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A former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has called on African countries to create a conducive environment for effective teaching and learning.
That, he said, would help to improve foundational learning and literacy of children. For instance, the former President said a meal for schoolchildren could be an incentive to encourage them to be in school.
He made the call at a Presidential Dialogue on Foundational Learning in Sub-Saharan Africa in Accra yesterday. The event was organised by Human Capital Africa, an accountability and advocacy organisation.
In attendance were President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo; a former President of Tanzania and Chairman of the Global Partnership on Education (GPE), Jakaya Kikwete, and the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Adutwum.
A former Deputy Managing Director of the World Bank for Africa, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, founded the organisation that uses evidence to mobilise governments to improve foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes for children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Data shows that nine out of 10 children in Sub-Saharan Africa cannot read and understand simple text and do Maths by age 10.
It has, however, been identified that improved foundational learning is critical in enabling children to reach their full potential and participate in activities.
Former President Obasanjo expressed concern about the lack of adequate attention to teachers, saying “teachers are the ones to build the lives of your children, but you don't give them attention and you don't pay them well”.
He further said that without education, there cannot be development, adding that education was a matter of life and death because “if you do not have it you cannot develop your innate ability”.
The former Tanzanian President, Mr Kikwete, also said that since its inception, GPE had spent $6 billion on education initiatives in Africa.
He called for the African Union (AU) to have a proper benchmarking system to look at the progress of African countries in the area of education.
President Akufo-Addo said there was the need to recognise that the continent was in a crisis, adding "you can never have a solution to a problem unless you recognise the depth and extent of the problem and it is important for all of us on the continent today to recognise as the data shows, that we are in a severe existential crisis”.
He mentioned some of the initiatives the government had undertaken since he assumed office to include reform of the curriculum, expansion of infrastructure and teacher motivation.
“We can say that Ghana is making very serious efforts to come to grips with this matter,” he said.
The Minister of Education, Dr Adutwum, said there was the need for African countries to have strategic plans that can help grow the sector. He said African countries needed to leapfrog strategies and "to ensure we catch up with the rest of the world”.
The Founder and CEO of HCA, Dr Ezekwesili, called on African leaders to work with the AU to develop a robust continent-wide peer review and accountability mechanism to track the progress on foundational learning goals.
“Not only do we require robust political leadership; we need frameworks and systems which allow us to drive foundational learning reform and track our progress,” he said.
