increased recourse to contract teachers has No country has achieved or is close to achieving the four
compromised education quality. most easily quantifiable EFA goals.10 Eight countries rank in
an intermediate position with EDI values ranging from 0.80
to 0.94 and seventeen are far from achieving EFA, with EDI
below 0.80.

Countries in the intermediate position have a mixed record.


While school participation is often high, indicators for adult
literacy and quality are less impressive. Adult literacy is
below 80% in Kenya and Zambia, while school retention
is particularly poor in Sao Tome and Principe.

9. Reliable and comparable data relating to goal 1 (early childhood care and education)
are not available for most countries, and progress on goal 3 (learning needs of youth
and adults) is still not easy to measure or monitor. For further explanation of the EDI
methodology, see the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010.

10. In the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2009, one country in this region, Seychelles,
was listed among countries having achieved EFA; it is no longer included because
8. The parts do not add up to the total due to rounding up of teacher recruitment figures. of a lack of recent data on the primary adjusted NER and survival rate to grade 5.
E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA REGIONAL OVERVIEW 9

Very low EDI values (below 0.60) are reported in Ethiopia, Marginalization in education
Mali and the Niger. With the exception of Madagascar, which
has achieved near universal primary enrolment, countries Governments across the world constantly reaffirm their
ranking low for EDI face multiple challenges: school commitment to equal opportunity in education and
participation is low, quality is poor, adult illiteracy is high international human rights conventions establish an obligation
and gender disparities are marked. for them to act on that commitment. Yet most governments
are systematically failing to address the extreme and
Analysis of EDI movement can help identify important persistent education disadvantages that leave large sections of
priority areas and those that have suffered from relative their population marginalized. These disadvantages are rooted
neglect. For the period from 1999 to 2007, changes in the in deeply ingrained social, economic and political processes
EDI can be calculated for eight countries in sub-Saharan and unequal power relationships – and they are sustained by
Africa. The EDI for Ethiopia and Mozambique increased by political indifference. They are also often reinforced by
more than 30% and that for Zambia by 14%, primarily due practices within the classroom. The failure to place inclusive
to large increases in the primary NERs. The survival rate to education at the centre of the Education for All agenda is
grade 5 in Mozambique also increased significantly. The EDI holding back progress towards the goals adopted at Dakar.
for Malawi decreased slightly, by 0.9%, while those for
Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia and Swaziland increased by 2% Measuring marginalization — a new data tool
to 6%. These small increases resulted from improved
primary adjusted NERs, while the other goals barely moved. Measuring marginalization in education is inherently difficult.
More recently, between 2006 and 2007, the EDI rose by 5% There are no established cross-country benchmarks
or more for Burkina Faso, Namibia, the Niger and Sao Tome comparable to those used for assessing extreme income
and Principe, but fell by 8% for Togo. poverty – and national data are often not detailed enough to
enable marginalized groups to be identified. The 2010 Report
includes a new tool, available online, that provides a window on
the scale of marginalization within countries and on the social
composition of the marginalized. Called the Deprivation and
Marginalization in Education (DME) data set,11 it also identifies
groups facing particularly extreme restrictions on educational
opportunity (Box 1). The data set focuses on three core areas:

Education poverty: young adults aged 17 to 22 who have


fewer than four years of education and are unlikely to have
mastered basic literacy or numeracy skills.

Extreme education poverty: young adults with fewer than


two years of education, who are likely to face extreme
disadvantages in many areas of their lives.

The bottom 20%: those with the fewest years of education


in a given society.

Box 1: Deprivation and Marginalization


in Education in Nigeria

The DME data set can illustrate how mutually reinforcing effects
work to create extreme educational disadvantage. In the case of
Nigeria, a child spends over six and a half years in school, on
average. Wealthy urban boys and girls average around ten years
in school, compared with fewer than three for poor rural females.
Over half the ‘education poor’ are Hausa speakers — a group that
makes up one-fifth of the population. Gender and rural-urban
divisions reinforce this disadvantage: Hausa girls from poor rural
households average fewer than six months in school.

11. Available at http://www.unesco.org/en/efareport/dme.


10 REGIONAL OVERVIEW SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0

Figure 4 shows that absolute deprivation in education compared with a national average of over six years. In
remains at extraordinarily high levels throughout much Kenya, over 70% of Somali young people have fewer than
of sub-Saharan Africa, despite the progress of the past two years of schooling while the national average is 8%.
decade. Factors leading to marginalization do not operate
in isolation: wealth and gender intersect with language, Educational marginalization is also high in conflict-affected
ethnicity, region and rural-urban differences to create areas. In an eastern district of Chad where conflict has led
mutually reinforcing disadvantages. to large-scale internal displacement and there is a large
population of Sudanese refugees, over 90% of the youth
Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in those have fewer than four years of education.
countries where the official language is not the most
common language spoken at home, many children are Time spent in school is just one dimension of marginalization.
taught in a language other than their mother tongue, There are also marked gaps in learning achievement linked
contributing to extreme educational disparity. In Nigeria, to socio-economic status. Having a home language different
the education attainment gap between the highest from the official language of instruction is also commonly
and lowest performing language groups is six years; associated with lower test scores.
in Mozambique, youth who speak Jaua average one
year in education, compared with five years for Getting left behind
Portuguese speakers.
Marginalization in education is the product of a mixture of
Cross-country analysis reveals that in some cases, inherited disadvantage, deeply ingrained social processes,
identifiable social or livelihood groups face almost unfair economic arrangements and bad policies. These
universal disadvantage. In Uganda, 85% of Karamajong processes are examined with respect to the five groups
pastoralists have fewer than two years of education, most severely affected by marginalization.

