African Education: A Trained Ignorance

The ambitions of people, the inventions of mankind, and the revolutions of this world all originate from the simple concept of education. For an individual, education is responsible for the existence of one's curiosity and motivation; for a nation, it is the foundation of their quality of life.

Such is the reason that a single failing education system across Africa has resulted in 90 million adults struggling to get even the lowest-paying jobs in the workforce, 61 million adolescents being incapable of "the most basic literacy and numeracy skills," and 10 million children dropping out of school each year (Watkins). In the face of its increasing birth rate, shrinking workforce, and pervasive poverty, scholars predict that a continued lack of proper education will ultimately lead to an economic collapse in Africa (Watkins).

The African education crisis can partially be traced back to European colonization of the continent and its lasting legacy. Dr. Oba F. Nwanosike proposed at the International Conference of Teaching, Learning, and Change that “whatever Africans were taught about themselves was designed to enable them to internalize their inferiority and to recognize the white man as their savior” (Nwanosike). While European colonizers boosted Africa’s economic, social, and political standings to a certain extent, their feelings of superiority towards the indigenous people and simultaneous desire to exploit the land led them to use false and impractical education to keep the Africans ignorant (Nwanosike). African children who were once taught “a wide range of skills for success in traditional society” were now given lessons on glorified European history (Nwauwa). As the younger generation of Africans began to lose their identity, African education itself gradually lost its practicality.

Since then, the government's continued negligence towards their country's educational institutions has resulted in a rather worthless education process for adolescents. Careless education administrators and extremely low wages are responsible for frequently absent teachers who lack both the skills and knowledge to provide any decent education (Radcliffe). Due to the impoverished education systems across Africa, most fairly qualified teachers seek to find jobs in private schools or internationally, and those who are left behind are usually no more educated than the students they are responsible for teaching, which often dissuades students from attending school altogether. Those who persist are often forced to walk several miles to and from school, only to find themselves crammed with fifty other students and sharing less than a couple of textbooks (Watkins). Additional corruption within these educational institutions results in schools focusing more on passing their students than actually ensuring them a quality education, as people often find themselves graduating even with final scores as low as 30% (Radcliffe). A combination of ineffective curriculums, inept teachers, and inadequate facilities leaves even the supposed “educated graduates” without the capabilities required by the economy.

While enrollment rates rose by about 50% in the last decade and private organizations have been formed in hopes of replenishing the youth with the practical education they lack, a significant revolution is yet to be seen (Radcliffe). Such is a race against time, against the millions of adolescents who are unable to join the workforce due to their inutile knowledge, and against the subsequent generations that may grow up unable to even provide for themselves.

Works Cited:

Nwanosike, Oba F., and Liverpool Eboh Onyije. “Colonialism and Education.” IATEL.

Nwauwa, Apollos O. "Education, Western Africa." Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450, edited by Thomas Benjamin, vol. 1, Macmillan Reference USA, 2007, pp. 345-353. Global Issues in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX2587300139/GIC?u=los42754&sid=GIC&xid=75c232e1.

Radcliffe, Matt. “The Effects of the Education System on South Africa's Economic Growth.” 18 Nov. 2016, www.ntusbfcas.com/african-business-insights/content/the-effects-of-the-education-system-on-south-africa-s-economic-growth.

Watkins, Kevin. “Too Little Access, Not Enough Learning: Africa's Twin Deficit in Education.” Brookings, Brookings, 28 July 2016, www.brookings.edu/opinions/too-little-access-not-enough-learning-africas-twin-deficit-in-education/.