African governments strengthen collaboration to improve children’s learning

African governments are meeting at the ADEA Triennale in Mauritius to discuss solutions as a new report shows that, while all children are born to learn, those in Africa are five times less likely to learn the basics than children elsewhere. The ability of education systems in the continent to ensure even rudimentary literacy skills for their students has declined in 4 out of 10 African countries over the last three decades. The findings are published in the first of a three-part series of Spotlight reports on foundational learning in Africa called Born to learn, published by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report at UNESCO, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and the African Union. The continental report draws from five accompanying country reports developed in partnership with ministries of education covering the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal and a series of case studies from various African regions.

“Africa has a complex past that has left parts of it with linguistic fragmentation, conflict, poverty and malnutrition that have weighed heavily on the education systems’ ability to ensure universal primary completion and foundational learning. Our partnership is shining a spotlight on this issue together with education ministries to help find solutions that work. The social and economic consequences of low learning outcomes are devastating for Africa. This report’s findings give us the chance to find a new way forward, learning from each other,” said Albert Nsengiyumva, the Executive Secretary of ADEA.