Primary schooling in sub-Saharan Africa: recent trends and current challenges

The paper argues that achievement of the MDG of Education for All (EFA) by 2015 will not only require a level of international resources and commitment not yet seen, but will also require better tools for monitoring educational progress at the country level.

The authors estimate that more than 37 million young adolescents aged 10–14 in sub-Saharan Africa will not complete primary school. Their estimates are based on data from nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys from 26 countries, collectively representing 83 percent of the sub-Saharan youth population.

The authors describe the UNESCO indicators used to measure progress towards EFA and state that they provide, at best, an incomplete and, at worst, a biased picture of levels, trends, and gender differences in school participation and grade attainment. Data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), they argue, present a different and more realistic picture of trends in schooling and current attendance among sub-Saharan African youth. Whereas steady growth has occurred in attendance and attainment for girls in the last 20 years, educational progress for boys has been stagnant. With the decline in educational disparities between boys and girls, the gap in schooling that remains is between the poorest and the richest households. The gap in schooling delineated by household wealth cannot be monitored even with the best management information systems. It can, however, be captured using household survey data that allow the linking of educational attainment to household economic circumstances.

The authors conclude that current monitoring requirements cannot be fulfilled without substantial new investments in data collection and evaluation. [Adapted from authors]