African ministers for education on Friday endorsed a comprehensive strategy to revitalise formal learning and skills development in line with the continent’s quest to achieve the UN 2030 goals and Agenda 2063 on socio-economic transformation.
The ministers said this at the end of a 3-day “Pan African Conference on Education” held in Nairobi.
The ministers declared support for the new pact to transform education sector in Africa through policy reforms, private sector investments, capacity building for teachers and gender parity in school enrollment.
Amina Mohamed, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Education, said that African governments would dedicate greater efforts toward the realisation of education for all goals.
Kenya’s Ministry of Education in conjunction with AU and the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) organised the Nairobi forum to review milestones in the attainment of universal access to formal education from primary to tertiary levels.
Mohamed said there was a consensus on the need to reform education policies in Africa, increase budgetary allocation and forge strategic partnerships to eliminate illiteracy and skills gap in the continent.
African ministers in their communique reaffirmed commitment to tackle bottlenecks to the realisation of education for all goals including poverty, shortage of teachers, dilapidated learning facilities and archaic customs.
They pledged support for policies that advance early childhood education and greater enrollment of girls in secondary and tertiary institutions.
Multilateral agencies hailed the renewed commitment by African leaders and policymakers to bridge access gaps in basic education.
Getachew Engida, the UNESCO Deputy Director-General, said African countries were well positioned to reap from investments in competence and skills based learning.
He underscored the role of science, technology and smart innovations to catalyse Africa’s transformation
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