Only 1 in 10 Children in Africa Learns to Read and Write
The crisis in basic education across Africa is deepening. Manos Antoninis, Director of UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, announced that only 11% of children across the continent have achieved foundational literacy and numeracy skills.Speaking at the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) Forum held in Accra, Ghana, Antoninis said, “Only 14% of children who complete primary school in Africa reach minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics. One in five children does not complete primary school at all.”Antoninis emphasized that “progress in education is only possible through data-driven policies, strong leadership, and sustainable financing,” calling on African nations to increase investments in foundational learning.
According to the latest figures compiled from nine different data sources by UNESCO, the vast majority of students in Africa cannot read and understand a simple text or perform basic math operations by the age of ten. This situation has placed the continent in the midst of a global “learning crisis.” Furthermore, 80% of children in Africa do not receive education in their native language, while only 40% have access to school meals, deepening educational inequality across the continent.