Education in Africa

Among all the children are enrolled in primary schools, the lowest enrollment rate is in Africa. UNESCO also reported marked gender inequalities: In most parts of Africa there is much higher enrollment by boys; in some there are more girls, due to sons having to stay home and tend to the family farm. Africa has more than 42 million children, almost half the school-age child population, receiving no schooling. Two-thirds of these are girls. The USAID Center reports that as of 2005, 40% of school-age children in Africa do not attend primary school and there are still 46 million school-age African children who have never stepped into a classroom.

The regional report produced by the UNESCO-BREDA education sector analyst team in 2005 indicates that less than 10% of African children are now allowed in the system. Four out of 10 children did not complete primary school in 2002/2003. So, five years after the World Education Forum and the adoption of the Millennium Goals, progress at primary level is far from decisive. The analysis highlights that principal efforts should be directed to reducing the number of dropouts per level. It appears also that geographical disparities (rural areas/urban areas) or economic disparities (low income households/wealthy households) are more significant and take longer to even out than gender disparities. From the quality point of view, studies such as SACMEQ (Southern and performance between and within countries.

Education drives economy compared to Finland and Kenya. The examples are mentioned below-

In Finland;

79.8% LESS LIKELY TO BE UNEMPLOYED

91.7% LESS LIKELY TO DIE IN YOUR INFANCY

CONSUME 117.83 TIMES MORE ELECTRICITY

In Kenya everything is opposite than Finland. That’s the reason education drives economy compared to Finland and Kenya.

Finland is an interesting member of this list. For a long time it led educational systems around the world on this list. In 2015 though it got bumped to number five on the list, being replaced by Asian countries. Its drop may be due in part to the increased attention put on school systems by the countries that ousted it.Unlike many countries, Finland has short school days and fills the rest of the day with school-sponsored educational activities. They believe that there is a good portion of learning to be done outside the classroom. The schools in Finland build the community and help to create identity among the citizens.  The teachers in Finland also go through some of the best education in the world.

2015 has seen the rise of South Korea as the number one educational system in the world. It managed to bump its way from the second best to the best system, all in the span of three years. Korea does this for two reasons. First, they believe in working hard. Kids spend seven days of the week in school and are educated thoroughly in everything they study. Secondly, South Korea spends a lot of money on its educational system. The yearly budget for the system is slightly more than 11 billion dollars. The other Asian countries are major competition for South Korea.  A noticeable statistic about the South Korean educational system is the country is near 100% literate. 99.2% of males in South Korea are literate while 96.6% of females are literate.

All the difficulties which Africa is dealing with are listed below-

1. The Poverty Porn

2. International Aid

3. International Medias

4. The Colonial Borders

5. Ignorance of the Books of Machiavelli, Hegel & Darwinism

6. The Rich Subaltern Mentality

7. Lack of Domestic Leadership Education

8. Lack of Science & Engineering Education

9. Lack of International Intelligence network

10. The Crab Mentality

Africa is dealing with mostly these mentioned difficulties.

What's happening with technology use in education in Africa these days?

UIS finds that the "most significant obstacle in measuring ICT in education in sub-Saharan Africa is the lack of systematic data collections", noting that a number of countries (e.g. Somalia, Benin, the DRC) reported that there was no systematic related data collection *at all* in their countries. UIS states that the existence of a data collection effort related to this topic (not surprisingly) often correlates with whether or not ICT use in education is considered a priority area of policy and investment interest in a country and that, generally speaking, "ICT use in education is at a particularly embryonic stage in the majority of countries in sub-Saharan Africa."

Edtech (Educational technology) in Africa is more than a decade old in Africa. It started in the late 90’s when most parts of Africa were getting their first internet connection. Where as institutions of higher learning championed this project through use of wikis, blogs and the like, elementary schools were employing offline study guides such as encarta encyclopedia, academic computer games.

Once it grows beyond teenage years in its thinking to holistic grown up imagery and terms, it will be a good article and message. This will include more concrete stuff (not just "talking"!!) about needs for tech and entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship (and trade if a return to more trade than before colonization is wanted, as highlighted in the text) but concrete examples of the *solutions *wanted in the above article. Because those solutions already exist in Africa, but as usual journalists know little about them, and how to craft works that facilitate positive change. Bec journalists are only talkers. It would make sense to upgrade to being a changemaker also. However, some sacred traditional character may help overcome the differentiation of people by skin pigments but see their SPIRIT, and thereby open to global horizons and the incredible amount of solutions happening in all sorts of environments by people facing the same model of issues as communities in Africa. But of course, all those are foreign, – like the evil white guy who started farm radio in Africa, for farmer produced shows about self empowerment. Or hans herren, who works with farmers knowledge sharing networks and are creating 10x harvests in traditional organic ways. why? well, bec some of the spirits walking the earth in white pigment skins right now might have walked it in black pigment skins in their past life – as the sacred traditions well in touch and communication with the ancestors *know. whereas the uprooted intellectuals of today have lost all that wisdom and bigger picture, and replicate the problems of ego and empire, and have no concrete solutions to propose. just like the "opinion piece" journalism in the NYT is oh so smart and offers zero solutions, while thousands and thousands exist, in well accessible global networks that meet in spirit, not skin colour. that's *so outdated. They have overcome the teenage identity crisis, and stepped into just being and rocking. good luck. also because they have seen this kind of analysis since the Sixties!!! That's 50 years ago. And a lot has happened since. For those in the avantgarde fields of innovation. And well connected to their spiritual – sacred – roots and practice.

There are Edtech companies in Africa as well, like;

Prepclass This was founded in 2012 by two Nigerian Entrepreneurs - Chukwuwezam Obanor and Ogunlana Olumide. Prepclass provides a database of study content to help prepare prospective university students for their Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exams.

Ubongo Nisha Ligon and Cleng’a Ng’atigwa, two Tanzania-based Entrepreneurs founded Ubongo. It produces a colourful Edutainment TV show of 30 minutes called Ubongo Kids, designed to help children discover the joys of math through fun, local stories and songs.

Brainshare This start up EdTech was founded by Charles Muhindo, based in Uganda. The web & mobile apps enable students to exchange notes, past papers, revision materials, course work easily or ask questions remotely.

Afrotalez Nigerian Entrepreneur, Elizabeth Kperrun-Eremie founded Afrotalez. This is an app that promotes African traditional stories. This interactive Android app tells African Folktales with an aim to also improve the mental capabilities of young kids between 3 and 9.

Africa is developing day by day. There is a booming market of Edtech in Africa is waiting. It’s better if Edtech can take place faster to enrich Africa.