Africa: Universal Primary Education - what is the picture?

[debbie]

http://victoriafalls24.com/blog/2013/07 ... in-africa/

Zimbabwe has for the third consecutive time been ranked top on literacy rate in Africa, the latest list by the African Economist Magazine reveals.

Congratulations to educationalists in Zimbabwe!

[debbie]

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/07/2 ... education/

Zambia: What comes after Universal Primary Education?

Looking at African literacy rate rankings shared by The African Economist last month, 37 of Africa's 52 countries now score above 50 percent, while 17 countries now score above 70 percent.

For a continent that is ranked the poorest to have such relatively high scores, there is hope that education and literacy levels could keep soaring with sustained efforts after the 2015 deadline passes for achieving eight UN Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), including universal primary education.

Certainly Zambia, which ranks 17th in Africa with just over 80 percent literacy levels, could climb the ladder if the current efforts of government, non-governmental organisations and individuals to improve education bear fruit.

There are a number of factors that affects pupil progression to higher education but the biggest problem appears to be lack of classroom space at the lower levels with a teacher/pupil ratio in Zambia of 1 to 63 for 2011 according to the World Bank.

The government has embarked on building more classroom space at primary, secondary and tertiary levels to absorb as many pupils and students as possible.

[debbie]

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/wn ... ?id=968086

Namibia's Literacy Programme Receives Unesco Confucius Prize

WINDHOEK, Aug 3 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Education has announced that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has awarded the Unesco Confucius Prize for Literacy to the Namibia National Literacy Programme, Namibia Press Agency (Nampa) reported.

A media statement issued by the ministry on Thursday said Unesco awarded the prize to the Namibian programme on the recommendation of an international jury, after a submission made by the Directorate of Adult Education in the Ministry of Education.

The awards ceremony for the Unesco International Literacy Prizes will be held at the Unesco headquarters in Paris, France on Sept 9, during the International Literacy Day celebrations. International Literacy Day is observed on Sept 8, which this year falls on a Sunday.

The national literacy programme, which was officially launched in September 1992, two years after Namibia gained independence, was built on a long tradition of literacy and adult education dating back to the early activities of missionaries, and on the literacy campaign of the Swapo-Party and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) such as the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN).

The programme, which targets out-of-school youth, as well as illiterate and disadvantaged adults, aims to enable them to participate effectively in national development.

The international jury in making the recommendation to Unesco indicated that it highly appreciated the determination of the programme to provide basic education to disadvantaged adults and out-of-school youth to improve their quality of life and to enable them to contribute to community and national development.

The Unesco Confucius Prize for Literacy consists of a silver medal, a diploma and a cheque of US$20,000.

Congratulations to Namibia!