More African pupils out of school – Report

Sub-Saharan African countries have recorded some of the biggest increases in primary school enrolment since the turn of the century, according to a closely-watched report from UNESCO released today.

But the region still has the unenviable distinction of being home to the world’s largest out-of-school population.

UNESCO’s 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report tracks the progress countries have made in hitting six education targets set at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in 2000, including achieving universal primary education, reducing adult illiteracy by 50 per cent and enrolling equal numbers of girls and boys in primary school.

The number of children enrolled in primary schools in sub-Saharan Africa rose by 75 per cent to 144 million between 1999 and 2012, the most recent year for which figures are available, which the report puts down to the abolition of school fees in countries like Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya, as well as an increase in the number of teachers.

One standout performer was Burundi, which more than doubled the proportion of primary-age children enrolled in school from less than 41 in 2000 to 94 per cent in 2010, achieving the highest percentage point rise. Niger also boosted its so-called net enrollment ratio from 27 per cent to nearly 64 per cent, while Mozambique managed an increase of almost 35 percentage points. The significant growth in Burundi and Mozambique’s school age populations made their achievements even more impressive, the report said, as it was “harder to maintain the effort to bring all children into schools.”

However, 16 of the 20 countries UNESCO judged to be furthest from reaching the EFA targets are in sub-Saharan Africa. No country in the region achieved what many consider to be the most important goal of universal primary education, defined as all children completing a primary school cycle. Although the number of out-of-school children in the region has fallen since 1999, there were still 30 million primary-age children not attending school in 2012. This works out as just over half the global total, compared to 40 per cent in 1999.

Tweet