Is Basic Education Enough for Sub-Saharan Africa? A Case Study on Côte D’Ivoire

• In Event: Poster Session Group 2
  In Poster Session: Is Basic Education Enough for Sub-Saharan Africa? A Case Study on Côte D’Ivoire

Proposal

As the United Nation’s development goals were expanded to all countries, basic education was also broadened from primary to secondary education -sustainable development goal 4: quality education (SDG4). However, some Northern European governments had argued that it was unrealistic “to commit to upper secondary for the whole world.” Since upper secondary education is an obvious basic standard for them, their argument prompts the notion that it is a privilege for the poor. Hence this poster will examine the following question: “Is basic education enough to irradicate poverty?” A conceptual research on the deficiency of secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa, and the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire’s (RCI) in particular, will be done to provide an answer to that question.


In 2017, the UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report team demonstrated that the “world poverty could be cut in half if all adults completed secondary education.” That determination was based on an analysis of the impact of education on poverty reduction and growth, done between 1965 and 2010. The study showed that if all adults gained two more years of schooling, 60 million people will come out of poverty. Moreover, if they completed secondary education, 420 million would escape it.

Although education has greatly increased in sub-Saharan countries after their independence, the region continues to record the highest rates of out-of-school children. In 2015, 57% of youth between the age of 15 and 17, 36% between the age of 12 and 14, and 21% between the age of 6 and 11 did not attend school. In 2019, enrollment and completion rates in secondary school were 41.4% and 51.1%, respectively. The region’s performing rates are also the lowest in the world in regard to primary and lower secondary education. Studies have shown that the education quality has declined. According to Nobel Prize winners in economics, Robert Lucas Jr., and the former World Bank’s chief economist, Paul Romer, a country’s economic development depends greatly on the value it gives to its human capital. Yet, sub-Saharan countries continue to lack the human capital to escape poverty. RCI is a prime example to illustrate this plight.

Indeed, since its independence, in 1960, RCI has often shown great economic growth. However, the country has been grappling to transition to an emerging economy. One major hurdle to its development is the lack of human capital. For example, in 2016, an average of 57% youth completed primary education. Also, while 89% of youth transitioned from primary to lower secondary school in 2012, only 28% of them completed secondary school in 2016. Similarly, an average of 74% of youth transitioned from lower to upper secondary school in 2012, but only 16% had completed upper secondary school in 2016.

This poster will (1) trace RCI’s development since its independence, (2) review factors that have hindered its transition to an emerging economy, (3) illustrate how secondary education can build a human capacity, and (4) suggest methods to implement SDG4 -target 1- in RCI.

Author

• Sylvie Bogui, University of Pennsylvania