With four in five children in Africa completing primary school but at most two in ten of those attaining minimum proficiency in reading and mathematics at the end of primary, urgent reforms are needed to tackle a learning crisis that risks undermining progress toward both continental and global education goals.

The validation workshop which began on July 29th for the Continental Assessment Framework for Africa (CAF-Africa) marks a critical step in operationalizing a shared, technically sound approach to assessing learning. The Framework is designed to support AU Member States in developing harmonized benchmarks for reading and mathematics proficiency in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 4.1.1 and the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 2026–2035).

“We are committed to closing Africa’s learning data gaps and ensuring every child’s learning is visible, measurable, and acted upon,” said Mr. Adoumtar Noubatour, coordinator of the AU Pan African Institute for Education for Development “The Continental Assessment Framework is not just a technical tool; it’s a statement of our collective ambition.”

The Framework responds directly to a 2023 ministerial call to action led by Zambia and supported by Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, and The Gambia at the AU Specialized Technical Committee on Education, Science and Technology (STC-EST 4), emphasizing the need for robust, comparable data on learning across the continent.

“Our goal is to provide national and regional actors with a harmonized, contextually relevant framework to assess the quality of education systems,” said Dr. Michael Chilala, Executive Secretary of the AEAA. “This will enable governments to set realistic learning targets, allocate resources effectively, and ensure no learner is left behind.”

Set to bring together approximately 30 participants, the workshop will convene representatives from AU member states, regional agencies such as PASEC, civil society and academic stakeholders. Key themes will include curriculum and assessment alignment, national assessment frameworks, and institutional capacity building.

The Framework validation process is expected to yield four major outcomes:

1. A finalized and technically validated Continental Assessment Framework,
2. Increased political and technical commitment to CAF implementation,
3. Stronger links between CAF and AU-led education accountability and skills development initiatives,
4. A repository of good practices and technical recommendations to guide its rollout.

The workshop also paves the way for two high-level milestones: the official launch of the Framework at the AEAA Annual Conference in August 2025, and a ministerial-level presentation at the ADEA Triennale in Ghana in October 2025.

As Africa enters the AU Decade of Education (2025–2034), the CAF-Africa stands as a cornerstone for building more responsive, evidence-driven education systems. By anchoring policy decisions in reliable learning data, the continent is moving closer to achieving the education vision of Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.

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My name is Tunde Onakoya. I am a professional chess player and a national master of chess. I’m also the convener of Chess in Slums Africa, a non-profit organization that uses the game of chess as a framework to give children skills who do not have access to education. We are a strong believer in children’s potential, basing our work on the belief that children can do incredible things when they are given the chance, and the skills to know how. This is why we are joining the #BorntoLearn campaign started by the UNESCO GEM Report to rectify the fact that, in Africa at present, only one in five children can read with understanding and have acquired mathematical literacy. We join the call for all children to be given access to foundational learning. 

 Education for me is the capacity for thought. And a lot of the children we work with in Nigeria are not enabled to think for themselves because they are not in schools. Chess is a medium to teach them skills and enable them to be able to help themselves. Chess is helping them find expression. 

I knew that chess would give them a new identity that other people would respect. Instead of simply looking at a child’s poverty, or clothes, people would respect what that child was able to do. We have seen what children are able to do with chess when they are shown how; if all children had access to foundational learning in school, we would be astounded at what they’re able to do.  

The children we meet with have dreams and ambitions. Some of them want to become doctors or teachers. Some of them want to become lawyers or accountants. But, for them, and for the other 118 million children and youth out of school on the continent, it is very unlikely that these dreams will become a reality because of their present circumstances.  

For the longest time, many of them have been deprived of opportunities. #BornToLearn calls on governments to imagine what could be achieved if all children were to be given access to an education; access to skills that are relevant to their future. We hope this partnership will help bring the world to these children – to show them that it’s possible to dream beyond the confines of their community.  

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The event recalled the countries’ collective commitment to reduce the out-of-school population in Africa by 58 million by 2030. This is a continental target that represents the aggregation of national SDG 4 targets. While it does not represent a commitment to universal schooling, it reflects a powerful drive towards inclusion.  

But the challenge is large – and, in fact, larger than previously thought. This is a key conclusion of the 2025 SDG 4 Scorecard, the annual publication that takes stock of countries’ progress towards their national targets, which – this year – has focused on the out-of-school rate. The Scorecard provides updated out-of-school estimates by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report. 

SDG 4 benchmarking is the largest-ever country-led education target-setting exercise. To date, 74% of African countries have submitted national targets for at least some of the eight SDG 4 benchmark indicators, including the out-of-school rate. This is just below the global average of 80%. These targets demonstrate ownership of the agenda and strong political will to contribute towards the achievement of the global goal. This process links the national, continental and global education agendas. 

The Day of the African Child is an annual observance, with a theme set by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and adopted continentally by the AU. This year it focuses on ‘Planning and budgeting for children’s rights: progress since 2010’. Activities around this day stress the need to address the educational challenges faced by African children and reinforces the commitment to ensuring their right to quality learning, because every child is truly #BorntoLearn.  

