The Sterling One Foundation has reiterated its commitment to investing in foundational learning and working with the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and others to boost education in Africa.
This was disclosed at the 2023 High-Level Policy Dialogue hosted in Zambia by ADEA and the Zambian Ministry of Education to inform policy and decisions on foundational learning, foster dialogue, peer learning, and sharing good practices on what works in foundational learning in support of the African Union Year of Education scheduled for 2024.
In her remarks, CEO, Sterling One Foundation, Mrs. Olapeju Ibekwe, extolled the ideas and strategies put forward as she stated that it will strengthen the work of the private sector and civil society organizations (CSOs) contributing to the solutions.
“At our Foundation, we support the work of different stakeholders through grants, technical support, and strategic engagements, and we are excited to see how the mainstreaming of the resolutions here will improve that work,” she stated.
It is noted that development experts have bemoaned the dire situation facing Africa’s youth, given the inefficient education system in place to cater to them, coupled with the rapid rise in their population.
According to the State of Global reports, in Sub-Saharan Africa, only 10 per cent of 10-year-olds are able to read basic story texts or solve simple arithmetic problems, thus placing the region as the lowest in terms of numeracy skills and foundational literacy in the world.
With this challenge at the front burner, 10 African Ministers of Education and some other country representatives agreed to prioritise foundational learning and develop a foundational learning starter pack model for the 2024 African Union Year of Education (AUYoE) and beyond, as an urgent step towards tackling the challenge.
The starter pack is expected to serve as a uniform resource material that will help the participating countries develop a sustainable solution for the problem.
Similarly, the model will prioritise data collection and analysis of the data in partnership with ADEA and other key policy partners to improve laws and bring to the fore policies that foster more efficiency, peer learning, and best practices in support of the AUYoE.
However, it was revealed that decision-makers in the policy dialogue hope to address this in the immediate future, with the adoption of structured pedagogy for the continent, the introduction of more age-appropriate teaching methods, and the use of technology to improve teacher quality, through training and performance monitoring and improvement.
At the event, the Minister of Education of Zambia, Hon. Douglas Munsaka Syakalima, buttressed the importance of all stakeholders taking the resolutions seriously and mentioned that education, especially foundational learning, is at the base of what will drive Africa’s development.
Participants at the High-Level Policy Dialogue got the opportunity to review some of the solutions and insights from the participating countries to see what works and where improvements and adaptations are possible.
During his remarks, the Executive Secretary of ADEA, Mr. Albert Nsengiyumva, highlighted the need for a collective commitment to tackling the crisis the continent faces.
According to him, Africa was the continent most affected by the learning crisis, and it is where the solutions must be developed.
However, he thanked the participating Ministers of Education and other stakeholders for the work they have done so far and urged them to continue on that momentum to ensure the acceleration of progress.
Speakers at the Policy dialogue included Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, Founder of Human Capital Africa and Co-convener of the Foundational Learning Ministerial Coalition, and Dr. Benjamin Piper, Director of Global Education at the Gates Foundation, both of whom advocated strongly for data-driven decisions and scaling what has worked.
