Education in Africa

Sudan and Kenya Case Studies

• The percentage of people in a country that can read and write.

First of all … what is literacy rate?

US• There are over 7,000 higher

education institutions in the U.S. with over 15 – 18 million students enrolled• Total population - 308,095,165• Total of 124,110 elementary /

secondary schools!

Sudan• Literacy rate in 1956 - 22.9 %, and, despite

the efforts of successive governments, by 1990 it had risen only to about 30 %

• Education in Southern Sudan worse than Northern Sudan

• Of the more than 5,400 primary schools in 1980, less than 14 percent were located in southern Sudan

• renewal of the civil war in mid- 1983 destroyed many schools– many teachers and students were among the

refugees fleeing the ravages of war in the south

Sudan• 2006 – of the 2922 schools in southern

Sudan – less than 16% had permanent buildings (mostly due to the civil war destroying many of the school buildings)

• By 1980 – 6 universities / 11 colleges / 23 technical schools – ALL of which are in the Northern provinces

• By 2000 - 26 public universities and 21 private universities and colleges.

• 190 upper-secondary schools in the public system in 1980

• In 1999-2000 - 38,623 students

Sudan• Education for girls • Traditionally – girls were not encouraged to go to

school – their place and value was at home!– Parents felt that schools would corrupt the moral value

of the girls– Value of girls was from dowry received at their marriage

• First intermediate school for girls – 1940 • By 1980 – 34% of students – girls • 1995 – 13% of college/university students – girls!

Kenya• Population - 28.7 million people• 6 public / 13 private universities - enrollment

of about 50,000 students.• 2000 – 250 middle-level colleges – enrollment

of more than 60,000 students• female students make up about 30 percent of

total enrollments in the public universities• The pupil-teacher ratio has risen in some cases

to more than 100-1. Even the average 60-1 ratio is quite high.

KenyaFree Education Introduced

• 1973 - a policy of free primary education introduced but it had to be reversed soon after – teachers and the school infrastructure could not cope

with the one million new admissions that arrived in the first two months.

• 2003 - free and compulsory primary education for all• 2006 - the number of children enrolled in Kenya's

18,000 primary schools had doubled • Almost 80 % of girls and boys are enrolled • Overall literacy rate has shot up to 74 %

Note … most of the lowest percentages of literacy rate occur in Africa

Literacy rate – the number of people in a country who can read and write