To mark the occasion, a new brochure on Africa based on the 2025 SDG 4 Scorecard, has been released by the UIS and GEM Report. The Scorecard is a country-owned tool, as it tracks progress on the education commitments countries have made – first and foremost to their people. It has been aligned with the monitoring framework of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25), an alignment intended to continue in the next decade, as the upcoming strategy for 2026-2035 develops its monitoring framework. It serves as a critical tool both for fostering accountability and for helping countries improve the targets they set in their national education sector plans.

This year’s edition focuses on the out-of-school rate, one of the eight benchmark indicators. According to these latest estimates, there were 118 million children, adolescents and youth in Africa in 2023. The analysis shows that, despite commitments, out-of-school numbers have been increasing since 2010. Among children of primary school age, the out-of-school population fell from 49 million in 2000 to 42 million in 2015 but has increased to 44 million in 2023. Among youth of upper secondary school age, the out-of-school population has been increasing throughout: from 32 million in 2000 to 33 million in 2015 and 41 million in 2023. 

Out-of-school population in Africa, 2000–2023 

Beyond what administrative school records and household responses reveal, conflict in many parts of Africa prevents the systematic collection of comparable education data. Using multiple external evidence, mainly from humanitarian agencies, it is in fact estimated that at least 10 million more children, adolescents and youth are out of school in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan and, especially, Sudan, where the estimated out-of-school of 6.6 million may in fact be underestimated by 4.8 million. A first estimate is also made for Somala, where the out-of-school population is estimated to be 3.7 million. 

Interventions at the event from the ministers of Rwanda and Sierra Leone, two countries that have bucked the slowing trend, spoke to the importance of political leadership and continued investments in national institutional and data system capacity to translate these commitments into tangible results. UNESCO emphasizes the need to address persistent data gaps, and to better align ambitious but feasible benchmarks with financing and implementation mechanisms.

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At the African Spelling Bee, we have always believed in the power of literacy to unlock young minds and empower them to achieve their full potential. That is why I am thrilled to announce our partnership with the #BornToLearn campaign to put children’s learning at the top of the agenda. It is the beginning of a collaboration that underscores our shared commitment to ensuring that every child in Africa gets the chance to shine. 

Spelling Bee championships are held the world over, from east to west, from Asia to Europe and the Americas. The first ever championship was held over 100 years ago in the U.S. state of Ohio. I am an Executive Member of Spelling Bee Africa, which began in 2016, and now covers 22 countries on the continent.  

I have witnessed the championships over the years provide a platform for children from diverse backgrounds to showcase their spelling abilities, build self-confidence, and cultivate a love of learning. Our champions are proof that literacy changes lives; many have gone on to excel academically and become role models in their communities. They bring hope for Africa.  

On the eve of the 2025 African Spelling Bee Championships in Abuja, Nigeria, young spellers from across the continent will be coming together in a spirited competition that reminds me why we do what we do. Together with the competitors, we will be launching our partnership with the #BornToLearn campaign by the GEM Report, ADEA and the African Union accompanying the Spotlight series on foundational learning. Former Spelling Bee champions including the 2023 champion, Praises Esere Minabowa from Nigeria, will share their journeys, demonstrating the long-term impact of a strong educational foundation. With our testimonials and the GEM Report’s evidence, we will showcase how literacy transforms lives.  

Education is not just about passing exams; it is about instilling a lifelong love of learning, and shaping a future where young Africans can become the leaders and innovators that our continent needs. The Spelling Bee competition has shown time and again that when children are given the right support and encouragement, they embrace learning with enthusiasm. 

Confidence is a key ingredient in academic success. The Spelling Bee has provided thousands of children with a platform to stand before an audience, spell complex words, and build their self-esteem. We believe that when children feel empowered, they are more likely to embrace challenges, overcome obstacles, and reach for greater opportunities. 

The collaboration between the #BornToLearn campaign and the African Spelling Bee is about showing that literacy matters. Because, while every child is #BorntoLearn, the reality is that many never do. Research from the GEM Report, ADEA and the AU’s Spotlight Report series reveals that, in Africa today, at most two out of every ten children complete primary school and have the ability to read and understand what they are reading. 

Our dream is for every child in Africa to have access to quality education and to be able to read, write, and think critically. We know that we cannot achieve this alone. That is why partnerships like this one are so important—they allow us to scale our impact, reach more children, and create a ripple effect that will be felt across the continent. 

For more information about the #BornToLearn campaign and the African Spelling Bee, follow our updates and join the conversation online. Together, we can change the future of education in Africa. 

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Children’s numeracy skills matter for their academic success and long-term well-being. A paper I wrote to feed into the 2024 Spotlight Report on universal basic education completion and foundational learning in Africa, Learning counts, looked at the importance of four pedagogical inputs to make numeracy work: curriculum, textbooks, teacher guides and assessments – in Mauritania, Niger, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.

