Narrowing Africa’s education

Norman Muvavarirwa and Lazarus Sauti

The Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015) Plan of Action states that education forms the basis for developing innovation, science and technology in order to harness our resources, industrialise, and participate in the global knowledge economy.

“Learning is an avenue for Africa to take its rightful place in the global community, and also the means by which the continent can entrench a culture of peace, gender equality and positive African values,” it says.

Education systems in countries within and across Africa must therefore be able to provide young Africans with quality education that imparts key generic competencies, practical skills and attitudes that lead to a culture of lifelong learning and entrepreneurship.

This means countries within and across the African continent should introduce more practical (psychomotor) subjects to effectively transform their respective economies.

Zimbabwe’s Minister of State for Liaison on Psychomotor Activities in Education, Josiah Hungwe, believes enhancing the infusion of practical concepts into education will increase employment and eradicate poverty.

Practical components in education and training are major drivers in the growth of small and medium enterprises.

Because of this, Hungwe also said there is serious need to correct the education system which is failing to address the social and economic needs of the continent of Africa by simply embracing practical subjects.

The missing link in the education system, he says, is thus the identification and development of practical (psychomotor) skills that are aligned to needs of the economy and meeting the demands of both the formal and informal employment opportunities.

“Currently limited employment opportunities have left millions of youth stuck in the vicious poverty circle. Therefore, there is need to develop an education curriculum that values gifts and talents and takes cognisance of the services and development needs of African countries,” he says, adding that “educated but unskilled people have no value addition to the economic development of any country”.

Recognising and acknowledging the significance of practical skills in education, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe urges primary and secondary schools to re-introduce practical subjects as a way of equipping children with practical skills that would be of use after graduating from learning centres.

“… Our education must have what I have termed a psycho-motor element. If you get an education and that education does not enable you to do things, that education is hollow and we do not want hollow education,” says President Mugabe, adding that “no matter how theoretically educated a person could be, without knowledge of practical skills, one is as good as nothing.”

He also makes it clear that the continent of Africa needs people with practical skills so that they use such skills for the development of their respective countries. Moreover, as such a move of re-introducing practical subjects in schools would instill valuable skills among children which they would use for creating, rather than looking for, employment.

Hungwe says there is need for an overhaul of the education system in most –if not all – African countries to fill the significant practical skills gap and support inclusive economic growth.

Hamidou Boukary, Chief Education Specialist at the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, agrees: “Africa needs to transform her education system to produce citizens who participate meaningfully in the emergence of Africa, its economic growth, its sustainable social and economic development and its global competitiveness.”

This therefore means countries in the African continent should create education systems that give Africans a chance to concentrate on practical subjects they are good at and match them with employment needs.

More so, education and training institutions should educate for African needs. They should thrive to develop critical skills that are appropriate to generate the much needed human capital the continent needs for accelerated and sustainable economic transformation.

Universities in Africa must therefore not remain as teaching institutions but they should be research centers that Africa so badly needs to be competitive at the global level.

To be research hubs, governments, development players and other key stakeholders must fund programmes and projects that propagate the overall development of skills critical to the growth of the continent.

The African Economic Outlook, further states that to enjoy success stories, education and training institutions in the African continent should heavily take practical lessons seriously as they are springboards to have skilled manpower; and to develop these necessary skills, countries should export youths to other countries to be trained in different practical enterprises.

Practical skills helped China, for instance, to economically develop and compete with other developing nations. Besides breaking down walls between continents, exchange programmes will create opportunities for Africans to learn, to prosper, and to work with others to solve shared problems.

To effectively narrow Africa’s educations, governments through ministries of education, development partners, policy-makers, practitioners and researchers in education should focus more on developing the right attitude especially when crafting and implementing education related policies, strategies and programmes in order to transform their economies.

Policies and strategies must support access to education of good quality for all African children and citizens.

Boukary, recalling the words of Nelson Mandela, concurs: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. But this education must be of good quality.”

Since narrowing Africa’s education requires a multi-stakeholder approach, the private sector and governments should up the tempo to effectively review educational curricula.

The private sector in African countries should be ready to invest in skills and skills training in order for the continent to become more competitive, and governments should play a part by creating enabling environments for the private sector to chip in the education sector.

Although lack of practical skills and skills mismatch are contributing to problems affecting Africa today, all hope is not lost as the African Union acknowledges the problems and advocates for entrepreneurial skills development via its 50-year plan known as Agenda 2063.

Member states should just support the Agenda 2063 concept, learn from international best practices, and always keep in mind the need to develop practical models that can take them to greater heights.