CHINA / Background
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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