Just as important as having these four inputs in place is the need for them to be aligned by which I mean three things. First, the content should be aligned across each of these materials. Second, the pedagogical approach woven into the textbooks and teachers’ guides needs to be aligned with the pedagogical principles outlined in the curriculum. And third, the national documents should align with the global research on the important mathematical concepts students need to develop, and the optimal progression and pacing of that learning, over time.

In putting its accent on alignment, the research in the second Spotlight research cycle focused on whether key, foundational mathematics competencies were found in each of the national pedagogical inputs analysed. It also looked, for example, at the relative importance given to different mathematical domains (e.g. algebra vs geometry), the cognitive difficulty of the activities proposed in textbooks, and the pacing of key concepts over time – in other words, which competency was taught at which grade.

In order to map the alignment across different inputs in these five African countries, I looked at documents in the third grade and the last grade of primary school.

Curricula

The analysis of the curriculum across the five focus countries and the two grade levels focused on six key points of comparison.  Firstly, countries differ significantly in the scope of their curricula. English-speaking countries cover more mathematical domains, particularly at the grade three level, than French-speaking ones, which generally do not address probability and statistics.  The role that algebra plays in primary also varies significantly across countries. In most countries, anywhere between 4% and 8% of competencies focus on this domain. The exception was Niger, where 20% competencies in grade 3 and 25% of competencies in grade 5 focus on that domain.

Secondly, curricula are different in how they specify learning outcomes. Some curricula, such as in Mauritania, South Africa, and Zambia, provide detailed, measurable learning outcomes. Others, such as in Niger, provide broader or more general statements of content teachers are to cover (e.g. subtraction), making curriculum implementation and assessment more challenging.

Curricula also differ in the extent to which they indicate how students are expected to learn mathematics. Some clearly stipulate the use hands-on learning (e.g. using objects to explore or represent mathematical concepts), while others communicate the results of learning – for example being able to add two digit numbers with regrouping – without providing any indication of how students are to develop the competency.

Across the five countries the pace of learning in the curriculum generally aligns with the Global Proficiency Framework for Mathematics (GPF-M), although some important variations were noted. In some countries, for example students are expected be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers one or more years prior to when students are expected to demonstrate the same competency in  the GPF-M. This is not an issue if national, regional or international assessments show that students are able to demonstrate mastery of these competencies at earlier grade levels than proposed in the GPF-M.

Lastly, there were a few incidences of misalignment between curriculum, textbooks and teacher guides.   For example, Niger’s curriculum omits logic and reasoning, while the textbook deals with this concept extensively. Country representatives generally attributed these incidences to misalignment in funding cycles, where funding is available to develop and distribute a new textbook prior to a new curriculum being validated (or vice-versa).

Textbooks

Different types of activities are proposed in textbooks. They study examine three different types of activities, 1) learning activities, i.e., activities require students to move beyond the confines of the textbook, for example using objects or manipulatives to explore or represent concepts, carrying out a survey, measuring the length of objects in the classroom or school grounds, or identifying two- or three-dimensional shapes in the environment, 2) exercises or problems and 3) explanations. The relative weighting of the three types of activities in textbooks varies by country. In early primary, for example, very few of the activities in the Zambia, Uganda, South Africa, and Mauritania textbooks were classified as learning activities. At the end of primary, except for Uganda, the percentage of textbook activities that can be labelled “learning activities” is less than 10%. Most activities are exercises or problems.

How textbooks explain mathematical concepts to students also differs across countries. Grade 3 textbooks in Niger rely heavily on text or narrative-based explanations, a practice that prevents students with weak reading skills from accessing important information. Uganda, on the other hand, makes extensive use of worked examples and graphics and illustrations to explain mathematical concepts, formats that are more accessible to students with limited reading skills. At grade 5, both Uganda and Niger used worked examples to explain concepts, although both countries, along with Zambia, continued to use narrative-based explanations. Mauritania was an outlier in the analysis. Its grade 3 and grade 5 textbooks provided few explanations for students. Overall, the over reliance on narrative-based explanations across the five countries, as opposed to less language-intense worked examples and graphic explanations, presents language barriers that can prevent students from accessing necessary information.

The cognitive demand of the activities proposed in textbooks also differs across countries, suggesting that students do not have equal opportunities to develop higher level thinking skills in mathematics. Both in lower and upper primary, students in Mauritania are presented with significantly more higher-level thinking activities than students in Zambia.

Teacher guides

Lastly, the analysis of teacher guides also provided insights. It is worth noting that although grade 3  textbook activities in Uganda and Zambia do not require high-level thinking skills, the same is not true of the activities proposed in the teacher’s guide. At least one third of all the proposed grade 3 and grade 5 teacher guide activities require higher level thinking skills. If students in these two countries are to have the same opportunity to develop higher level thinking skills as their counterparts in Mauritania, their teachers must use the activities in the teacher guide in addition to those in the textbook and use them as intended. If teachers rely primarily or solely on the student textbook, students’ opportunities to develop higher-level thinking skills may be compromised.

