Africa: Poor Marks for Africa's Schools

Few experts would dispute that there can be no development in Africa without education. But Africa's education systems are among the worst in the world. Why are they failing to make the grade? Daniel Pelz investigates.

South Africa's minister for education, Angie Motshekga, has every reason to worry about standards in her country's schools. In four of the nine provinces, more than 213,000 students recently failed to pass their school leaving examinations. "When 25 percent don't make it, you start having sleepless nights," she told a South African newspaper in January. The figures were a "national catastrophe," she said.

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