Hudson, Brian and Akyeampong, Albert (2016) Access to quality education in Africa: how to plug the gaps. The Conversation. ISSN 2201-5639

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Abstract

In many countries too many children fail to complete a full cycle of basic education. There are also too many children and youth who do not make the progress expected due to various exclusions, some of which are silent. These include over-age entry and progression, poor attendance, low achievement, disability, under-nutrition, HIV/AIDS orphanhood and the impact of migration.

These problems are particularly acute in Africa. The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals are intended to shape international development through to 2030. Goal number 4 focuses on education. It sets the goal of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Progress was made in working towards the earlier Millennium Development Goals. But there’s still a need to accelerate movement towards providing universal access to education worldwide.

Why is this so challenging and why is it so challenging in Africa in particular? The problems are certainly very complex as reflected by the 10 targets associated with the education goal. How we advance further will be one of the main questions to be addressed by almost 200 delegates at an international conference in Ghana.

Major progress has indeed been made towards increasing access to education at all levels and increasing enrolment rates in schools. This is particularly true for women and girls. And basic literacy skills have improved tremendously.

But bolder efforts are necessary to make even greater strides for achieving universal education goals. For example, the world has achieved equality in primary education between girls and boys. But few countries have achieved this target at all levels of education.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Education and Social Work > Education
Depositing User:	Deeptima Massey
Date Deposited:	17 Oct 2016 11:48
Last Modified:	06 Aug 2021 12:11
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/64812

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