These guides differ in the amount of instructional support provided. Most provide lesson plans for the entire school year, and all were structured, meaning that they identified activities teachers were to carry out and the order in which they were to carry them out. However, the quality and comprehensiveness of lesson plans varies by country.

The approach in Niger is unique in that the government clearly states that the teacher’s guide is the primary reference teachers are to use. However, the structure of the teacher’s guide, which is organized by domains (number, geometry, measurement), may hinder its effective use. Teachers must search through the teacher’s guide to find the guidance related to the day’s targeted competency.

Only Zambia’s teacher guides offer specific support to help teachers differentiate their instruction according to the level of the student.

As pointed out above, teacher’s guides also differ in the cognitive demand expected of teachers. Zambia’s teacher guides encourage higher-order thinking skills more than the textbooks, while Mauritania’s documents move in the opposite direction: most of the higher-level thinking skill activities are found in the student textbook, not in the teacher’s guides.

With the exception of South Africa, none of the guides provided teachers with guidance on how to carry out summative assessment. Most teacher guides lack guidance on assessing student learning aligned with the curriculum.

Conclusion

Achieving alignment between the intended curriculum, the implemented curriculum, and the assessed curriculum is crucial for effective mathematics learning. This paper found significant variation in the alignment of curriculum, textbooks and teacher guides across the five focus countries. Key areas of concern include the limited emphasis on higher-order thinking skills in some textbooks, insufficient support for differentiated instruction, and mismatches between the curriculum and the content of teaching and learning materials. Addressing these misalignments is critical for ensuring that all students have the opportunity to develop strong foundational numeracy skills.

Follow the links to the five countries’ document analyses and the summary background paper on the page of the Spotlight report, Learning counts.

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Africa contributes a measly 3% of global carbon emissions, yet no continent is feeling the heat – literally – as much. Rising temperatures are killing our livestock, and coastal areas face the brunt of rising sea levels. It’s a harsh reality brought on by a world that has prioritized convenience over sustainability.

Growing up in Nigeria, environmental consciousness wasn’t a class; it was a lifestyle. It wasn’t some abstract concept – it was turning our backyard farm into a living example of sustainability. We didn’t need to go to the market for fruits or vegetables; we cultivated them ourselves. We didn’t just burn weeds; we learned to compost them. This wasn’t unique to my family – it was a cultural wellspring, a deep understanding that protecting the environment benefits us all. At school, our curriculum had a lot of home economics and understanding cultural nuances. Every Friday, we would learn about the farmland and would till the ground of our school and clear the bushes to turn them into compost, harvest them, and take them to the school kitchen.

Then, I moved to Rwanda for university, one of the countries with the highest forest-land ratio on the continent. Here, too, the environment is a national priority. Every last Saturday of the month, the whole country comes out to clean the environment between 08:00 and 11:00. The strong community involvement in environmental cleanup reinforces my desire to be conscious of the health of my surrounding environment. 

My experience proves that our climate change education already exists, and more than that, it’s embedded in the culture. And so I realized that the problem wasn’t with African education. It was with climate education elsewhere. The solution isn’t forcing Africa to change. It’s about the rest of the world catching up. 

The developed world, the biggest polluters, needs to take responsibility for the mess they helped create; rising temperatures affecting food availability and prices are a direct consequence of their actions. Climate justice isn’t just about helping vulnerable countries adapt to a changing climate; it’s about addressing the root causes that push people towards environmental degradation simply to survive.  

Everything is interconnected. The planet is a complex system where every variable affects another. Rising temperatures disrupt agricultural production, pushing food prices up. This is why Africa has 65% of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, yet insufficient to feed its inhabitants. My father’s backyard poultry has suffered damage as some chickens have died recently due to rising temperatures. This creates a vicious cycle for people already struggling to put food on the table. As the saying goes, you can’t force a hungry or angry man to care about their environment, as they’re much more likely to satisfy their hunger than protect a tree or the wildlife around them. This is global warming at a granular level. That’s why social safety nets are crucial. We need to give people the ability to focus on the future, not just survive the day. I am studying planetary health and think that the global government and entities like the UN have a role in ensuring that justice is served. 

My experience in Nigeria wasn’t some anomaly. It was a model – one the world could learn from. In my home country, we understood the importance of traditional cultural practices – practices like composting chicken manure, a technique I learned from a young age, many of which are for the benefit of the environment. This knowledge, passed down through generations, needs to be celebrated and incorporated into curriculums around the world, as the new report by the GEM Report and MECCE Project, Learning to Act for People and Planet makes clear. I support the youth petition they are coordinating on this. Education should be influenced and should add to what already exists culturally. 

Perhaps what developing countries can learn from us is how we have been able to integrate nature close to us. Nothing beats stepping barefoot into nature and feeling connected with Mother Earth. In Rwanda, where I now live, most people have some knowledge about farming. Meanwhile, on my first visit to the United States, I was amazed to see that people have to buy soil to plant anything. This disconnect from nature discourages appreciation for nature and fuels a cycle of destruction. 

