Putting education at the heart of the AU-EU partnership :: Mmegi Online

The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the learning crisis in Africa by severely limiting access to education. By early April 2020, the crisis had left more than 20 million pre-primary, 160 million primary, 56 million secondary, and eight million tertiary level learners out of school with no access to continued learning and teaching facilities across the continent.

Our people are the most important resource we have. In the next 15 years, 450 million young Africans will be looking to either find or create a job for themselves. Will they be able to build a career in one of the emerging sectors? Will they have the right skills and competences to meet the evolving demands of the labour market? The answer is yes – yes, if we act now.

It is crucial that we invest in the future and allocate adequate funds to education today, enabling the necessary reforms. The European Union (EU) intends to increase spending on education in partner countries covered by the International Partnerships portfolio from seven percent to 10%. The African Union (AU) encourages its Member States to increase their budget allocations for education, and to improve overall domestic resource mobilisation. Mobilising more resources and improving spending are central to quality education systems and to improving resilience to future shocks.