Strategies For Sustainable Financing Of Secondary Education In Sub Saharan Africa

Investment in secondary schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa has been neglected since the World Conference on Education for All at Jomtien. The World Education Forum at Dakar began to recognize the growing importance of post-primary schooling for development. Only 25 percent of school-age children attend secondary school in the region--and fewer complete successfully, having consequences for gender equity, poverty reduction, and economic growth. As universal primary schooling becomes a reality, demand for secondary schools is increasing rapidly. Gaps between the educational levels of the labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions remain large. Girls are more often excluded from secondary schools than boys. Secondary schooling costs are high to both governments and households. This study explores how access to secondary education can be increased. Radical reforms are needed in low-enrollment countries to make secondary schooling more affordable and to provide more access to the majority currently excluded. The report identifies the rationale for increasing access, reviews the status of secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa, charts the growth needed in different countries to reach different levels of participation, identifies the financial constraints on growth, and discusses the reforms needed to make access affordable. It concludes with a road map of ways to increase the probability that more of Africa's children will experience secondary schooling.

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have made substantial progress in universalizing primary school completion. Many young Africans are completing primary schooling, and many more will do so in the coming years. The pressure already strong to expand secondary and tertiary education is expected to intensify. Finding a sustainable path for such expansion is a challenge for all countries in the region. Given the diversity across African countries, 'Developing Post-Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Assessing the Financial Sustainability of Alternative Pathways' offers no generic policy fix. Rather, it seeks to provide policy makers and their development partners with an analytical tool to inform discussion and debate about alternative options in light of country circumstances. It presents simulation scenarios that serve an illustrative function to draw attention to the implications of such options as raising the share of education in the national budget, reforming the service delivery arrangements to manage costs, diversifying the student flow beyond lower secondary education, and enlarging the role of private funding, particularly in post-primary education. The study captures the nature of the policy choices by presenting alternative packages of policies and using them to clarify the affordability of what the authors characterize as spartan and generous choices. One of the study s most valuable contributions is the flexibility of the simulation model, which can be used to adapt the package of policies to national contexts. 'Developing Post-Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Assessing the Financial Sustainability of Alternative Pathways', which contains detailed annexes with results for 33 low-income countries, will be of interest to national education policy makers and development partners, as well as education researchers and education consultants.

The first part of this paper describes some of the basic issues facing education policymakers in Africa, including the introduction of school fees and private provision of schools. Insufficient attention has been paid to how policy advice is implemented, especially to the relation between planning and budgeting. Most African public-sector budgeting procedures and formats have not changed significantly since colonial times, and they cannot cope with translating short- and medium-term adjustment policies into practice. The second part of this paper is concerned with approaches to strengthening and/or reforming the planning and budgeting for education in African countries. With the improvements described, better use can be made of external assistance. The objectives of the suggested changes are to enable countries to use their limited resources better and to avoid stop-go educational policies so that the capability of providing a sustainable and affordable education service can be achieved. In this respect, governments have a crucial role to play in the process of change, even if in some aspects the "market" will succeed where government planning has failed. (Contains 78 references.) (RT)

Expanded access to and improved quality of secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa are key ingredients for economic growth in the region This Secondary Education in Africa (SEIA) synthesis report makes this point by bringing together a significant volume of analytical work sponsored by the World Bank and by many African and international partners. 'At the Crossroads: Choices for Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa' argues the case for broad and equitable access for a basic education cycle of 8 to 10 years, as well as for expanded education and training opportunities. This book provides a timely resource on good practices and potential solutions for developing and sustaining high quality secondary education systems in Africa. It includes the main elements of a roadmap to improve Africa's secondary education systems' response to the demands of growing economies and rapidly changing societies.

Increasingly the role of management and governance is recognized as important for providing and delivering effective services at all levels of education. In view of the growing demand for more and better services at secondary education levels, these are crucial issues that must be addressed urgently. Sub-Saharan Africa's secondary education and training systems must become more efficient and more effective. The current (unit) costs of junior and senior secondary education in most African countries prevent massive expansion of post-primary education. This demands a holistic approach to governance and management issues. In parallel, there is a demand from civil society and governments for greater accountability. This study aims to present best practices and identify sustainable development plans for expansion and improved quality and efficiency in the delivery of secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa through better governance, management, and accountability.

This World Bank Working Paper discusses equity and efficiency issues in secondary education transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its main purpose is to identify and analyze national, regional, and local measures that may lead to the development of more efficient and seamless transitions between post-primary education pathways. In most African countries student transition from primary to junior secondary is still accompanied by significant repetition and dropout. Transitions within the secondary cycle also cause significant losses and should use more effective assessment and selection methodologies. According to global trends, Africa needs to revisit its post-primary structures to provide more diversified (academic and non-academic) pathways of learning which respond better to the continent's present economic and social realities. In the end, the main goal should be to produce young people who can become productive citizens and lead healthy lives, as demonstrated by middle and higher-income economies.