One in five primary school-age children in sub-Saharan Africa are out of school; their number is nearly as high as it was in 1990. Only two in three children in the region complete primary school by age 15. Among those who do, only 3 in 10 achieve the minimum proficiency level in reading, meaning that barely one in five children do so overall.
The Spotlight series is a new partnership between the Global Education Monitoring Report, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), hosted by the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the African Union.
The first report, Born to Learn, synthesizes evidence on completion rates and levels of minimum learning proficiency in the continent, informing the debate on national SDG 4 / CESA benchmarks.
It draws on five country reports covering the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal and a series of case studies from all African regions, which will also be published on 20 October.
The second report due out in 2023 will draw on country reports from Angola, Mauritania, Niger, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
The Spotlight Reports aim to present good practices so as to improve foundational learning and offers recommendations on key actions to support policy dialogue through established African Union peer learning mechanisms.
Download the report: English