This isn’t just about Africa. It’s about our planet’s future. We all share this Earth, and a sustainable future requires a united effort. Let’s learn from each other, in-and-outside school, and build a world where environmental consciousness isn’t a privilege, but a common thread that binds us all.

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1. Be more specific about what SEL programs are

In program design and evidence reviews, the broad term “SEL programs” is used frequently. We can advance the field by seeking greater clarity about four aspects of SEL programs. 

a. Be clearer about what SEL programs are trying to achieve 

Advocates say SEL programs can improve children’s well-being, academic learning, can develop skills for a successful life and build resilience in the face of conflict and crisis. But these four sets of goals– and the approach one would take to achieve each of them– are quite different.  Programs need to be clear about their main SEL goal. This is key for designing a focused program and deciding on the best approach. This first step is critical for improving coherence of a program and determining the potential approach(es) to achieve this goal. Our focus is on SEL programs to improve academic learning, which we’ll discuss in the rest of this blog.  

b. Be clearer about the programmatic approach 

SEL programs also vary in how they try to achieve these goals. Typically, programs focus on one of two things: improving the climate in the classroom, the school, and the community or building specific skills – either through standalone SEL lessons or integrated into regular classes. Although skills-building dominates the SEL conversation, some programs, especially those that work on creating a positive school climate, aim to meet children’s social and emotional needs (such as the need to feel safe) as much as building skills. Programs should be clear if they’re building skills, responding to needs, or doing both. 

c. Specify the skills being targeted 

SEL programs also differ in the skills they target. Teaching empathy is different from teaching critical thinking, but both often get grouped under “SEL programs”. As research and programs advance, we need to be clearer about the specific skills each SEL program is targeting. For example, a recent study in Kenya, which we describe in our background paper,  found that specific SEL skills, like building relationships and self-confidence, are linked to academic success. 

d. Specifying the mechanisms by which skills contribute to program goals 

The Kenya study points to skills that might improve academic outcomes, such as self-confidence. If we understand how specific SEL skills lead to better academic results, we can refine our intervention strategy. The background paper suggests two ways (among many) that SEL might improve learning: boosting students’ confidence and creating a classroom environment that encourages participation. Specifying these mechanisms enables programs to target specific intermediate outcomes (e.g. a supportive environment) and to monitor mechanisms (e.g. greater participation in class) to develop a stronger understanding of how a program works.  

2. Assess the added value of SEL programs

This brings us to our second point: when it comes to improving academic outcomes, we need a stronger evidence base that pin-points the added value of SEL programs.  Many of the best programs – such as IRC’s healing classrooms – combine SEL and instructional improvements into a single intervention. This makes it hard to tell which part is driving the results. We need evaluations that separate the effects of SEL from those of traditional teaching methods. 

Conclusion 

Overall, the SEL field, especially in LMICs, needs more clarity and focus. A clear model showing how SEL programs work, their goals, approaches, and impact on children’s outcomes, would benefit the whole field. Our background paper includes two studies that help build this model. Such a model would allow program designers to be more intentional and make it easier to categorize evidence based on different goals and approaches, rather than just asking the generic question, ‘Do SEL programs work?'” 

We need stronger evidence showing a clear link between SEL programs and academic outcomes. SEL has enjoyed a lot of optimism, but without rigorous, precise evidence to support it, that optimism might not last. To ensure SEL programs truly benefit children in low- and middle-income countries, we need more studies that pinpoint what works and how. 

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When it comes to education, unlike rugby, South Africa is often in the news for the wrong reasons. Far from being world champions, the country is one of the worst performers in international assessments of learning like TIMSS and PIRLS.  

However, South Africa has improved significantly in these assessments since the early 2000s. This year, McKinsey released a report identifying it as one of the “sustained and outsized improvers” in education. 

Moreover, the league table type of analysis which puts South Africa near the bottom is unfair because hardly any poorer countries participate in TIMSS and PIRLS. Within the Southern and Eastern African region, South Africa is a little above average, as the SEACMEQ assessments have been showing. 

The narrow focus on the absolute level of learning outcomes is also unfortunate because it means an important question is sometimes overlooked: Why did South Africa improve? 

The 2024 Spotlight report on South Africa, one of four country reports produced for the second cycle in the Spotlight series, highlights some of the reasons for the improvement and describes innovations the government is undertaking aimed at further improvement in the future.  

While it is virtually impossible to statistically attribute the improvements to specific factors, there are six system-wide reforms that researchers within and outside of the South African government have pointed to:  

• Expansion of pro-poor policies, such as school feeding and no-fee schools. 
• Rollout of a pre-school programme, known as Grade R. 
• Better subject knowledge amongst new teachers. 
• Annual National Assessments run in 2011–2014 which drew attention to learning outcomes in every primary school. 
• Curriculum reforms culminating in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) in 2011. 
• A National Workbook Programme, which transformed the availability and use of materials.

The South Africa country report explored developments related to the last two of these key improvement drivers: the curriculum and the workbook programme. 

