The urgency of rethinking education — for Africa and the world
We all know that greater investment in education is a must. (Ryan Gray/Reuters)
As the African Union heads of state and government gather in Addis Ababa under the new South African presidency, we call on them to address a situation that is an emergency for Africa and for the world: the need to rethink education.
We all know that greater investment in education is a must: to reach the sustainable development goal of inclusive quality education for all by 2030, we must overcome an estimated annual funding gap of $39-billion — 0.5% of global GDP. Unesco data shows that 258-million children are still not attending school, two-thirds of the 411-million children worldwide who lack basic literacy and numeracy skills are in school, and there are 750-million illiterate adults, two-thirds of whom are women. We need no further analyses to understand that the world is off-track. The international community needs to act — and it needs to act now.