Towards Education for All:
The Situation in Ten Countries of Sub-Saharan Africa
Bernard Audinos
Secrétariat d’Etat à la coopération
France
The Working Group on Education Statistics (WGES) is about to publish a report assessing the progress made towards achieving “education for all” in ten countries of sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe). The situations described are very diverse. However, in most countries, the objectives of Jomtien will not be reached by the year 2000.
In March 1990, 155 Member States of the United Nations Organization adopted the World Declaration on Education For All in Jomtien, Thailand. The countries that ratified the Jomtien declaration in 1990 set the following goal for themselves: to achieve “Education For All” by the year 2000. They also committed themselves to eliminating regional and gender-linked disparities. Three years from the year 2000, what is the situation in sub-Saharan Africa?
A workshop was organized by the NESIS program of the Working Group on Education Statistics (WGES) in Harare, Zimbabwe, May 9-20, 1996. The objective was to measure the progress made towards achieving the goal of “Education For All” in ten countries: Botswana, Burkina-Faso, Guinea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Ten national reports were produced which take stock of the situation in the NESIS pilot-study countries in terms of universal schooling and educational disparities. Main characteristics and trends in basic education are analyzed from the point of view of three sets of indicators: access, enrolment, and efficiency of the system. A synthesis report summarizes the situation described in the ten national reports.
Diverse situations
The national situations revealed in the reports are very diverse. Hence, countries such as Ethiopia—1.2 million square kilometers, population of 55 million, GNP per capita of 100 US$ —and Mauritius—1 900 square kilometers, population of 1 million, GNP per capita of 3 180 US$—are compared.
Botswana, Mauritius and Zimbabwe
As of 1995, Botswana, Mauritius and Zimbabwe had net enrolment rates above 82 percent, very close to the Jomtien objective. The educational systems are efficient. The dropout rate to Grade Five is under 10 percent. In Botswana and Zimbabwe, nearly two-thirds of the pupils obtain their elementary diploma. In Mauritius, 90 per cent of pupils obtain their diploma.
Zambia
On the other hand, Zambia seems to be experiencing difficulties. The gross admission rate into Grade One and enrolment rates have declined during the last nine years. The net enrolment rate was of 69 percent in 1995.
The situation in Zambia is atypical for two reasons: the enrolment rate is higher for girls (70 percent) than for boys (68 percent); and, the enrolment rate is remarkably similar in all regions. Performance is high up to Grade Six. However, the final exam is very selective, and only two out of 10 pupils pass.
Ethiopia In Ethiopia, most indicators are “in the red”. Enrolment is decreasing while the population of school age is growing by 3.1 percent per year. As a result, there is a striking reduction in net and gross enrolment rates (respectively 21% and 28% in 1994). Discrimination between girls and boys has also increased.
Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Togo
In these five countries, the situation is more homogeneous. The number of pupils in primary school has increased considerably faster than the corresponding population of that age group. As a result, enrolment rates have risen sensibly and the number of children out of school has dropped. The percentage of female pupils has increased.
Despite this progress, the objectives of Education For All are far from being attained, especially in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Mali, where 65 to 74 percent of school-age children are out of school.
Access to Grade One usually occurs late, mainly due to insufficient school capacity.
The performance of the education systems is poor: repetition rates and dropout rates are high—30 to 40 percent of pupils leave school before Grade Five, which is considered the minimum level for acquiring lasting reading, writing and counting skills.
Despite clear progress, disparities in the education of boys and girls remain significant, especially in Guinea and Togo. In Togo, the gross enrolment rate is of 99 percent. Forty-three percent of school-age girls do not go to school vs. 21 percent of boys.
In most countries, the objective of Jomtien will not be reached by the year 2000
Five years from the year 2000, its seems that only three countries will achieve the objective of “education for all”— Botswana, Mauritius and Zimbabwe.
In the other countries, three major obstacles are inhibiting progress towards “education for all”:
- the important number of children over the statutory age (53 to 76 per cent of new entrants), which limits the possibilities of access;
- high repetition rates, especially in the francophone countries, where each year an average of 14 to 37 per cent of pupils are repeaters;
- population growth, which remains high in most cases.
Graph 1: Progress in the percentage of girls among entrants in Grade 1 (1986 -1995)
Graph 2: Age of New Entrants in Grade 1 (1994/1995)
Main indicators of development in education and GNP per capita (1994/95)
Pilot
Countries |
GRA
1st
Year
(1)
|
%
New
Entrants >
Status. Age
|
GER
G+B
(2)
|
NER
G+B
(3)
|
NER
G
|
NER
B
|
Survival
Rate in
Grade
Five
|
Survival
Rate at the
Diploma
Level
|
GNP/
capita
(US$)
|
Botswana
Ethiopia
Mauritius
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Burkina Faso
Guinea
Mali
Mauritania
Togo |
116%
50%
102%
83%
131%
24%
48%
33%
92%
84%
|
34%
78%
24%
53%
71%
53%
53%
60%
76%
57%
|
116%
28%
106%
82%
117%
36%
45%
35%
78%
99%
|
96%
21%
97%
69%
82%
29%
35%
26%
59%
68%
|
98%
16%
96%
68%
82%
23%
24%
21%
54%
57%
|
94%
25%
97%
70%
82%
35%
47%
31%
63%
79%
|
89%
69%
100%
86%
76%
69%
64%
59%
64%
77%
|
62%
54%
91%
21%
66%
43%
32%
34%
28%
42%
|
2800
130
3180
350
490
300
510
270
480
320
|
(1) Gross Rate of Admission in Grade One (GRA): ratio between the number of pupils newly admitted in Grade One and the number of children having the statutory age for admission in basic education (5 years in Mauritius, 6 years in Togo and Zimbabwe, 7 years in the other countries).
(2) Gross Enrolment Rate (GER): ratio between the total number of pupils enrolled in primary education and the corresponding age bracket (ages 5-10, 6-11, or 7-12).
(3) Net Enrolment Rate (NER): ratio between the number of pupils having the statutory age (ages 5-10, 6-11, 7-12, 6-13, or 7-14), and the corresponding age bracket in the general population.
Readers interested in the full report should contact:
The NESIS Program
UNESCO Division of Statistics
7 Place de Fontenoy
757352 Paris 07 SP France
Tel: (33) 145-68-24-65
Fax: (33) 145 68 55 20
E-Mail: kc.tung@unesco.org
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