Figure 4: Measuring education poverty across sub-Saharan Africa


% of national population, poorest households and girls in poorest households aged 17 to 22 with fewer than four years and fewer than two years of education,
selected countries, most recent year

Education poverty: Extreme education poverty: The wealth effect: The gender effect:
Population with fewer than Population with fewer than People from the poorest Girls from the poorest households
100 4 years of education 2 years of education households who are who are in education poverty 100
in education poverty
90 90

80 80
Share of the population with fewer than 4

Share of the population with fewer than 4


and fewer than 2 years of education (%)

and fewer than 2 years of education (%)


70 70

60 60

50 50

40 40

30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
Namibia, 2006
Swaziland, 2006

Gabon, 2000
Kenya, 2003
Congo, 2005
Lesotho, 2004
Uganda, 2006
Ghana, 2003
Zambia, 2001
Cameroon, 2004

Malawi, 2004
D. R. Congo, 2007
Nigeria, 2003

Liberia, 2007
Burundi, 2005
Gambia, 2005
Rwanda, 2005
Benin, 2006

Côte d'Ivoire, 2004


Guinea-Bissau, 2005
Sierra Leone, 2005
Guinea, 2005
Mozambique, 2003
Senegal, 2005
Ethiopia, 2005
Somalia, 2005
Chad, 2004
Mali, 2001
Burkina Faso, 2003

C. A. R., 2000
Madagascar, 2004

Niger, 2006
S. Tome/Principe, 2000

Togo, 2005

U. R. Tanzania, 2004

Average number Average number of years of education: Average number of years of education:
of years of education: between 6 and 8 years fewer than 6 years
more than 8 years
Source: UNESCO-DME (2009).
E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA REGIONAL OVERVIEW 11

Being born into poverty is one of the strongest factors additional hurdle: 60% of girls interviewed in Kibera
leading to marginalization in education, and both the expressed fear of being raped, and it was not uncommon
incidence and depth of poverty are more marked in for both boys and girls to have witnessed acts of physical
sub-Saharan Africa than in any other region. Household violence. A common response to the fear of violence
surveys consistently point to parental inability to afford and harassment in slums is to stop going to school.
education as a major factor behind non-attendance.
In countries that have abolished formal school fees, – In low-population density rural areas, long and
the cost of uniforms, transport, books and supplies sometimes dangerous journeys to school are an
can create barriers to school entry and completion. important part of marginalization, particularly for girls.
Although more children from poor households have In the western Sahelian region of Chad, a distance to
entered school in Malawi and Uganda since they school of greater than a kilometre led to a steep decline
abolished fees over a decade ago, half the households in enrolment. Yet average walking distances are often
with children who have dropped out of school cite lack many times greater than this. Education systems also
of money as the main problem. are unresponsive to pastoralist livelihoods and their
inherent mobility. The ten most arid Kenyan districts,
– Economic shocks, droughts or health problems can inhabited predominantly by pastoralists, have some
force poor households into coping strategies that of the lowest enrolment rates and largest gender
damage children’s education, especially girls’. In rural disparities in the country.
parts of the United Republic of Tanzania, income shocks
caused by crop losses increased hours worked by – For those living in conflict-affected countries, attacks
children by 30% and decreased school attendance on schools and forced migration are detrimental to
by 20%. In rural Uganda, crop losses associated with enrolment. Countries such as Chad, Kenya, Uganda and
drought resulted in far more girls than boys being taken the United Republic of Tanzania have absorbed millions
out of school or performing poorly in examinations. of people displaced by conflicts in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Sudan. Struggling
– Child labour is another corollary of poverty that hurts to achieve universal primary education for their own
education. While some children combine work with children, these countries are ill equipped to provide
schooling, this often has adverse consequences for education to large, vulnerable and extremely poor
learning. In Mali around half of all children aged 7 to 14 refugee populations, often speaking different languages.
report being involved in labour. The average workweek
is thirty-seven hours – more for the very poor – which Children with disabilities suffer from social attitudes that
severely compromises education prospects. stigmatize, restrict opportunity and lower self-esteem.
These attitudes are often reinforced by neglect in the
Group-based identities, such those related to race, classroom, insufficient physical access, shortages of
ethnicity or language, are among the deepest fault lines in trained teachers and limited provision of teaching aids.
education. Nine of every ten Peul speakers in Mali are in In Malawi and the United Republic of Tanzania, disability
education poverty with fewer than four years of education, doubles the probability of children never having attended
compared with only six out of ten Bambara speakers. school. Children with disabilities in Burkina Faso are
One reason children from disadvantaged ethnic groups 2.5 times as likely to be out of school.
perform poorly in school is that they are often taught in
a language they struggle to understand. A lack of home HIV and AIDS compound wider problems associated
language instruction is often part of wider processes with poverty and social discrimination, such as increased
of cultural subordination and social discrimination, economic pressure due to ill health of family members
reinforced by curricula insensitive to cultural diversity. and orphanhood. Two-thirds of the 33 million people
living with HIV and AIDS in 2007, and 90% of the 2 million
Disadvantages linked to poverty and ethnicity are often children with HIV, live in sub-Saharan Africa. Out of
reflected in location and livelihoods. Slums are focal eighteen sub-Saharan countries with recent national
points for educational deprivation, partly because many education plans, only Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia and
governments fail to recognize the entitlements of slum Rwanda have included detailed integrated strategies
dwellers to basic services. Kibera, one of the largest for children affected by HIV and AIDS. Orphans who
slums in sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated population lose both parents or whose mothers have died are often
of 1 million, is a short walk from some of Kenya’s finest less likely to stay in school than children whose mother
primary schools. Yet the vast majority of Kibera’s children or both parents are alive.
are locked out of even the most basic opportunities for
education. Parents have to pay for poor-quality private
schooling, while non-slum children can access fee-free
government education. Security concerns present an
12 REGIONAL OVERVIEW SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0

