Education with Equity in Africa

ECOSOC Africa regional meeting

Lome, Togo

12 April 2011

Yumiko Yokozeki

UNICEF Western and Central African Regional Office

Argument for education – MDGs 2 and 3 and more

•Child right argument: basic education is children’s right.

•Health argument: basic education contributes to reduction of child and maternal mortality.

•Economic argument: basic education helps people come out of poverty.

•Governance argument: basic education cultivates good governance.

•Power of education: 2+3=8 and more

Vast disparity in access and quality – global, regional and country-wide

• Africa region has the lowest enrolment ratio (NER primary education is about 80%) with diversity.

• Estimated 31 million or more school-aged children are out of school in 52 countries.

• In many countries with lower enrolment ratios, the quality of educational supply is limited.

• Within each country, disparity is evident in economic quintiles, gender, ethnic groups/geographical areas and rural-urban data.

Sahel countries show a sharp contrast between the richest quintile and the rest.

Some post-conflict countries show the same contrast.

Other countries show a sharp contrast between the poorest quintile and the rest.

Some other countries have the bottom two quintile distinctly disadvantaged.

Primary school attendance in rural and urban children

Geographical disparity in Cameroon

Geographical disparity in Guinea

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

14

Aver

age

num

ber o

f yea

rs o

f sch

oolin

g

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

Educational marginalization- combination of economic, rural-urban, gender and ethnic factors The case

of Nigeria

Access to primary education in Cote d’Ivoire

72%National average

76.6% boys

67.1% girls

90.3% south

64.4%north

86.6%south

51.1%north

100.0% rich

84.7% rich

93.7% rich

77.8% rich

71.8% poor

46.7% poor

82.6% poor

30.9% poorAllain Mingat (2009)

Equity analysis in education: analysis of constraints and barriers and measures

Who are deprived ?

Major constraints

Measures to include these children

Some good news …• In many countries, the gap between the groups in access in primary education is narrowing.

• In Western Cape in South Africa, the learning gaps between the rich and the poor have reduced significantly (next slide).

• Ghana and Tunisia recorded the largest gains in the world in science scores in 8th grade from 2003 through 2007 and among the largest gains in mathematics score (TIMSS 2003/2007).

Western Cape narrowed the literacy inequality gap in 4 years – the bottom three quintiles caught up to the second richest.

Source: McKinsey & Co Report 2011

Conclusion

• Regional and national disparity is evident.• In-country disparity is vast and this can be better-understood by intersection of multiple factors – economic, gender, geographical region, social norms, etc.

• Equity-focused analysis – 1) identifying the determinants of deprivation and major causes of such deprivation, and 2) prioritising strategic shifts in intervention

Thank you very much for your attention