Africa’s great learning divide – inequality as barrier to progress in

education

Kevin WatkinsCenter for Universal Education | Brookings Institution

April 17, 2013

•

What’s at stake?

•A basic human right•Shared prosperity and inclusive growth•Progress in health, nutrition and poverty reduction •Gender equity• Africa’s future

The primary school cohort – 127 mn

30 MILLION NEVER ENROLL

ANOTHER 33 MILLION DROP OUT

Photo credit: ILO, GMR, Office of UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown

Why children aren’t in school

Richest 20%

Poorest 20%

Poor, rural Hausa girls

Rich, rural girls

Poor, urban boys

Poor, rural girls

Nigeria

Rural Hausa

Rich, urban boys

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Rich, rural boys

C. A. R.

Chad

Bangladesh

Cameroon

Honduras

IndonesiaBolivia

Cuba

Ukraine

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14Av

erag

e nu

mbe

r of y

ears

of s

choo

ling

(Age

gro

up 1

5-17

yea

rs)

Education poverty

Extreme education poverty

3.3 years

6.4 years

3.5 years

9.7 years

0.5 years

10.3 years

2.6 years

0.3 years

BoysGirls

6.7 years

10 years

Interactive inequality – wealth, gender and locationThe case of

Nigeria

Source: UNESCO GMR

Getting through school without learning

ONLY 27 MILLION CHILDREN LEARN

Wealth Gap in Learning

Malawi 2007: Reaching minimum learning standards

National Avg. 0%

0%

100%

Gender

Region

Income

URBAN:

63%RURAL: 49%

BOYS: 55%

GIRLS: 47%

WEALTHY: 59%POOR: 48%

0%

0%

AVG: 52%

100%

100%

100%