Levelling the playing field distances to school; the out-of-school population has
declined by 3 million and gender disparities have narrowed.
There is no single formula for overcoming marginalization in
education. Policies need to address underlying causes, such as More flexible approaches to provision could bring education
social discrimination and stigmatization, as well as challenges within reach of some of the world’s most marginalized
specific to particular marginalized groups. The inequalities that children. Such approaches include mobile schools for
the marginalized face are persistent and resistant to change, pastoralists, satellite schools, itinerant teachers and
yet progress is possible with sustained political commitment to multigrade teaching for remote areas, and specialized
social justice, equal opportunity and basic rights. Three broad training for teachers of children with disabilities.
sets of policies can make a difference. They can be thought of
as three points in an inclusive education triangle (Figure 5). Accelerated learning programmes can help provide a
second chance to children and adolescents, provided
Accessibility and affordability government and employers recognize such programmes as
legitimate for school and work. The scale of such teaching is
Removing school fees is necessary to reach the poorest not well known, but a survey in sub-Saharan Africa recorded
but is not enough on its own. Governments also need to 154 programmes in 39 countries reaching 3.5 million
lower indirect costs associated with uniforms, textbooks children. One programme has reached tens of thousands
and informal fees. In western Kenya, providing a free of out-of-school children in the most marginalized region of
uniform increased attendance in primary school by thirteen Ghana. Another has played a vital role in bringing education
percentage points among children who did not previously to thousands of children in Sierra Leone who missed out
own a uniform. Financial stipend programmes for on school due to conflict. Religious schools in Nigeria and
identifiably marginalized groups can lower household community schools in Zambia have also helped extend
costs and provide incentives for education. education to those not reached by public provision.

Building schools closer to marginalized communities is The learning environment


also vital, especially for gender parity. Low-income countries
in sub-Saharan Africa are running a deficit of around Programmes that draw well-qualified teachers to the
1.7 million classrooms and need to double their number schools facing the greatest deprivation can make a
of classrooms to close the gap by 2015; recent estimates difference for marginalized children’s learning. In Eritrea,
for ten sub-Saharan African countries show that they are enforcement of deployment rules is facilitated by the
off track. School construction programmes should prioritize presence of large number of teachers who start their career
remote rural areas, urban slums and conflict-affected as part of the national service. The Gambia introduced a
areas, and take into account the needs of learners with special allowance and Mozambique used bonuses to attract
disabilities. In Ethiopia, 85% of the 6,000 schools built since and retain teachers for schools in remote areas. Such
1997 are in rural areas, significantly reducing average policies need to be supported by training programmes
that equip teachers with the skills and sensitivity to teach
children from diverse backgrounds. Targeting financial and
Figure 5: The Inclusive Education Triangle pedagogical support to schools in the most disadvantaged
regions or those with large numbers of marginalized
Learning environment
children also can make a difference.
䊏 Allocating teachers equitably
䊏 Recruiting and training teachers from marginalized groups
䊏 Providing additional support to disadvantaged schools Intercultural and bilingual education is critical for providing
䊏 Developing a relevant curriculum
䊏 Facilitating intercultural and bilingual education
ethnic and linguistic minority children with good quality
schooling – and it can help overcome social stigmatization.
Bilingual education in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Mali has
been shown to improve learning achievement, enrolment
and attendance.

Ensuring that children with disabilities enjoy opportunities


for learning in an inclusive environment requires changes
Accessibility Entitlements
and affordability and opportunities
in attitudes, backed by investments in teacher training,
䊏 Cutting direct and indirect costs 䊏 Developing poverty reduction strategies learning equipment and data collection. An evaluation in
䊏 Providing targeted financial incentives 䊏 Tackling early childhood deprivation Eastern Cape, one of the poorest provinces of South Africa,
䊏 Investing in school infrastructure 䊏 Enforcing anti-discrimination legislation
䊏 Bringing classrooms closer to children 䊏 Providing social protection
where the shift towards inclusive education is well under
䊏 Supporting flexible provision 䊏 Allocating public spending more equitably way, found that it produced significant gains, ranging from
䊏 Coordinating and monitoring non-state provision
improved physical access to support for specialized teaching
practices and increased admission of disabled learners.
E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA REGIONAL OVERVIEW 13

