Tackling Africa's Foundational Learning Crisis

Access to education in Africa has steadily improved over the past two decades, with more girls attending school and a higher number of students enrolling in tertiary education than ever before. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO, school completion rates between 2000 and 2022 rose from 52 to 69 in primary education, from 35 to 50 in lower secondary education, and from 23 to 33 in upper secondary education.

Despite this progress, policymakers are deeply concerned about the poor learning outcomes in many schools. Approximately 90 of African children in school cannot read or understand a simple 150-word text by age 10, according to the UN. Similarly, around 84 of children in sub-Saharan Africa were not proficient in mathematics in 2015. This has led to a foundational learning crisis that, if left unaddressed, could transform Africa's anticipated demographic dividend into a demographic disaster.

Foundational learning is basic literacy, numeracy, and transferable skills that are the building blocks for a life of learning. Without foundational learning, students often fail to thrive later in school or when they join the workforce.

"If the majority of children on our continent are not acquiring the essential skills needed for their future, we are facing what could be an existential crisis," says Oby Ezekwesili, Nigeria's former education minister and CEO of Human Capital Africa HCA, an advocacy organisation dedicated to improving foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes in Africa. She tells African Business that the foundational learning crisis in Africa should be treated as a matter of "life and death". She argues that while the focus on getting more children in school is noble, quality has been overlooked in the process. "Quality has taken a backseat to quantity, and foundational skills - reading, writing, basic math, and socio-emotional learning - are being neglected," she states.

Ezekwesili believes that the solution to Africa's foundational education crisis lies in empowering teachers. "Teachers are one of the most important stakeholders in the learning process. However, they are in short supply," she says, pointing out that the continent needs 17 million additional teachers by 2030 in order to meet its universal education goals.