Geografia

Education in Africa began as a tool to prepare the local youth to take their place in their respective societies and not necessarily for life outside of Africa. In some areas, the pre-European colonialism schooling system consisted of groups of older people teaching aspects and rituals that would help them in adulthood. In other areas, education in early African societies included such things asartistic performances, ceremonies, games, festivals, dancing, singing and drawing. Boys and girls were taught separately to help prepare each sex for their adult roles. Every member of the community had a hand in contributing to the educational upbringing of the child. The high point of the education experience in certain societies in Africa was the ritual passage ceremony from childhood toadulthood.
When European colonialism and imperialism took place it began to change many indigenous education systems. Schooling was no longer just about rituals and rites of passage, school would now mean earning an education that would allow Africans to compete with countries such as the United States and those in Europe. Africa would begin to try producing their own educated students as othercountries had.
Education participation rates in many African countries are low. Schools often lack many basic facilities, and African universities suffer from overcrowding and staff being lured away to Western countries by higher pay and better conditions.
Contents [hide]  * 1 Participation * 2 Reasons * 2.1 Lack of proper schooling facilities and educators * 2.2 Emigration *2.3 Military and conflict * 3 Influential initiatives * 3.1 Non-profit sponsored * 3.1.1 African * 3.1.2 International * 4 Corruption in education * 5 NGO involvement * 6 Women's education * 6.1 Disparity in Education * 6.2 Significance * 6.3 Current policies of Progression * 7 Recommendations for reform * 8 See also * 9 References *10 External links |
[edit] Participation
According to UNESCO's Regional overview on sub-Saharan Africa, in 2000 52% of children were enrolled in primary schools, the lowest enrollment rate of any region. UNESCO also reported marked gender inequalities: In most parts of Africa there is much higher enrollment by boys; in some there are more girls, due to sons having to stay home and tend to thefamily farm. Africa has more than 40 million children, almost half the school-age child population, receiving no schooling. Two-thirds of these are girls. The USAID Center reports that as of 2005, 40% of school-age children in Africa do not attend primary school and there are still 46 million school-age African children who have never stepped into a classroom.
The regional report produced by theUNESCO-BREDA education sector analyst team in 2005 indicates that less than 10% of African children are now allowed in the system. Four out of 10 children did not complete primary school in 2002/2003. So, five years after the World Education Forum and the adoption of the Millennium Goals, progress at primary level is far from decisive. The analysis highlights that principal efforts should bedirected to reducing the number of dropouts per level. It appears also that geographical disparities (rural areas/urban areas) or economic disparities (low income households/wealthy households) are more significant and take longer to even out than gender disparities. From the quality point of view, studies such as SACMEQ (Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality) andhousehold surveys indicate very significant disparities in performance between and within countries.[1]
This report also shows that secondary (lower and higher levels) and higher education enrollments have progressed proportionally more than primary enrollment over the period 1990–2002/2003 which questions the reality of policy priority given to primary education. The strong pressure for education...