Entitlements and opportunities Financing education


Legal provisions can play a role in overcoming Sub-Saharan Africa’s progress towards achieving the
discrimination, and some marginalized groups have Education for All goals has been facilitated in many countries
successfully challenged practices and policies that resulted by increases in government spending and international aid
in educational marginalization and institutionalized for education. But the economic downturn has begun to affect
segregation. For example, birth registration and identity education systems in the region. There is a real danger that
card drives in Burkina Faso and Senegal support the right the budgetary pressures and rising poverty caused by the
of every person to a formal identity, crucial for claiming global financial crisis will stall or even reverse progress in
a place in school or an entitlement to stipends. Legal education. Moreover, while overall aid is rising, several major
provisions are likely to prove most effective when backed donors are falling far short of their pledges. A concerted effort
by political mobilization on the part of the marginalized. on the part of donors and recipient countries is critical in the
current economic climate.
Social protection can mitigate the vulnerability that comes
with poverty and associated forms of disadvantage, and National financing
can improve enrolment and attendance among poor and
other marginalized groups. Conditional and unconditional Increases in government spending in real terms in
transfers of cash and food can build the resilience of poor sub-Saharan Africa have accelerated the region’s progress
and vulnerable households so that they can manage risk towards Education for All. The economic downturn, along
without compromising the long-term welfare of their with higher estimates of the financing gap for achieving EFA
children. In Burkina Faso, a national school feeding (Box 2), is cause for concern.
programme has increased enrolment among younger girls.
Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme has enabled A context of strong economic growth and poverty reduction
hundreds of thousands of vulnerable households to gains has contributed to progress. Public spending on
increase spending on education and health, and to keep primary education in sub-Saharan Africa rose by 29% in real
children in school during droughts. In Zambia, a pilot terms between 2000 and 2005. About three-quarters of the
unconditional cash transfer programme led to decreased increase resulted from strong economic growth.
absenteeism among poor children and increased household
spending on education. A rise in the share of GNP devoted to education has also
driven increases in real spending. Between 1999 and 2007
Breaking down disadvantage in education requires the share of education spending in GNP rose in the majority
simultaneous implementation of public policies across of the twenty-three sub-Saharan African countries with data
a broad front, with education interventions integrated into available. Six of these countries (Burundi, Cameroon,
wider strategies for poverty reduction and social inclusion. Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique and Senegal) increased their
share of GNP devoted to education by more than 50%. All
countries concerned saw gains towards Education for All.
Ethiopia and Mozambique registered the region’s largest
increases in the EDI over the period. At the other extreme,
in the Congo and Eritrea, spending on education declined by
over 50%. In Eritrea, it fell from 5.3% of GNP in 1999 to 2.4%
in 2006. This shift of priority away from education explains
the slow progress Eritrea has made towards achieving
Education for All.

The impressive regional increases in the proportion of GNP


devoted to education have resulted from assigning greater
importance to education in government budgets. In 2007,
half of sub-Saharan African countries with data devoted
17.5% or more of their national budgets to education,
compared with 15.8% in South and West Asia. Despite this
impressive standing relative to other regions, in only six of
the twenty-four countries with data did education exceed
20% of the budget – the figure commonly used as the
benchmark for minimally adequate funding in low-income
countries. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa devote a greater
share of their education budgets to primary education than
do other regions: in 2007, half the countries allocated for
14 REGIONAL OVERVIEW SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0

primary education at least 46.8% of the current education International aid


budget, compared with 39.8% in South and West Asia.
International aid is vital for the financing of education in
The economic slowdown will have far-reaching sub-Saharan Africa. The region is the largest recipient of
consequences for education financing. Reductions in the total official development assistance, accounting for about
pace of economic growth and in government revenue are one in every three dollars. In 2005, donors pledged to double
jeopardizing progress towards Education for All. For sub- the level of total aid to Africa by 2010. The global economic
Saharan Africa, the resources available for education could downturn has reinforced the importance of this promise,
fall by US$4.6 billion a year on average in 2009 and 2010, and urgent and concerted efforts are needed if the aid
and spending per primary school pupil could be as much as pledges are to be fulfilled. Current commitments indicate
10% lower in 2010. Low-income countries in sub-Saharan donors will fall short of the 2010 target for the region by
Africa have a limited ability to shield public spending from an estimated US$18 billion.
the effects of the downturn. These countries require an
increase in development assistance to offset revenue losses Developments in education underscore the potential for aid
and sustain high-priority social spending. In the absence of to make a difference. In Mozambique, donors have pooled
an effective international response, low-income countries their support for the national education strategy and aid
in the region will find it difficult to protect spending on has played a key role in financing school construction in
education, let alone scale up spending to the levels required rural areas, recruiting and training teachers and providing
to achieve Education for All. textbooks. With support from twenty-two donors, Mali has
embarked on an ambitious programme for accelerated
education progress. External aid accounted for nearly
Box 2: Determining the cost of bridging the financing gap three-quarters of the programme cost in 2007, excluding
teacher salaries. The primary NERs increased by seventeen
The EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010 reviewed estimates
percentage points in Mali and twenty-four percentage points
of the Education for All financing gap in a study assessing in Mozambique between 1999 and 2007.
the costs associated with achieving key education goals.
Of the forty-six countries included in the study, thirty are Averaged over 2006 and 2007, total annual aid to education
in sub-Saharan Africa. The estimated gap covers basic to sub-Saharan Africa amounted to US$3.9 billion, up from
education (literacy, pre-primary and primary education) US$2.7 billion a year in 1999 and 2000. However, although
as well as a provision for reaching the most marginalized
education accounted for 12% of total aid flows to the region
sections of society.
in 1999 and 2000, the share was only 9% in 2006 and 2007.
The global Education for All financing gap is around Basic education remains an area of particular concern.
US$16 billion for basic education, or 1.5% of the collective While aid commitments to the region have increased by 46%
GDP of the forty-six countries. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts
since the beginning of the decade, the US$1.7 billion
for around two-thirds of the global financing gap, or
US$10.6 billion. reported for basic education in 2007 represented a cut of
24% from 2006 – or US$560 million less in real finance.
The region’s share of the financing gap varies by education
goal — from 42% for adult literacy to 66% for early
childhood care and education and 68% for universal
Countries affected by conflict pose some of the greatest
primary education. Globally, reaching the marginalized challenges for aid partnerships, and support for those
requires additional finance: extending primary school countries remains uneven. Eritrea received US$26 per
opportunities to social groups facing extreme and primary school age child – more than eight times as much
persistent deprivation will cost US$3.7 billion. as the Central African Republic or Liberia. In many cases,
Low-income countries affected by conflict account for 41% aid allocations do not correspond to what might be expected
of the global financing gap. In some countries, the collapse on the basis of an assessment of need. With more than
of public financing for education has shifted the burden to 4 million children not attending school, the Democratic
households, which in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo received only US$2 per child in aid
for instance, must cover half of overall costs. Reducing the for basic education in 2006–2007.12
burden on households is a priority for improving access.
Developing countries could close part of the financing gap In many conflict-affected countries, expenditure on security
themselves by according greater financial priority to basic operations and emergency assistance dominates donor
education in national financing and budget allocation. Their
support, with long-term development in general – and
governments need to increase public spending by 2.5% of
GDP, on average, to meet Education for All goals.
education in particular – taking a back seat. In Liberia,
for example, the cost of United Nations peacekeeping
However, even with these efforts, poorer countries cannot operations has consistently been more than double total aid
meet the costs of achieving the goals without the donor
community. Globally, aid levels for basic education need to
12. Global Monitoring Report calculations based on net attendance rate from the
increase sixfold, from US$2.7 billion to around US$16 billion. Democratic Republic of the Congo 2007 Demographic and Health Surveys and population
data from UIS database.
E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA REGIONAL OVERVIEW 15