In particular, the Spotlight report considers an innovation being piloted by the government, known as the Teaching Mathematics with Understanding (TMU) framework. This framework guides early grade mathematics teaching and learning and encourages teachers to create learner-centered classrooms to enable understanding, procedural fluency and mathematical reasoning among learners. The TMU pilot provided an enhanced version of the workbooks, referred to as Learner Activity Books. 

The focus of the second Spotlight cycle is on the alignment between the curriculum, the Learner Activity Books, teacher guides and assessments – wth each other and with the Global Proficiency Framework. The study found strong alignment between the national curriculum and the Global Proficiency Framework. There was some misalignment between the national curriculum and what is presented in learner books and assessments, but this arose mainly due to the adjustments that needed to be made to recover lost teaching time during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The report went into details about how to improve the alignment across curriculum, materials and assessment, and also into how to improve the National Workbook Programme, which had the advantage of already being operational at full scale. 

The insight that alignment between pedagogical resources matters for learning is also an argument behind structured pedagogy programmes, which have gained support in recent years and have fared well in impact evaluations.  

Programmes implemented in South Africa, such as the Early Grade Reading Studies (EGRS) and the TMU pilot, have shown that providing good quality materials to both learners and teachers that are aligned with the curriculum is an effective way to improve learning outcomes in early grades.  

A different way of framing the point about alignment is to think explicitly about a theory of change for better curriculum implementation. Daily lesson plans that refer explicitly to well-aligned materials make it more likely that such materials are appropriately used. If teacher training has been provided on how to enact the curriculum, then lesson plans can prompt enactment of those instructional methods that were the focus of the training. 

The government-led Early Grade Reading Study further showed that on-site coaching visits, whereby someone is present to monitor and help improve classroom practice, create an even stronger theory of change. Across several interventions assessed through the EGRS, only a so-called triple cocktail of lesson plans, integrated materials and coaching has led to significant change in classroom practices and reading outcomes. 

This leaves us with a rather sobering understanding of how to generate improvements in learning outcomes at scale. Intensive professional support for teachers may be needed but, even then, the magnitude of improvement may be disappointingly small relative to the wide inequalities in learning that currently exist.

But rather than search for quick fixes, we should build on the lessons learned from South Africa’s previous system-wide improvement, and through the innovations described in the Spotlight report. 

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Japan’s international cooperation programmes in basic education, reflecting its own historical development experience, have emphasized the use of existing systems and resources to help build institutions. This blog draws from a background paper prepared for the 2024 Spotlight Report on foundational learning in Africa: Learning Counts.

Japan’s approach to international cooperation, as reflected in its ODA Charter introduced in 1992 and last updated in 2023, has been shaped by its own historical modernization experience. Emphasis is placed on helping partner countries’ self-help efforts. Cooperation has been directed at improving capacity using local systems to ensure independence and sustainability. There have been three policy documents in education in the past decade. The latest one published in 2015 is Learning strategy for peace and growth: Quality education through learning together, which added human security as a reason for investing in education in line with Japan’s ODA Charter.

Although initially Japan’s programme did not focus on basic education, this changed gradually in the late 1990s increasing the number of the projects for basic education with a focus on mathematics and science education. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has implemented 52 technical cooperation projects on mathematics to this day, which can be grouped under two types.

Japan’s primary and secondary education mathematics projects in Africa, by starting year and type

Some projects have focused on mathematics teacher education

The first type of project focused on teacher education. In Kenya, the Strengthening of Mathematics and Science in Secondary Education (SMASSE) project began in 1998 and was the first basic education cooperation project in sub-Saharan Africa for Japanese cooperation. SMASSE aimed to shift from the traditional lectures and management to a new teaching approach and a management cycle emphasizing reflection and improvement. It used the cascade training approach. The government sustained the in-service training system with its own resources (setting aside 1% of each secondary school’s tuition fees and some funds at the national level).

In Zambia, the project, which began in 2005, used resource centres to support professional development. This approach was followed partly to build on existing institutions of school-based training and partly to address some of the weaknesses of the cascade approach. The project focused on school- or cluster-based activities and the lesson study approach. The National Science Centre was designated to be the focal point for the national rollout.

The Kenya and Zambia projects were similar in many ways. Both began with secondary education in a small number of pilot districts and expanded to the entire country and to primary education. Both projects attached special importance to sustainability: partner country governments provided personnel and resources from their budget. Both projects also encountered similar challenges in the expansion to primary education. The core teams had been composed mainly of teachers in secondary schools and sufficient emphasis may not have been assigned to primary school contexts.  Although both projects conducted a sort of impact surveys on learning, the results did not show the impact clearly.

The two projects were also different from each other. Kenya’s in-service cascade training system was centrally controlled for content development and implementation quality assurance. Training quality was monitored by national trainers and reported to the national headquarters by training organizations. Zambia adopted a decentralized approach to ensure continuous professional development through school-based training combined with lesson study to improve practical skills. Subject teachers developed better classroom activities as models for others to emulate.

