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Is Africa Ready for the Rapid Expansion of Urban Education: Implications on Equity and Quality

Wed, March 26, 9:45 to 11:00am, Palmer House, Floor: 3rd Floor, Crystal Room

Group Submission Type: Refereed Roundtable Session

Proposal

Several global and regional policy frameworks such as SDG 4, and the Continental Educational Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2016-2025 encourage governments to provide equitable and inclusive quality education to all children. In the last two and half decades, many countries in Africa have successfully implemented Universal Education Policies that saw growth in enrolment and an increase in resource commitments. For example, primary school gross enrolment was at 80% in 2000, and stood at 99% in 2022[1] – portraying a good performance though it may mask inequalities. Likewise, expenditure in education averaged 15.3% of GDP in the year 2000, but stood at 14.4% in 2022[2]. These trends look impressive much as the continent is facing a learning outcomes challenge with recent research showing only 3 out of 10 students aged 10 years can read and comprehend simple text about their daily life[3]. Regrading SGD 4, the progress has been slow but with some commendable achievements. For instance, primary school completion rates increased from 57% to 64% between 2010 and 2019; while that of secondary schools rose from 26% to 29%[4]. The slow pace of progress in SDG 4 comes in the backdrop of urbanization in Africa with projections showing that by 2050 at least half of the population in Africa (now stands at almost 1.7 billion) will live in an environment that can be described as urban[5].

In East African countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, for example, the proportion of population living in urban contexts is at 29.5%, 37.4% and 26.8%, respectively. Looking at the entire continent, among the 54 countries with data for 2023, five of the countries have an urban population of 75% or above, 18 countries have a proportion of 51%-74%, 23 countries have a proportion of 26%-50%, while eight countries have a proportion of 25% or below. These trends are really indicative of what to expect by the year 2050, and we know this has implications on equity and access to education in urban contexts. Unfortunately, countries hardly disaggregate schooling data by rural-urban enrolments. However, from an AU policy paper, we do know that in African cities, majority (61.7%) of the population live in informal settlements or slums (some other statistics put it 51.3%). For instance, in Nairobi city over 60% of its inhabitants live in informal settlements, while in Kinshasa this stands at over 75%[5]. In north Africa countries such as Algeria, the proportion is quite low – about 13% by 2020.

From the above urban statistics, we can conclude that, majority of the urban population in Africa live in slums and/or slum-like environments. Unfortunately, public services such as education provision, cannot cope with such urban growth. One of the real responses of the education sector to this growth has been a proliferation of low-fee private schools (LFPS) that are highly utilized by low-income households from the slum areas[6]. By implication, students attending LFPS have no access to critical benefits that come with Universal Primary Education policies. In Nairobi, for instance, over 63% of the primary school age-children from slums attend LFPS hence miss out from the government subsidized primary schooling popularly known us free primary education. This has two key consequences: First, equity in access to government services – subsidized education – and yet the children come from low-income households; two, quality of the LFPS – these schools keep costs low by, for example, employing untrained teachers and avoiding to meet standards especially on infrastructure.

From the foregoing, the demand for education in urban contexts in Africa will continue to outgrow government-provided education, not only in the urban slums but also in the entire urban settings. Thus, current investments in the education sector have implications on the status of education now and in the future. Several questions that beg serious discussion emerge: (i) How best can ministries of education in Africa support the education of urban populations, particularly those from low income neighborhoods such as slums in a way that is inclusive as articulated in SDG 4 and their national plans; (ii) What do we know about the status of urban education in Africa and do we have adequate data and evidence to inform relevant decisions; and, (iii) What opportunities exist, for instance, policies, plans, and use of technology, that can be leveraged on to ensure access and quality of urban education provision is in tandem with growth of urban population.

To explore in detail these issues, we propose a round table group discussion of at least four panelists with strong background working on urban education in Africa and/or education policies at either regional or national levels. In the next section on abstracts, we provide details of each of the discussion issues by the panelists and the audience. The round table will be organized as follows: Each panelist will have about 8 – 10 minutes to illuminate his/her evidence, practice, policy or theory-based perspectives on an aspect of urban education in Africa. Thereafter, the discussant and/or moderator will distil emerging issues as he/she makes her contribution to the discussion and situating the discussion in the context of education policies and/or technology. This will be followed by an engagement with the audience in a Q&A format.

The first panelist will focus on making a case for concerted efforts for urban education in Africa drawing data and evidence from Kenya. The second panelist will focus on the situation of urban education in Tanzania. This will include aspects of what it takes to improve urban education in an urban context where slums are not ‘visible. The third panelist will share practical experiences of urban education in the context of a public-private partnership (PPP) in Uganda. This will also include how PPP mechanisms promote or inhibit the opportunities for access and quality of education. From all the panelists, the audience will be presented with insights on how digital technology can be leveraged to support solutions that can enhance equity and quality of education in urban informal settlement contexts.

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