flows since 2004. Only 2% of the humanitarian and Box 3: The Fast Track Initiative
development aid to Liberia was allocated to education
during the post-conflict phase in 2004–2007. The problem The Fast Track Initiative (FTI) is an important multilateral
is not that too much is invested in security and alleviating framework for delivering aid to education in thirty-six
hunger; it is that too little is invested in education and countries, including twenty in sub-Saharan Africa.* However,
other development areas, which are no less important it has fallen far short of expectations due to limited
to post-conflict reconstruction. disbursement, lack of transparency in decision-making and
governance problems. The FTI’s Catalytic Fund has suffered
from low resource mobilization, poor disbursement rates and
Strong efforts on the part of donor and African countries
a narrow donor base. The EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010
alike are needed if the delivery of aid is to be improved calls for urgent, comprehensive reform of the FTI. Following the
in accordance with the Paris Declaration on Aid example of global health funds, a reformed FTI could be used
Effectiveness. Improved aid predictability and, when feasible, to harness more innovative sources of financing for education,
greater use of recipient government management systems including via private foundations and companies.
are particularly crucial. At present, the quality of a country’s Half of total Catalytic Fund disbursements were distributed
public financial management system is a weak guide to to only three countries: Kenya, Madagascar and Rwanda.
whether donors use it. Malawi scores lower on the CPIA
The Catalytic Fund has been dogged by poor disbursement
quality scale13 than Madagascar, Senegal and Sierra Leone, rates. An allocation to Senegal in 2007 had still not been
yet has a far higher share of aid using national management disbursed by April 2009. Two years after the initial Catalytic
systems. In addition, the international multilateral Fund allocation, Mozambique had received only
framework for cooperation in education needs to be US$29 million of a US$79 million grant.
strengthened through fundamental reform of the EFA Plan endorsement has not always led to aid delivery. Several
Fast Track Initiative (Box 3). conflict-affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been
through the FTI endorsement process, including Liberia and
Sierra Leone in 2007 and the Central African Republic in
2008. Three months after the FTI endorsed Sierra Leone’s
national education plan, US$13.9 million in Catalytic Fund
support for the country was approved. As of March 2009,
two years after the allocation decision, Sierra Leone was still
awaiting its first disbursement.

* Between 2002 and 2008, the following countries’ education sector plans
were endorsed: Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Cameroon,
Ethiopia, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar,
Mali, Mozambique, the Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal,
Sierra Leone and Zambia.

13. The Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) is a World Bank diagnostic
tool that ranks country performance on an ascending scale from one to six.
16 REGIONAL OVERVIEW SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0

Table 2: Sub-Saharan Africa, selected education indicators

Adult literacy rate


(15 and over) Early childhood care and education

Child survival and well-being Pre-primary education


EFA
Total Compulsory Development Under-5 Moderate and GER
population education Index mortality rate severe stunting
(000) (age group) (EDI) 1985–19941 2000–20071 (‰) (%) 1999 2007
Total GPI Total GPI Total Total
Country or territory 2007 2007 (%) (F/M) (%) (F/M) 2005–2010 2000–20071 (%) (%)

