Washington, DC — Although many African nations are making progress toward achieving the United Nations "millennium development goal" of universal primary education by 2015, governments must effectively engage civil society to reach it, according to four African ministers attending a conference in Washington,DC.
"We believe that education can democratize the society," Gennet Zewide, Ethiopian Minister of education told the "Achieving Education for All in Africa" conference organized by the Council on Foreign Relations' Center for Universal Education.
In Nigeria, said Amina Ibrahim, National Education-for-All Coordinator, universal primary education has been a "failure" not because the concept was bad, "but because the design was flawed."
Since Nigeria's military regime was ousted and as the government has begun to rethink education, many have come to realize that "government alone cannot deliver education for all," said Ibrahim.
"Two years ago, to discuss education policy with government was impossible. At best, we could come to an air-conditioned office to look at documents designed by a bunch of technocrats. Eventually," says Ibrahim, planning dialogues at the federal level has to be taken to the states, because "that's where education will be delivered."
Education has been moved high up the development agenda of governments and the World Bank. "Education is the best anti-poverty strategy," said UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, during the spring meetings of the Bank and International Monetary Fund. It is on the agenda of the upcoming G8 meetings in Canada.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
According to the Bank, 125 million children, 53 percent of them girls and 74 percent living in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, do not attend school. The Bank is about to announce a pilot "fast track" program in which 23 developing nations will receive additional financing in order to strengthen their primary education programs.
The education of women was of particular concern to the all-woman panel. In almost all developing nations the number of girls attending school lags far behind boys. Culture often bumps up against national need, the panel participants said. Sometimes this is tackled with success, but sometimes not.
In Gambia, said Ann-Therese Ndong-Jatta, Secretary of State for Education, a policy of working with the leaders of Koranic schools has won their acceptance of the education of girls: "Keep it as it is, but add value," summarised Ndong-Jatta.
In Nigeria, by contrast, many Koranic schools continue to see the education of girls as "a threat to their system," said Amina Ibrahim.
Much is still in flux, the panelists observed, especially what priority their own governments might give to their education concerns. "Nepad is kind of silent on basic education," said Ndong-Jatta. "It [Nepad] was more about trying to be on the good books of the West than actually giving time to the processes that would adequately articulate the problems in Africa."
But, added Ethiopian Education Minister Gennet Zewide more optimistically, "African governments and leaders are aware that development comes through education, even through it's not properly articulated yet."
