African countries invest heavily in education
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-28 15:55
NAIROBI -- African countries, with the help of international community, have
invested heavily in the development of education, as more and more people in the
continent realize that education is the key to economic growth and poverty
reduction.
A report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) showed that primary-school enrollment had gone up
sharply in sub-Saharan Africa with nearly 20 million new students going to
school this year.
Kenya, for example, after canceling tuition fee in
2003, saw its primary-school enrollment increase by 1 million students. The same
measure has made Ghana's primary-school enrollment rise 14 percent. In Niger,
the primary-school enrollment went up 61 percent between 1998 and 2003.
In May this year, Nigeria announced a 10-year plan on its educational
development program at all levels. Also in Nigeria, parents and guardians who
fail to take a child of school age to school under the Universal Basic Education
scheme stand the risk of being sanctioned.
African governments, though
often ridden with fiscal deficiency, are quite generous on the budget for
education. In some central African countries, lectures in universities can be
paid 600 thousand to 700 thousand African francs (about 1,200 U.S. dollars to
1,400 dollars) each month, while salary for professors can reach 1 million
francs (about 2,000 dollars) a month.
The Gabonese government has always
attached great importance to the training of teachers. Besides regular training
program, the government selects excellent teachers each year to further study
abroad, providing them with stipend.
In the Republic of Congo, the
government employs foreign teachers to teach in the country and sends almost
1,000 students to study abroad each year.
Vocational education has just
been unfolding in Africa. There are six middle-level vocational schools in the
west African country of Togo, providing courses which involve hotel service,
business, architecture, and etc. The graduates from these schools are favored by
employers.
In recent years, African Development Bank has extended credit
or loans to African countries like Burkina Faso, Tanzania, and Mali to help them
develop vocational education.
COOPERATION WITH CHINA
African
countries have also strengthened cooperation with other parts of the world in
the educational sector.
According to China's Ministry of Education, more
than 50 African countries have established educational cooperation with China.
Cen Jianjun, deputy director of the ministry's international cooperation
office, said at a news briefing on the upcoming China-Africa Cooperation Forum
that efforts put into Sino-African educational exchanges and cooperation in
recent years had paid off.
Under the Beijing Declaration signed at the
Sino-African Education Minister Forum held in Beijing last November, China has
committed running training programs for 1,000 African government officials,
school heads and teachers over a period of three years.
China provides
about 1,200 government scholarships to African students every year. By the end
of 2005, a total of 18,919 scholarships had been granted to students from 50
African countries.
Also several Confucius Institutes, the nonprofit
school specializing in Chinese language education and cultural communication,
have been set up in some African countries.
So far, through nearly 60
assistance programs, China has helped 25 African countries to develop neglected
disciplines and train science and technological talents.
China has also
dispatched 530 professional teachers to 35 African countries to assist them in
developing higher and middle school education, according to the Chinese
education ministry.
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