Angola 17 024 6-14 … … … 67 0.65 231 45 28 …


Benin 4 9 033 6-11 0.647 27 0.42 41 0.53 146 38 4 6
Botswana 1 882 6-15 0.869 69 1.09 83 1.00 68 23 … 15
Burkina Faso 4 14 784 6-16 0.602 14 0.42 29 0.59 181 35 2 3
Burundi 8 508 … 0.719 37 0.57 59 0.78 169 53 0.8 2
Cameroon 4 18 549 6-11 … … … 68 0.78 144 30 11 21
Cape Verde 530 6-16 0.875 63 0.71 84 0.88 29 … … 53
Central African Republic 4 4 343 6-15 … 34 0.42 49 0.52 163 38 … 3
Chad 10 781 6-14 … 12 … 32 0.48 189 41 … 1
Comoros 839 6-14 … … … … … 63 44 2 3
Congo 3 768 6-16 … … … … … 102 26 2 10
Côte d’Ivoire 19 262 6-15 … 34 0.53 49 0.63 183 34 2 3
D. R. Congo 62 636 6-15 … … … 67 0.67 196 38 … 3
Equatorial Guinea 507 7-11 … … … 87 0.86 155 39 34 66
Eritrea 4 851 7-14 0.602 … … 64 0.70 77 38 5 14
Ethiopia 4 83 099 . 0.598 27 0.51 36 0.46 145 47 1 3
Gabon 1 331 6-16 … 72 0.82 86 0.91 86 21 … …
Gambia 4 1 709 7-12 0.678 … … … … 128 22 18 22
Ghana 4 23 478 6-15 0.791 … … 65 0.81 90 22 39 68
Guinea 4 9 370 7-16 0.622 … … 29 0.43 156 35 … 10
Guinea-Bissau 1 695 7-12 … … … … … 195 41 3 …
Kenya 4 37 538 6-13 0.839 … … 74 0.90 104 30 44 48
Lesotho 4 2 008 … 0.788 … … 82 1.23 98 38 21 18
Liberia 4 3 750 6-16 … 41 0.57 56 0.84 205 39 41 125
Madagascar 4 19 683 6-10 0.762 … … 71 0.85 106 48 3 8
Malawi 13 925 6-13 0.725 49 0.51 72 0.82 132 46 … …
Mali 4 12 337 7-15 0.590 … … 26 0.52 200 34 2 3
Mauritius 1 262 5-16 0.949 80 0.88 87 0.94 17 10 96 99
Mozambique 4 21 397 6-12 0.642 … … 44 0.58 164 41 … …
Namibia 2 074 7-16 0.921 76 0.95 88 0.99 66 24 31 32
Niger 4 14 226 … 0.508 … … 29 0.35 188 50 1 2
Nigeria 148 093 6-14 … 55 0.65 72 0.80 187 38 … 15
Rwanda 4 9 725 7-12 … 58 … 65 0.84 188 45 … …
Sao Tome and Principe 4 158 7-13 0.899 73 0.73 88 0.88 95 23 25 36
Senegal 4 12 379 7-12 0.650 27 0.48 42 0.63 115 16 3 9
Seychelles 87 6-15 … 88 1.02 92 1.01 … … 109 109
Sierra Leone 4 5 866 6-11 … … … 38 0.54 278 40 … 5
Somalia 8 699 … … … … … … 193 38 … …
South Africa 48 577 7-15 … … … 88 0.98 66 25 21 51
Swaziland 1 141 … 0.867 67 0.94 84 1.00 114 24 … 17
Togo 6 585 6-15 0.629 … … 53 0.56 126 24 2 4
Uganda 30 884 6-12 0.761 56 0.66 74 0.80 127 32 4 4
U. R. Tanzania 40 454 7-13 … 59 0.67 72 0.83 118 38 … 35
Zambia 4 11 922 7-13 0.855 65 0.79 71 0.75 157 39 … …
Zimbabwe 13 349 6-12 … 84 0.88 91 0.94 94 29 41 …

Sum Weighted average Weighted average Weighted average

Sub-Saharan Africa 764 095 … … 53 0.71 62 0.76 158 38 10 15

Developing countries 5 358 052 … … 68 0.77 80 0.86 81 30 27 36

World 6 656 326 … … 76 0.85 84 0.90 74 28 33 41


E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA REGIONAL OVERVIEW 17

Primary education

Survival rate
NER GPI Out-of-school to last grade %
total of GER children2 total of trained Pupil/teacher
(%) (F/M) (000) (%) teachers ratio3

