80% of grade 3 Nigerian students are unable to read a single word.

In comparison, North American grade 3 students are expected to be able to comfortably read and write, as well as begin understanding comprehension and analysis.

That being said, Nigerian students in grade 3 have gone through 3 years of education with absolutely no added value. Not only do these students deal with the opportunity cost associated with going to school in the first place, they’re unable to utilize their educations to escape poverty and properly stimulate the economy.

While lack of accessibility to education in Africa is a large and often brought up problem, lack of quality education is just as important. Despite the fact that many children of primary school age simply can’t access education, many of those who have access to education are still unable to become well-educated contributing members of society due to low-quality education in Africa. Educated or uneducated, the education system in African countries has proven to create a low-quality workforce with many of the population trapped in poverty without the ability to escape out of it.

It’s evident that educational quality is incredibly important in creating a valuable workforce, decreasing unemployment rates, improving quality of life for Africans, and escaping poverty. That being said, why is quality education so inaccessible in this continent?

The main culprit is the lack of proper training for teachers.

Teachers are the centerpiece of a functioning education system. A teacher’s skill determines the quality of the students’ education, as well as whether going to school is worth it given the opportunity cost associated with doing so. In Africa, even the children who have access to school are gaining little value from their education, primarily due to a lack of teacher training.

Many teachers are often absent, as they don’t have incentive to show up due to the severely low wages. Teachers in Africa often work multiple jobs which take priority over teaching, resulting in a high rate of teacher a. Even those who do consistently show up are improperly trained and lack the qualifications to adequately teach students. In fact, studies in countries such as Lesotho, Mozambique and Uganda have found that fewer than half of teachers could score in the top band on a test designed for 12-year-olds. In addition, there is a high amount of understaffing in schools in Africa.

Providing high quality education is an essential part of creating a competent and valuable workforce.

A major outcome of high quality education is a valuable workforce capable of contributing to the economy and the development of these countries. It also significantly reduced the strain on global healthcare systems, as well as the carbon footprints of families. Families are unable to escape the struggles of poverty without a high-quality education while access to it provides them a stepping stone to escape poverty, a profound issue seen in all major African countries.

The growth in the world’s labor market is in Africa. As other parts of the world begin to age, Africa will grow its population and today’s children will be the talent tomorrow’s global companies will be recruiting. In the next 30 years, it is projected that sub-Saharan Africa’s working-age population will increase more than twofold—accounting for 68 percent of the world’s total growth. Economists have shown that when controlling for other factors, increasing girls’ and boys’ years of schooling (and the skills they learn while there) has a positive effect on economic growth. Ensuring girls’ secondary education is particularly impactful. An increased workforce also leads to an increase in incomes, growth in economies of Africa’s trading partner

High quality education decreases violence

Similarly, especially in countries with large youth populations, equitable education provisions can support political stability by sending the signal that the government is attending to people’s needs and giving people more tools to resolve disputes peacefully. This “pacifying effect” of education, as conflict researchers often refer to it, can help reduce the risk of civil war and the growth of ungovernable territories and safe havens for violent extremism.

High quality education promotes health and decreses strain on the global healthcare system.

Furthermore, educated girls and women can better seek and negotiate  life-saving health care for themselves and their children. Global studies have shown increased education—particularly for girls—leads to less infant deaths, less maternal mortality, and less infection from viruses (HIV/AIDs). The evidence is so strong for girls’ education that some health researchers call it a “social vaccine.” Healthier communities mean less strains on health systems, particularly relevant to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Lastly, educating and empowering women can decrease death rates and displacement due to weather-related disasters, and could result in an estimated 85 gigaton reduction of carbon dioxide by 2050.

African countries simply don’t have the funding necessary to adequately train teachers.

With a significant lack of funding in the healthcare system in African countries, support for trained teachers and adequate training for teachers simply isn’t accessible. The already inadequate education system makes the supply of trained teachers incredibly low. A lack of proper educators contributes to this low-supply of trained teachers, making it incredibly difficult to stimulate a well-developed education system in Africa.

As well as this, one of the major priorities in Africa is to provide access to an education as opposed to a quality education. This means that insufficient funding is allocated into ensuring that education is of a high quality, that students who are being educated are actually literate, and that curriculums are being updated and thoroughly followed to ensure a standard of education for all students in these countries.

This clear lack of funding and defecit in adequately trained teachers is evidently unable to support the large amount of students who require education. At the end of the day, students choosing to persue an education in Africa, if possible, comes with a significant amount of opportunity cost. With the lack of quality of education, many people of primary school age join the workforce to help provide for their family rather than educate themselves in a system that doesn’t necessarily make them educated and contributing members of society.

Teaching at the Right Level (TaLR) focuses on solidifying foundational skills within students.

This organization divides African students from grades 3 -5 into groups based on learning needs rather than age or grade in elementary school to learn reading, writing and counting. It is currently being implemented in Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia. Since 2001, J-PAL-affiliated researchers have rigorously tested the theory of change underlying the TaRL approach. Through 6 randomized evaluations in India, as well as a growing body of research in Africa, they find that when TaRL is successfully implemented, learning outcomes improve.

The Global Partnership for Education promotes gender equality

Focuses on gender equality, as well as teaching quality and assessment, early and inclusive education and education in crisis. This organization was found in 2002 and operates mainly in Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe.

Coca-Cola Foundation has funded teachers and low-income schools

In 2020, the Coca-Cola Foundation spent $52,725 in funds for teacher training and support for virtual learning in 200 low-income schools in Nigeria. This initiative was found by Roberto Goizuela in 1984. They have a strong presence in all African countries.

Unanswered Questions:

• How to deliver proper cost-efficient training?
• How to offer incentives for teacher attendance?
• How to find more willing teachers?

People to discuss this topic with include:

Rebecca Winthrop - Director for the centre of Universal Education, Senior Fellow at Global Economy and Development. Authored articles for Brookings on improving quality public education in Africa.

Russell Rickford - Expert in African American Education, African-American political culture, history of education and American social movements

Robert S. Peterkin - Expert in education achievement, school reform and African-American cildren, equitable school choice leadership.