Education and Skills Training for African Youth

Young Africans need access to both decent formal education and opportunities to acquire a range of vocational and life skills to actively participate in all spheres of an increasingly knowledge-intensive society, today as young citizens and tomorrow as the continent’s future leaders. Unfortunately, young people in Africa struggle to acquire an education that provides them with the right set of skills and knowledge. As a result, the transition from school-to-work is a major challenge such that many young Africans end up either unemployed or underemployed in the informal sector with little protection and prospects.

Governments and international partners have made concerted efforts in recent years to improve this situation. In particular, to achieve the goal of universal primary education, many African countries have directed much effort and resources to improving primary school enrolment.

The abolishing of school fees at the primary level has been a major driving force to achieve this goal. In Malawi, for example, free primary school education has considerably increased the youth literacy level from 63 per cent in 1990 to 76 per cent in 2004.

A number of major challenges remain Even while enrolments have been increasing, the quality of education in many African countries appears to be on the decline. Inadequate infrastructure and training facilities, poor and
inappropriate curricula, and lack of well-trained and motivated teachers are among the main reasons explaining this decline. Though access to primary education is a necessary first step and a fulfilment of a human right, it is also clear that it does not provide needed skills for a young African to compete in an
increasingly competitive labour market. Moreover, at the country level, a critical mass of secondary and higher education graduates are required in order to accelerate economic development.

In most African countries, secondary schools are limited in capacity, which is largely due to inadequate budgetary resources for this sector. Consequently, the chances of young people proceeding to secondary school, not to mention tertiary institutions, are significantly hampered.

To deal with this predicament, African governments and international partners must take a more holistic approach to education, broadening their focus from just primary education.

In this context, African girls and young women need special attention. Overall, in most of Africa, gender disparities continue to impede young girls’ acquisition of a decent education and employable skills. This keeps young African girls away from their rightful place as agents of development and leaders of tomorrow.

Fortunately, the gender situation has greatly improved in recent years in some African countries. A number of them, such as Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, are in fact on track to achieve the goal of eliminating gender disparities in primary education.1 Other countries have turned to a range of measures to reduce the gender disparity in access to education – one illustration is the provision of free uniforms and books to girls in Kenya.

There are also considerable regional disparities within countries in terms of education and educational attainments. In this regard, the uneven distribution of educational infrastructure in most African countries reflects the weak commitment of governments in addressing this issue.

Most secondary schools and tertiary institutions in Africa are located in the cities, with rural pupils struggling for access. This situation contributes to the persistent urban-bias that has so much distorted Africa’s development.