Doctor Tomoko Shibuya is the Regional Advisor for Education in the UNICEF Regional Office for West and Central Africa, based in Dakar, covering 24 countries in the sub-region. A graduate of the Universities of Oxford and Cape Town, she has 25 years of experience in education across several African countries, including Mozambique, Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea-Bissau as head of education. of UNICEF. Here she addresses the challenges of education in Africa and in Senegal in particular, pointing out the flaws and noting the meager progress.
You have just finished the continental conference on education organized by the African Union, in collaboration with UNICEF. What are the major axes of this conference?
I have just returned from Mauritania where an exciting continental conference on education was held, bringing together around 400 participants, nearly 30 ministers, vice-ministers and directors of education, more than 100 experts and opinion leaders as well as defenders of young people from all over the continent. Organized by the African Union, in collaboration with UNICEF, the event, which took place in Nouakchott on December 9, 2024, highlighted a strong commitment to expand innovative solutions and guarantee quality and equitable education , thus responding to the challenges of the 21st century in Africa. Key points discussed include access to free and compulsory public education for every child, foundational learning, including early childhood education, prioritizing access and learning for children affected by emergencies as well as education financing and governance.
This conference was attended by several heads of state. Can we have an idea of the decisions taken and what happens next?
Indeed, the presence of several heads of state at this conference, including the presidents of Algeria, Mauritania, Rwanda and Senegal as well as that of the president of the African Union Commission and the deputy executive director of UNICEF, Ted Chaiban, was a highlight. Their commitment highlighted the crucial importance of inclusive and quality education for every child and young person in Africa.
Among the recommendations made, it was proposed to declare the next decade as a “Decade of Education”, to focus efforts on improving and expanding access to education across the continent. The next step will be to implement concrete actions to make this vision a reality, by collaborating with governments and international partners.
Exactly, where are you with the 2065 agenda? Will Africa be there?
By 2050, Africa is expected to have the youngest population in the world. The implications are immense and we must seize the opportunity of the demographic dividend. However, states in the region are not investing as much as their population growth would require. This risks becoming dramatic: it is estimated that there will be nearly a billion children in 2050 in Africa and if we continue at the same rate of insufficient investment, we will have nearly 160 million children outside the school. The African Union is committed to promoting inclusive development across the continent, through targeted and concrete strategies. Now is the time to ensure that these strategies are fully implemented for the benefit of every African.
In this regard, the decade of acceleration for education and skills will be essential to succeed in this transition.
The observation is that despite efforts, some countries are dragging their feet on education for all. What is the state of affairs in Africa and in Senegal in particular?
Today, more than 100 million children are out of school in Africa, representing 40% of the world's out-of-school children, even though the continent has barely a quarter of the overall school-age population. Between 2015 and 2024, despite an increase of more than 30% in the number of children in school, the absolute number of children out of school increased by 13.2 million. Situations of fragility, conflict and violence dramatically impact access to education and its quality. For example, the rate of out-of-school children in the central Sahel is three times higher than in the rest of the world. In West and Central Africa, more than 14,000 schools have been closed due to insecurity, affecting 2.8 million children. In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 90% of 10-year-old children cannot read and understand a simple text, and this rate even exceeds 95% in certain countries affected by violence and conflict.
In Senegal, nearly two million children (36%) are not in school and among those who are enrolled in formal education, 67% have minimum reading and arithmetic skills.
Is Senegal a good student, in your opinion, in terms of progress in education? If not, what is left for him to do?
Senegal has made notable progress in education, maintaining investment levels in the sector between 22 and 23%, exceeding the international standard of 20% of the national budget.
However, more than 90% of this investment goes into salaries, leaving very little to be allocated in a targeted manner to ensure real impact and equity. To successfully transform the education system, it is essential to improve the efficiency and impact of education spending at all levels.
Senegal has significantly improved learning outcomes, from 39% of children acquiring minimum reading and numeracy skills in 2014, to 67% in 2019 during the Pasec assessment. The country's commitment to fundamental learning for all children was recently reaffirmed by the government's active presence at the Second Continental Exchange on Basic Learning in Kigali, Rwanda.
The two million children out of school have a fundamental right to education. It is crucial to offer more quality alternative pathways to out-of-school children and adolescents, such as second chance education, accelerated learning programs, distance learning or other alternative modalities as well as courses literacy and numeracy in Koranic schools.