1999 2007 1999 2007 2007 1999 2006 2007 1999 2007 Country or territory

… … … … … … … … … 41 Angola
50 80 0.67 0.83 244 … 65 72 53 44 Benin 4
80 84 1.00 0.99 49 82 75 87 27 24 Botswana
35 58 0.70 0.87 1 002 61 69 88 49 49 Burkina Faso 4
… 81 0.80 0.93 244 … 58 87 57 52 Burundi
… … 0.82 0.86 … 78 59 62 52 44 Cameroon 4
99 85 0.96 0.94 12 … 88 83 29 25 Cape Verde
… 56 … 0.71 310 … 50 … … 90 Central African Republic 4
51 … 0.58 0.70 … 47 30 35 68 60 Chad
49 … 0.85 0.88 … … 72 … 35 35 Comoros
… 54 0.95 0.93 244 … … 87 61 58 Congo
52 … 0.74 0.79 … 62 75 100 43 41 Côte d’Ivoire
33 … 0.90 0.81 … … … 96 26 38 D. R. Congo
89 67 0.79 0.95 20 … … 31 57 28 Equatorial Guinea
33 41 0.82 0.83 349 95 60 87 47 48 Eritrea
34 71 0.61 0.88 3 721 51 58 … 46 … Ethiopia 4
… … 1.00 … … … … … 44 … Gabon
72 67 0.86 1.07 80 86 64 … 37 41 Gambia 4
57 73 0.92 0.99 930 … 83 49 30 32 Ghana 4
45 74 0.64 0.85 362 … 77 68 47 45 Guinea 4
45 … 0.67 … … … … … 44 … Guinea-Bissau
63 86 0.97 0.99 769 … 84 99 32 46 Kenya 4
57 72 1.08 1.00 101 58 62 66 44 40 Lesotho 4
42 31 0.74 0.89 447 … … 40 39 24 Liberia 4
63 98 0.97 0.97 20 51 42 55 47 49 Madagascar 4
98 87 0.96 1.04 314 37 36 … … 67 Malawi
46 63 0.70 0.80 763 66 73 … 62 52 Mali 4
91 95 1.00 1.00 5 99 98 100 26 22 Mauritius
52 76 0.74 0.87 954 28 45 63 61 65 Mozambique 4
81 87 1.01 0.99 45 82 88 95 32 30 Namibia
26 45 0.68 0.75 1 262 … 70 98 41 40 Niger 4
58 64 0.79 0.85 8 221 … … 51 41 40 Nigeria
… 94 0.98 1.02 88 30 … 98 54 69 Rwanda 4 Notes:
86 97 0.97 0.98 0.1 … 74 … 36 31 Sao Tome and Principe 4 Data underlined are for 2004.
Data in italics are for 2005.
54 72 0.86 1.00 506 … 53 … 49 34 Senegal 4 Data in bold italics are for 2006.
… … 0.99 0.99 … 99 … … 15 12 Seychelles Data in bold are for 2008 or 2007
for survival rate to last grade.
… … … 0.90 … … … 49 … 44 Sierra Leone 4 The averages are derived from both
… … 0.54 … … … … … 28 … Somalia published data and broad estimates for
countries for which no recent data or
94 86 0.97 0.97 642 57 … … 35 31 South Africa reliable publishable data are available.
74 87 0.95 0.93 26 64 74 94 33 32 Swaziland 1. Data are for the most recent year
available during the period specified.
79 77 0.75 0.86 222 44 45 15 41 39 Togo
2. Data reflect the actual number of
… 95 0.92 1.01 341 … 25 93 57 57 Uganda children not enrolled at all, derived
… from the age-specific enrolment ratios
50 98 1.00 1.00 143 83 99 40 53 U. R. Tanzania of primary school age children, which
68 94 0.92 0.97 108 66 75 … 47 49 Zambia 4 measure the proportion of those who
… … … are enrolled in either primary or
83 88 0.97 0.99 281 41 38 Zimbabwe secondary school (primary adjusted
NER).
3. Based on headcounts of pupils
Weighted average Weighted average Sum Median Weighted average and teachers.
4. Fast Track Initiatitve (FTI):
56 73 0.85 0.90 32 226 … 69 87 41 44 Sub-Saharan Africa countries with endorsed sector plans.
Sources: EFA Global Monitoring Report
80 86 0.91 0.95 68 638 … 81 85 27 27 Developing countries 2010, statistical tables; UNESCO
Institute for Statistics; OECD-DAC
82 87 0.92 0.96 71 791 90 89 … 25 25 World online CRS database.
18 REGIONAL OVERVIEW SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0

Table 2 (continued)
Tertiary
Secondary education education

GER in lower GER in upper


secondary secondary GER in total secondary GER
2007 2007 1999 2007 2007
Total GPI Total GPI Total GPI Total GPI Total GPI
Country or territory (%) (F/M) (%) (F/M) (%) (F/M) (%) (F/M) (%) (F/M)

Angola … … … … 13 0.76 … … 3 …
Benin 4 41 0.58 20 0.52 19 0.47 32 0.57 5 …
Botswana 89 1.07 58 1.00 74 1.07 76 1.05 5 1.00
Burkina Faso 4 24 0.77 8 0.61 10 0.62 18 0.74 3 0.50
Burundi 20 0.75 8 0.63 … … 15 0.72 2 0.46
Cameroon 4 32 0.80 16 0.78 25 0.83 25 0.79 7 0.79
Cape Verde 99 1.13 60 1.28 … … 79 1.18 9 1.21
Central African Republic 4 … … … … … … … … 1 0.28
Chad 23 0.41 12 0.56 10 0.26 19 0.45 1 0.14
Comoros 41 0.75 27 0.78 25 0.81 35 0.76 … …
Congo … … … … … … … … … …
Côte d’Ivoire … … … … 22 0.54 … … 8 0.50
D. R. Congo 46 0.58 27 0.49 18 0.52 33 0.53 4 0.35
Equatorial Guinea … … … … 33 0.37 … … … …
Eritrea 43 0.73 18 0.67 21 0.69 29 0.70 … …
Ethiopia 4 39 0.67 11 0.64 12 0.68 30 0.67 3 0.34
Gabon … … … … 49 0.86 … … … …
Gambia 4 60 0.98 36 0.91 30 0.67 49 0.96 … …
Ghana 4 74 0.92 32 0.82 37 0.80 53 0.89 6 0.54
Guinea 4 47 0.61 24 0.45 14 0.37 38 0.57 5 0.28
Guinea-Bissau … … … … … … … … … …
Kenya 4 87 0.88 35 0.86 38 0.96 53 0.88 3 0.57
Lesotho 4 45 1.29 24 1.22 31 1.35 37 1.27 4 1.19
Liberia 4 … … … … 29 0.65 … … … …
Madagascar 4 36 0.96 12 0.91 … … 26 0.95 3 0.89
Malawi 39 0.87 16 0.74 36 0.70 28 0.83 0.5 0.51
Mali 4 44 0.64 18 0.65 16 0.52 32 0.64 4 …
Mauritius 99 1.02 80 0.96 76 0.98 88 0.99 14 1.17
Mozambique 4 26 0.74 7 0.66 5 0.62 18 0.73 1 0.49
Namibia 76 1.17 32 1.16 58 1.11 59 1.17 6 0.88
Niger 4 15 0.64 4 0.50 7 0.60 11 0.61 1 0.33
Nigeria 35 0.82 28 0.79 23 0.89 32 0.81 10 0.69
Rwanda 4 24 0.92 13 0.85 9 0.99 18 0.89 3 0.62
Sao Tome and Principe 4 64 1.11 18 0.88 … … 46 1.07 . .
Senegal 4 35 0.80 14 0.65 15 0.64 26 0.76 8 0.55
Seychelles 116 1.09 106 1.21 113 1.04 112 1.13 . .
Sierra Leone 4 46 0.69 17 0.69 … … 32 0.69 … …
Somalia … … … … … … … … … …
South Africa 95 0.99 99 1.09 89 1.13 97 1.05 15 1.24
Swaziland 66 0.87 38 0.94 45 1.00 54 0.89 4 0.98
Togo 49 0.57 26 0.42 28 0.40 39 0.53 5 …
Uganda 27 0.87 12 0.67 10 0.66 23 0.83 … …
U. R. Tanzania … … … … 6 0.82 … … 1 0.48
Zambia 4 58 0.91 33 0.86 20 0.77 43 0.89 … …
Zimbabwe 58 0.99 31 0.87 43 0.88 40 0.93 … …

