Few Africankids go to school
By Elizabeth Bryant,
United Press International
PARIS, (UPI) -- Only four out of every 10young children in sub-Saharan Africa attend primary school, accordingto a new U.N. study that paints a bleak picture of the continent'seducation, which is stunted by warfare, AIDS, poverty and spiralingpopulation growth.
Access to secondary school education iseven less widespread, according to the statistical office of theParis-based UNESCO, which released the report Friday. Childrenenrolled in pre-school, high school and university remain relativelyrare across the continent.
The report, which covers the 1998-1999 academicyear for 43 sub-Saharan African countries, along with five islandnations and Sudan -- offers no blanket assessment about whetherthe state of primary education in Africa has become marginallybetter or worse in recent years.
But Claude Sauvageot, an African expertat the French Ministry of Education, estimated fewer young childrenare attending school today than a decade ago.
"Many African countries increased enrollment,"said Sauvageot, who also works as an education consultant forUNESCO. "But the population grew even more quickly, so morekids are now out of school."
Weak educational infrastructure, lack ofadequate financing, and poorly trained teachers offer furtherhandicaps, according to the report and to Sauvageot.
So too has AIDS and HIV, which have devastatedlarge swaths of the continent.
Not only has the virus diverted governmentfunds that might otherwise be used for education, the report notes,but it has shrunk the size of teaching and administrative staff.
Moreover, many children attending schoolare often traumatized by the death of close relatives due to thedisease, it said.
Nonetheless, a few bright spots exist.
Almost 91 percent of children attend primaryschool in Rwanda, for example less than a decade after the country'shorrific genocide. Primary school enrollment is also high in Kenya,Mauritius and Botswana, among others.
And a few countries, like Mali, have alsomade spectacular progress in recent years, Sauvageot said.
"Mali has increased its enrollmentratio by offering bigger classes," he said. "That makesit difficult to teach, but at least children are at school. Andthere's been a lot of local involvement" in the programs.
Nonetheless, with only 42 percent of childrenin primary school according to the report, Mali too has a longway to go.
In other countries, such as war-torn Liberia and Sierra Leone,"its really a disaster," Sauvageot said.
The U.N. report calls for more spendingon teacher training and education, and for improving the qualityof school programs.
"A sustained and substantial increasein gross domestic product growth rates would seem to be an importantprecondition for improving access to education," the reportadds.
For years, too, development experts likeSauvageot have appealed for more Western aid for African education.
Tellingly, the target date for UNESCO'Sown goal -- to make basic education available to all childrenby the millennium -- was pushed back to 2015.