Africa: Then and Now
Education in Africa
Almost 60% of children in sub-Saharan Africa between the ages of 15 and 17 are not in school. While girls are much more likely to stay out of school than boys. Nine million girls between the ages of about 6 and 11 in Africa will never go to school at all, compared to six million boys. If every girl in sub-Saharan Africa completed even just primary education, the maternal mortality rate would likely decrease by 70%. The rate of enrollment in secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest in the world, sitting at only eight percent as of 2014. This is far lower than the enrollment of the second-lowest country, in Southern Asia, which is at 23%, where the global average is 34%.(1)
A picture of The University of Cape Town, the best university in Africa and ranked #103 in US News for best universities in the world
The number of graduates in Africa from 2012-2016
As shown in the infographic, more than half of out of school children in the world live in Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
Primary and Lower Secondary Completion Rates across Regions in 2015 Source: Author tabulations using data from World Development Indicators (2020).
A graph showing the competency levels by subject of each country
According to UIS data, almost 60% of youth between the ages of about 15 and 17 are not in school. (2)
Education in Africa is major priority for UNESCO and the UIS (UNESCO Institute for Statistics). In response, the UIS develops indicators to help governments, donors and UN partners better address the challenges.(3) For example, the UIS tracks the extent to which schools lack basic facilities, such as access to electricity and potable water, and monitoring classroom conditions – from the availability of textbooks to average class sizes and the prevalence of multi-grade classrooms. With seven out of ten countries facing an acute shortage of teachers, the Institute also produces a range of data on their training, recruitment and working conditions.
Nearly one in three children in the median country does not complete primary school, and three in five fail to complete lower secondary. Africa is the lowest performing region in the world in terms of school access by a significant margin.(4)