Weighted average Weighted average Weighted average

Sub-Saharan Africa 40 0.79 26 0.78 24 0.82 34 0.79 6 0.66

Developing countries 75 0.94 48 0.94 52 0.89 61 0.94 18 0.96

World 78 0.95 54 0.95 60 0.92 66 0.95 26 1.08

Sources: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010, statistical tables; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; OECD-DAC online CRS database.
E D U C AT I O N F O R A L L G L O B A L M O N I T O R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 0 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA REGIONAL OVERVIEW 19

Education finance
Total aid Total aid to basic
Total public expenditure to basic education education per primary
on education as % (constant 2007 school age child
of GNP US$ million) (constant 2007 US$)
2006–2007 2006–2007
1999 2007 annual average annual average Country or territory

3.4 3.0 17 9 Angola


3.0 3.9 41 28 Benin 4
… 8.8 1 3 Botswana
… 4.5 110 47 Burkina Faso 4
3.5 5.2 30 23 Burundi
2.1 3.9 21 8 Cameroon 4
… 5.9 3 45 Cape Verde
… 1.3 7 11 Central African Republic 4
1.7 2.3 3 2 Chad
… … 1 7 Comoros
6.0 2.5 1 1 Congo
5.6 … 9 3 Côte d’Ivoire
… … 106 10 D. R. Congo
… … 4 63 Equatorial Guinea
5.3 2.4 0 1 Eritrea
3.5 5.5 214 16 Ethiopia 4
3.5 … 2 12 Gabon
3.1 2.1 5 21 Gambia 4
4.2 5.5 157 46 Ghana 4
2.1 1.7 5 4 Guinea 4
5.6 … 3 10 Guinea-Bissau
5.4 7.0 88 15 Kenya 4
10.2 11.0 7 17 Lesotho 4
… … 35 57 Liberia 4
2.5 3.4 39 14 Madagascar 4
4.7 … 35 14 Malawi
3.0 4.9 179 89 Mali 4
4.2 3.9 8 69 Mauritius
2.2 5.8 171 42 Mozambique 4
7.9 … 6 17 Namibia
… 3.3 26 11 Niger 4
… … 91 4 Nigeria
… 4.9 68 47 Rwanda 4
… … 2 89 Sao Tome and Principe 4
3.2 4.9 95 51 Senegal 4
5.5 6.6 0.2 21 Seychelles Notes:
… Data underlined are for 2004.
3.9 8 9 Sierra Leone 4 Data in italics are for 2005.
… … 12 8 Somalia Data in bold italics are for 2006.
Data in bold are for 2008 or 2007
6.2 5.5 27 4 South Africa for survival rate to last grade.
5.7 7.9 2 11 Swaziland The averages are derived from both
published data and broad estimates for
4.3 3.8 2 2 Togo countries for which no recent data or
… 5.3 72 11 Uganda reliable publishable data are available.
… 1. Data are for the most recent year
2.2 161 22 U. R. Tanzania available during the period specified.
2.0 1.7 71 31 Zambia 4 2. Data reflect the actual number of
… … children not enrolled at all, derived
2 1 Zimbabwe
from the age-specific enrolment ratios
of primary school age children, which
measure the proportion of those who
Median Sum Weighted average are enrolled in either primary or
secondary school (primary adjusted
3.5 4.5 1 973 16 Sub-Saharan Africa NER).
3. Based on headcounts of pupils
4.5 4.5 4 046 7 Developing countries and teachers.
4. Fast Track Initiatitve (FTI):
4.6 4.9 4 874 8 World countries with endorsed sector plans.
Regional Overview:
sub-Saharan Africa

e-mail: efareport@unesco.org
Tel.: +33 1 45 68 10 36
Fax: +33 1 45 68 56 41
www.efareport.unesco.org

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