Canada supporting education for all in Africa

On July 17, 2006, following the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Prime Minister Harper announced that:

A Primary Building Block for Sustainable Development

Getting girls and boys into school is a Millennium Development Goal (MDG), as well as a way of measuring gender-equality goals. The international community has long recognized the essential role of education, especially basic education, in development. New studies continue to highlight how investments in education have a positive impact on people's lives in terms of their health, their children's health, their incomes, the vitality of their communities, and the strength of democratic values in their governments.

Basic education increases the value of all other development investments. The higher the level of education attained, the higher the level of productivity and income is raised. The impact of education is particularly noticeable for girls: every year of additional education that a girl receives raises her age of marriage and reduces the number of children she will bear. In Africa, children of mothers who receive five years of primary education are 40 percent more likely to live beyond the age of 5.

Enormous progress has been achieved towards the MDGs for education in many African countries, yet the challenges remain daunting. There are still more than 136 million functionally illiterate adults, and 44 million children out of school (55 percent of them girls.) The HIV/AIDS pandemic has hit teachers in especially high numbers. Even when there is a teacher at school, many students are unable to attend because of the need to care for sick parents and family or because sickness in the family has left them unable to pay school fees. The simple survival need for water keeps some children, especially girls, out of school, as their families rely on them to fetch water daily, sometimes over long distances. Where school fees must be paid and resources are scarce, girls are often denied an education in favour of their brothers. Conflicts cause significant damage to schools and education systems, not to mention their human cost.

Canada recognizes the importance of education, the challenges being faced in Africa, and the commitment of African leaders to reduce poverty in their countries. At the Kananaskis G8 Summit in 2002, Canada committed to doubling its spending on basic education in Africa to $100 million per year by 2005, with the intention of at least maintaining this level of contribution.

Demonstrating Results

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) supports national programs in education in a dozen African partner countries, emphasizing access to education, quality of education, and institutional development.
Over the last five years (2000-2005), nine million more children are going to school in eight partner countries (Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia). Half of these new students are girls, making this investment in education particularly effective. Each year of schooling for girls will see their potential income rise by 10 to 20 percent.

In Tanzania, thanks to debt-relief initiatives (in which Canada has long shown international leadership), the country has been able to invest in basic education and end school fees. Tanzania is now on track to achieving the MDG for education for all by 2010. School attendance rates have increased from 59 percent in 2000 to 91 percent in 2004.

In Kenya, Malawi, and Mozambique, Canada has contributed to building the capacity of the ministries of education to manage and distribute teacher's materials and textbooks in elementary schools. Kenya succeeded in sending nine million books to 18,500 schools, reducing the book-to-student ratio to one to three for the first cycle of primary education, and one to two for the second cycle (this ratio was one book for 15 students in 2004.) For its part, Mozambique distributed 10 million teacher's manuals and textbooks to schools.

Gender equality is integral to Education For All goals: around the world, more girls than boys are denied access to education. At the same time, it is clear that investing in education for girls has an impact on every part of development. Canada often plays an important role in advocating gender equality and education for girls in development-policy discussions.

In 2004-2005, CIDA facilitated a number of gender-related activities in the Ministry of Education in Tanzania: the establishment of a gender desk; the institutionalization of a technical gender committee; the development of a strategic plan for gender (in the education sector); and the integration of gender into planning related to HIV/AIDS education. In Kenya, CIDA is currently assisting the Ministry of Education in developing a gender and education policy. And in five African countries, Canada's support was instrumental in ensuring that as many girls as boys benefited from the World Food Program's School Feeding Project.

Canada's support is focused on basic education. This support is complemented by other education initiatives such as adult literacy programs and post-secondary education.

In Senegal, Canada's support contributed to literacy training for 130,000 people in 2005, 75 percent of them women. During the year, the literacy rate in the country rose by 3.2 percent. In Burkina Faso, Canada contributed to an 8 percent increase in literacy over the same period.

In Malawi, CIDA is working with the Association of Community Colleges of Canada (ACCC) and the Government of Malawi to build the capacity of teachers at technical colleges in the country to better respond to labour-force demand. The Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, Red River College, and Bow Valley College are partners. Following the success of the first round of training for 20 teachers, the partners have decided to expand the program to train two more groups of teachers.