Africa’s future depends on its children’s foundational learning today

About 90 per cent of African children in school cannot read or understand questions related to a 150-word piece, which they should be able to do by age 10. How did we get here?

Let's start by acknowledging that the world was experiencing a learning crisis even before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, we had real challenges with learning levels around the world, including in sub-Saharan Africa. Before the pandemic, it was estimated that 52 per cent of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries globally could not read. 

But indeed, the last two and half years have further exacerbated this global learning crisis, and now we have very high levels of illiteracy - estimated to be nearly 90 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa.

How did we get here?

How we got here is a combination of factors, but one challenge has been the length of school closures. We see a correlation between those countries in which schools were closed for prolonged periods and higher levels of learning loss. 

The second reason is that, during the closures, we had the challenge of having all children continue learning. This is despite best efforts by governments, the UN, including us [UNICEF], and other partners, to provide different ways for children to continue learning. These include IT-enabled learning such as online learning for children who were connected, but also lower-tech solutions like using the radio and television and delivering learning materials to homes. 

Yet marginalized children, particularly those living in poor areas, or those from poor countries, girls, children with disabilities, and those living in remote locations had less access to remote learning opportunities than the more advantaged children. 

 What can we do to help such children catch up?

Collectively—governments, donors, the UN, and other partners —  need to invest sufficiently in recovery education systems post-pandemic so that all children can catch up, return to their learning and be successful. There is a need for large-scale support to enable education systems to recover.

We need to do this in a way that transforms education.

One lesson from the pandemic is that there are amazing innovations out there and  lot of new partners are interested in supporting education. 

I think there is also a renewed sense of appreciation for the role that schools play in children's lives. 

It is critical to ensure that children and youth realize their full potential to be the engine of growth and change. And how does one realise their full potential? It is by acquiring the full range of skills so that they can contribute to society.

What are some examples of solutions in Africa and what makes them work?

We have several exciting initiatives in Africa that are showing the way for other countries within and outside of the continent to respond to the crisis and transform education. 

For example, we have an initiative called Read Liberia, which is an approach to structured pedagogy or supporting the delivery of learning to children in a very supportive and structured way, based on the latest evidence so that early grade reading skills, numeracy, etc., can accelerate and children can acquire these skills by the time the rest of the curriculum kicks in. It also entails training and supporting teachers sufficiently with learning materials, coaching, etc. And they are showing promising results.

We had an assessment of learning in Ethiopia that led to additional teacher support, training and material provisions to teachers to enable them to do a continuous assessment of learning across the country, and therefore able to provide differentiated support or support that is tailored to each child so that they can be successful. 

Malawi also has an amazing initiative in which remedial education, meaning catch-up programmes, assists children who have fallen behind due to the pandemic or other reasons receive extra support. 

There is a similar approach in Zambia, teaching at the right level catch-up programme, on a large scale, reaching 1,200 schools and over 300,000 children. 

We need a pipeline of quality teachers to support education recovery. Where are they going to come from?

I think teachers are going to be at the heart of any recovery or transformation education system, and the level of support to teachers is going to be critical. Over the last two and a half years we've recognized how much we appreciate teachers. So, we are encouraged by countries increasing support for teachers but also having a pipeline of teachers. 

The future of education rests in today's youth. We need to ensure that the teaching profession is attractive and that it is accorded the level of respect and support consistent with the critical role teachers play in communities and in the future of our children. 

There are some innovative programs for teachers to upgrade their skill sets. We need stronger and more comprehensive pre-service, top-up and in-service training to encourage the youth to enter the teaching profession.