Other projects focused on school management committees

The second type of project, starting with Niger in 2004, focused on engaging school management committees (SMCs) in identifying problems and implementing a plan to tackle them. SMCs focused on improving children’s basic mathematics skills and organized remedial classes using workbooks after school hours.

A prominent example was in Madagascar, where the project evolved in two phases. During the first phase (2016–20), a participatory and decentralized school management improvement model was established in one target region. Schools generally decided to focus on remedial education, which combines the ‘minimum package for quality learning’ (PMAQ) and the ‘Teaching at the Right Level’ (TaRL) approaches. Under the PMAQ, developed in Niger, a school initially assesses basic reading and mathematics, and shares the results with teachers, parents and the community at a general meeting to motivate action. Under TaRL, developed in India, children are grouped based on these results, regardless of their grade. Remedial activities are undertaken after school hours on the school premises mostly by teachers.

An evaluation in 140 schools that were split into a control group and a group that received PMAQ and TaRL interventions found a strong positive impact on basic calculation and reading skills. It has, therefore, been estimated that these skills have improved for 1.2 million primary school students since 2017/18. As the model proved effective, scalable and replicable, the Ministry of Education has been expanding it to 11 regions during the second phase since 2020. Recurrent costs are expected to be borne by national budgets and institutions.

Singling out Japan’s contribution to project activities, including the cost of Japanese experts and their activities, capital equipment purchases and training costs, shows that these three projects have had a low and sustainable per student cost. In the case of Madagascar, “JICA cost” includes the cost not only for improving mathematics learning, but for strengthening SMCs.

Costs of selected JICA-funded primary and secondary education mathematics projects in Africa

Note: During Phase 3 in Zambia, interventions also extended to primary grades.

In recent years, the evaluation of mathematics and early learning projects has focused on demonstrating their short-term impact on learning outcomes. However, drawing conclusions only from such assessments can be misleading because short-term success may not trigger sustainable long term mechanisms for self-improvement. Endogenous curriculum development, teacher competence, knowledge and beliefs, communities of practice, and reflective professional learning have proven important factors in the development of mathematics education and should not be neglected.

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This blog is based upon a background paper produced for the second Spotlight continental report. 

To reduce grade repetition and dropout, many African countries are providing some type of remedial education, either in-school or through community-based activities. In Chad, three out of every five children starting primary school are expected to drop out before the end. Out of the 40% of students who reached the last grade of primary education, one in two had repeated at least one school year. A 2014 decree banned student retention in early primary grades. Instead, students at the end of grade 2 and grade 4 with  scores regularly below average would be provided remedial lessons. These lessons would be provided for 40 hours per year and subject (mathematics and language) to help students progress to the next cycle.

But implementing additional hours of remedial education is challenged by low levels of teacher capacity, high teacher absenteeism rates and a lack of incentives for teachers to take on additional responsibilities. Already, teachers face heavy workloads, with an average of 55 children per class. Many teachers have weak subject knowledge as well. According to the 2019 PASEC assessment, Chadian teachers scored the lowest among the 14 participating countries in mathematics. About 70% achieved no more than level 1, when the average among participating countries was 32%. Moreover, one in three teachers was absent in 2021 and actual time spent teaching was almost half the expected instruction time. 

A positive initiative was the introduction by the Ministry of National Education and Civic Promotion in 2017/18 of the Projet d’amélioration de la qualité de l’éducation de base et de promotion d’une gestion de proximité (Basic Education Quality Improvement and Local Management Promotion project). Supported by civil society implementing partners, the project aimed to reduce repetition by training teachers to provide tailored remedial support during school hours.

In 2018, the project was rolled out in 50 public schools, evenly split between the N’Djamena and Moundou regions, reaching more than 55,000 students. The project has several key features worth mentioning for other countries facing similar challenges in retention as Chad. 

One notable feature of the programme was improving teachers’ pedagogical practices during regular school hours. Teachers were trained to adapt their teaching practices to students performing poorly by observing their learning patterns, being supportive when they made mistakes and understanding what is holding back learners’ efforts.

Secondly, the training aimed at stimulating student engagement by changing the traditional frontal classroom set-up, which results in students passively listening to teachers, aiming to rebuild children’s confidence.  The 2024 Spotlight Report, Learning Counts, emphasizes the importance of social and emotional skills for learning. A positive learning climate leads to stronger academic achievement through encouraging children to be more active in class and more confident. It can improve school attachment and relationships with other students, which in turn increases the motivation to learn. It can also shape norms that influence children’s self-beliefs, helping to battle stereotypes. 

Providing concrete feedback, instead of a simple grade.

To support teacher professional development, teacher guides and a teacher training kit with techniques and multimedia support were developed. All pedagogical supervisors from 50 schools were also trained on using the guide and the training kit.

An impact evaluation in 2022/23 with the participation of about 130 teachers highlighted that almost all had adopted strategies to improve pedagogy appropriate for different learners’ speeds. This included rearranging the classroom layout, while more than three quarters had changed their attitudes towards students’ mistakes and almost all tried not to punish students facing difficulties. However, only one third of teachers had implemented differentiated teaching methods to cater to varying student needs, even though the majority expressed the intent to do so. Teachers reported requiring more time and support to implement such practices consistently. 

