Reclaiming the space of education in Africa

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2020 noted that the education sector in Sub-Saharan Africa was heavily affected as millions of students stayed home for an unspecified period of time following the closure of education institutions ranging from nursery, primary, secondary and institutions of higher learning. 
At the time, it was not possible to imagine that from March 2020, some Ugandan children would have to wait until January 2022 to see the inside of a classroom and use their desks again. 

The impact of the pandemic on the education sector in Sub-Saharan Africa is difficult to quantify and qualify for now. Time will tell better. We can only say millions have been affected in multidimensional ways. 
We cannot say the education sector was in good shape before Covid-19. What we do know is that Covid-19 has exacerbated the problems for the sector. There were concerns about the education system even meeting the needs of the job market and the quality of those who complete a cycle of education often raised eyebrows.

Finally, we are relieved that today the long awaited official return to school is a reality. For some, school never really stopped. For others, they will be picking up from long forgotten books and dusting them off.  
One would have expected that by the time of this return to school, there have been some radical reforms in the national education architecture. No doubt, the ministry has to be commended for thinking through the reopening and ensuring that there is no vacuum for primary and secondary schools. Still, we need to do some more thinking in this area.

So much has happened. Throughout the last two years, there have been discussions involving the plight of private and public schools. In the last decade, there was substantial growth of the private education sector with more dependence on these for the provision of ‘the good’ education, thus marking evident inequalities in performance between schools in urban and rural areas as well as private and public schools. 
It is not clear, what crucial steps were taken, to address some of these problems. We need to be deliberate to manage better, the performance disparities between private and public schools and pay attention to the real issues at play. 

It is a given that systems of education in Africa are affected by the interaction of several factors at play, often rooted in national and global economic contexts of the day. Educational access and opportunities is thus a function of these factors, especially for girls. Covid-19 happens to be our reality and context today. It demands critical thinking from all actors.
There is no telling if the return to school will be uninterrupted or more closures might be eminent in the year. We have to take one day at a time. We can only hope for no such interruptions for now and work towards keeping children at school. 

Whereas we are happy that children are finally back to school, we cannot settle and assume that all is well. We ought to continue to ask ourselves what best we can do to improve educational opportunities for our children, and working environment for our teachers. 
As a region with a very young population, education remains the major building block for African youth to access global and national opportunities. If we do not get it right, we might be opening doors for further under development and dependence. Africa’s self-reliance is only possible if countries collectively and individually focus on providing competitive quality education opportunities for all.
 
Continental goals for industrialisation and national objectives for social transformation cannot happen in a vacuum. They must be deliberately fed with the right education and an enabling environment. Sadly, the fruits of education continue to be a far distant dream for many. The returns on investment for education can be difficult to appreciate in the context of high levels of poverty and unemployment. 
We need to closely gather data and find ways to appreciate comprehensive reforms needed to make the leap to social transformation. Whereas we have been talking about skilling and multiple outlets of education for young people, these remain narrow focused.

After these two years, there is need to reclaim the place of education in Africa’s development. Embracing educational reforms in our national systems is crucial. We need to nurture our education potential and make it our competitive advantage. 
African governments will have to cultivate a good deal of cooperation between the private and public schools as well as play critical coordinating roles in this time of the pandemic if we are to provide a descent form of education for all. 

Ms Maractho (PhD) is the director of Africa Policy Centre and senior lecturer at Uganda Christian University.