Leading SDG4 conversations is a series of podcasts produced by the SDG4 High-Level Steering Committee’s Inter-Agency Secretariat, housed at UNESCO. The discussions feature a panel of experts on the Transforming Education movement, and aim to share knowledge and good practices on how we can reach the Education goal by 2030.
Recognizing education as a fundamental human right and a key factor in reducing poverty, improving public health, and fostering social and economic growth, the 36th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union made a groundbreaking decision to adopt education as the AU Theme of the Year 2024.
This places education at the center of the continent’s development agenda.
In this edition of Leading SDG4 conversations, we embark on a discussion about how Africa’s education landscape is being shaped by the Transforming Education movement.
There have been substantial efforts within the continent to ensure access, completion, and quality of basic education for all, and there is notable progress. For example, the proportion of out-of-school children had decreased until around 2010. The completion rates had improved in primary and lower secondary education, as well as the access to and the participation in Technical-Vocational Education and Training (TVET). There was also progress in the access to pre-primary education and in adult literacy and lifelong learning.
However, despite the efforts, there still remains a huge amount of work to accomplish to bring the continent closer to the Education 2030 agenda. UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 launched the first global report on teachers on 8 November 2023 during UNESCO’s General Conference. The report revealed an urgent need for 44 million primary and secondary teachers worldwide by 2030. This includes a demand for seven out of ten teachers at the secondary level and a need to replace over half of the existing teachers leaving the profession. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, where teacher shortages are the most acute, countries will need to recruit 17 million teachers to reach the education goals by 2030.
Within the African continent, education has already been recognized as a priority in the political agenda, thus becoming AU Theme of the Year in 2024. This is the first time that education at the top of the political agenda.
By working closely together and with partners, the African Union and African countries have started to seek ways in building resilient education systems and strengthening the teaching profession, where each African learner will have access to inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant education, where no African learner is left behind.
Source: unesco
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