Secondary Education in Africa: Strategies for Renewal

The views expressed within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the World Bank or any of its affiliated organizations. Foreword O ver the last few decades, the importance of secondary education has changed radically. This holds true both for the opportunities this level of education offers to the individual student as well as the role it plays in the economic and social development of nations. Only forty years ago, secondary education was the privilege of the few, even in most European countries, and its role in economic development was mainly to train a limited number of primary school graduates to meet the manpower needs of the economy. Coverage of secondary education was especially low in Sub-Sa-haran Africa, where the enrollment ratio was only 3 percent in 1960, and 7 percent in 1970. During the last three decades, secondary education has become practically universal in most industrialized countries. Good quality secondary education is now considered a prerequisite both for successful integration of young people into the modern economy and for the ability of countries to benefit from the ICT and knowledge revolution and to compete successfully in the new globalized, knowledge based economy. Secondary education provides countries with critical higher level skills and knowledge for advanced learning and training of technicians, scientists, and entrepreneurs. It also plays a crucial role in the socialization of young people and in targeting at-risk youth, and is central to fostering positive social attitudes. Secondary education yields considerable private returns and provides opportunities to acquire attitudes, skills, and competencies unlikely to be developed during the primary grades. These skills enable young people to participate fully in society, take control of their lives, and continue learning. Sub-Saharan African countries face special challenges in benefiting from this international trend, and the gap between these countries and the rest of the world in coverage, quality, and relevance of secondary education is increasing. As progress towards universal primary education resumes, parents and communities are demanding expanded opportunities for secondary education — first at the lower secondary level and later at the upper secondary level. The demand pressure comes from both the need to increase the present low coverage of secondary education (less than 30 percent) and from continued rapid growth in the population of school age (projected at about 25 percent over the next fifteen years, as compared to stagnation or decline in …