Using different sized boards to break down concepts for learners 

Preliminary data on the impact of the intervention indicate a reduction in grade repetition decisions made by teachers. In N’Djamena, the average class repetition rate fell from 24% in 2021/22 to 21% in 2022/23. The teacher guide and training programme are currently being considered for country-wide implementation.  

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Imagine a world where every young person, regardless of where they are born, can confidently solve problems, make informed decisions, and envision a future filled with possibilities. This is not just a dream – it is a vision grounded in the power of numeracy skills, the focus of the 2024 Spotlight Report Learning Counts, and a cornerstone of foundational learning.

Numeracy is the language of logic, the art of numbers, and the key to unlocking potential. It is about much more than arithmetic and algebra; it is about critical thinking, problem-solving, and navigating life with confidence. Sadly, for at least four in five young children from across Africa, this aim remains just out of reach, locked behind barriers of inadequate education and limited resources. 

The African Union has declared 2024 the Year of Education, a bold statement of our commitment to breaking down these barriers. This theme is more than a policy: it is a call to invest in the education of our youth.

Across Africa, young people are answering this call with creativity, passion, and determination. From cities and remote villages alike, youth-led movements are sparking change. A simple example is the innovative educational tech startup O’genius in Rwanda that is turning smartphones into classrooms. Such platforms are revolutionizing how we learn, making numeracy skills accessible to children who might otherwise be left behind.

Grassroots organizations are also making waves. An example is Starlight Africa, an organization I co-founded seven years ago. We host workshops, Math Olympiads, summer camps, mentoring, and other programs that demystify science, technology, engineering and mathematics to inspire a love for learning. Proving that with the right support, every child can develop the numeracy skills they need to thrive.

But we cannot address this systemic problem through grassroots interventions alone. We need a holistic approach that brings together governments, educators, and the private sector to build resilient educational ecosystems. This means investing in teacher training, modernizing curricula, creating partnerships, and leveraging technology to bridge educational gaps.

Let’s take a moment to celebrate these efforts, but also to challenge ourselves to do more. Imagine an Africa where every child can calculate the trajectory of their dreams, and where numeracy skills pave the way for innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development. This is the future we must build — together. 

As we celebrate the AU Year of Education, let’s commit to concrete actions. Let’s empower our youth with the tools they need to succeed, ensuring that numeracy becomes a universal language of opportunity.

Together, we can transform education and, in doing so, transform our future.

Alice Mukashyaka was a featured speaker in a GEM Report webinar co-hosted with the African Union, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa and the African Young Educators’ Network to celebrate the Day of the African Child on June 14. Watch the event video.  

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Progress aside, however, it remains the case that parity has not been achieved at the same rates for all levels of education in sub-Saharan Africa.  As of 2020, for every 100 enrolled males, there were 96 females enrolled in primary, 91 in lower secondary, 87 in upper secondary and 80 in tertiary education. In addition, in absolute numbers, sub-Saharan Africa is the main world region where there are more girls of primary and secondary school age who are out of school than boys – and the out-of-school population is growing. 

Enrolment, meanwhile, is only a stepping stone towards completion. And completion rates have nuances to them as well. The 2024 Gender Report looked at whether starting an education cycle on time or not had implications for girls’ ultimate likelihood of completing. As the title of this blog suggests, it matters an awful lot.

In primary education, there is gender parity in both the rates of those completing on time (timely) and those completing at all (ultimate), globally, while the same is true in Central and Southern Asia, a reference region. But in sub-Saharan Africa since 2013, girls have been far more likely than boys to complete primary school on time but far less likely to ultimately complete primary school than boys: 96 girls complete for every 100 boys who do so.  

 In lower secondary education, there is gender parity in both timely and ultimate completion rates, globally, and also in Central and Southern Asia since 2020. In sub-Saharan Africa, meanwhile, gender parity in timely completion has almost been achieved, but girls are at a much bigger disadvantage in ultimate completion: 85 girls complete for every 100 boys. This means that if girls start school on time and do not repeat grades, they are currently almost as likely as boys to complete lower secondary school as boys. But if they start late or repeat grades, reaching the age of 15 and still not at the end of lower secondary school, they are more likely to drop out.  

 This finding shows the importance of making it easy for boys and girls to start school on time, ensuring that competing priorities do not get in the way. It provides additional evidence of remedial education, as well, so that girls are not falling behind, ending up repeating grades, and increasing their chances of dropping out. Our Spotlight research showed many examples of countries in Africa providing remedial education, from up to 10 hours a week in Uganda to training courses for teachers on remedial education in Chad. A remedial programme expanded in Senegal after 2018 saw improved basic reading skills by 25% and mathematics proficiency by 40% in endline assessments as a result, for example.  

Such examples and more should be inspiration to others to attempt similar policies and help ensure all children – no matter their gender, background or identity – can complete a quality education.

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