Kinshasa (Fides Service ) – When the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa achieved independence they all gave absolute priority to education as a means not only to avoid but also to eradicate poverty. Every country has the right of every individual to education inscribed in its constitution. But today many African countries admit that good intentions were not enough and decisions made were not implemented. The reasons vary, just as Africa varies in social cultural and economic situations. The subject of education in Africa is the topic of the latest issue of the three-monthly review “Afriquespoir” published in Kinshasa, D. Congo, by the Comboni missionaries.
In Niger only one quarter of school age children have the privilege of going to school. In Ivory Coast and Senegal 60% of school age children attend school. The percentage is 90% in Togo and Zimbabwe. In 1980 it was as high as 98% in Tanzania, today the percentage has dropped to 57%. And this drop is registered in many other African countries for a number of reasons: public funds used for war at home or abroad; burden of international debt; corruption... another factor is population growth not accompanied by an equal development of school systems. In the 1990s the number of school age children increased more rapidly than the number of teachers and the number of classrooms.
A recent study in 10 countries showed that one third of the pupils attends lessons in overcrowded classrooms with as many as 100 children and not even a blackboard. In developing countries the number of pupils per teacher is three times higher than in rich nations. Benin, Congo, Gabon, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Senegal and Chad have an average of 50 to 70 pupils per teacher, which means that classes with 100 pupils are not such an exception. Industrialised OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation) in Europe countries have an average 16 pupils per teacher, and in some cases the average is even lower for example in Denmark (10.6), Italy (11.3), Norway (12.6).
Many teachers change jobs because of cuts in funds for public services, unbearable working conditions, stress, fatigue. Very often a teacher’s wage is barely enough for survival: in Madagascar teachers are paid about 55 dollars a month. However, despite precarious economic situations, many countries, aware of the importance of instruction to eradicate poverty, have made considerable effort to take steps to guarantee all children free education. In Cameroon for example the number of primary school pupils grew from 2.2 million in 1986 to 5.3 million in 1996, to reach a peak of 5.8 million. 2003-2004. In Malawi, where 58% of the population is illiterate, thanks to a free primary education policy adopted in 1994 by the democratically elected government, the number of pupils rose from 1.9 million to 3.2 million. However the laudable decision left the problem of structures still unsolved. (S.L.) (Fides Service 29/1/2004; lines: 34; words: 495)