The Education Crisis in Africa

The Education Crisis

For much of the developing world, education remains an insurmountable barrier to advancement for the vast majority of underprivileged citizens. Despite extensive international aid, the problem of inadequate education remains widespread and riddled with political and third-party problems.

Education: Madagascar

In Madagascar, 85% or students enroll in first grade, but less than 3%% of 8th graders can score over a 50% in math and science tests. In other words, primary school enrollment is high, but learning levels are low. In addition, fundamentally different obstacles face rural students than their urban counterparts, but the fact remains: teachers and students in Madagascar stand to benefit greatly from focused, culturally-sensitive, and sustainable aid. Few data exist on the success of school programs in Madagascar, and collecting these baseline figures has become a cornerstone of our work in the country.

Unfortunately, recent gains in the Malagasy education system were
all but obliterated in the wake of 2009 political unrest, which caused a stoppage to most non-essential aid to the country. Just as schools and education systems began to see hope of change towards a future of basic and universal education, clean and functioning school buildings, and consistent pay rates for teachers, the system collapsed and in 2010, government education funding was suddenly cut by thirty percent.

As such, schools have been and continue to function without basic resources, regular teacher pay, and often in facilities that should be condemned. While rural pupils will find it almost impossible to ever complete a full course of education, both urban and rural students are highly unlikely to ever earn a university degree. Ninety percent of first year university students fail out of school due to a lack of fluency in French. Despite reports which indicate that less than 1% of the population has a French fluency at the high-school level, courses at the university are taught in French.

As the rest of the world races forward, students in Madagascar often remain unable to achieve higher rates of education, and therefore career opportunities. Unfortunately, this has crippled the country and kept the economy reliant on foreign aid, and 85% of the population earning less than $2 per day.

Education: Equatorial Guinea

Little reliable data exists on the state of education in Equatorial Guinea, although basic literacy rates are rather high. In Equatorial Guinea, educational concerns are often linked to limited educational supplies and a lack of higher education (secondary and university-level) opportunities. At the moment, the highest education level attainable in the country is a three-year bachelor, which is not recognized in many international universities.

In addition, not one single Western standardized test is administered inside the country, and students with ambitions to earn higher education are forced to give up, or pay to fly to Cameroon to take the test. Students interested in studying abroad are hard pressed to get information; there is barely a functioning postal system inside the country and the vast majority of individuals do not own credit cards and can therefore not pay admissions and application fees. Finally, literary and language resources remain extremely scarce. Libraries and the like are almost unheard of, and even the most talented students resign themselves to picking up odd jobs, as careers are difficult to cultivate.

For a variety of reasons, Equatorial Guinea does not receive much international aid attention, in comparison to its West African neighbors. With enough attention and support, significant gains could be made in bolstering primary education resources and increasing the effectiveness of secondary and university education within the country.