Back to the Blackboard

The report 'Back to the Blackboard' examines the education crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, arguing that the narrow focus on Universal Primary Education (UPE) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has neglected secondary education and compromised instructional quality. It highlights systemic failures including teacher shortages, poor salaries, corruption, and the devastating impact of HIV/Aids. The document advocates for a comprehensive strategy that integrates secondary schooling, vocational training, and curriculum reform to drive economic growth, drawing lessons from East Asia's successful integration of human capital development and industrial planning.

• The pursuit of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in sub-Saharan Africa has often compromised educational quality, as governments increase enrolments without a corresponding increase in teachers and resources, leading to overcrowded classrooms and a decline in teaching standards.
• Secondary education is critically neglected in Africa despite its importance for economic growth; the World Bank estimates that only about 25% of primary school graduates enrol in secondary school, and only 10% of those complete their education.
• There is a severe shortage of qualified teachers in sub-Saharan Africa, with Unesco predicting a need for at least 3 million more teachers to handle increasing enrolments. Many current teachers lack professional training, and those in the profession are poorly paid, which hinders the recruitment of high-quality candidates.
• HIV/Aids significantly undermines educational efforts by killing teachers and forcing children to abandon school to care for ailing parents or orphaned siblings. UNAids predicts that by 2005, up to 20% of educators in sub-Saharan Africa will have died from Aids.
• Mathematics and science education are severely underdeveloped in Africa, with a gross shortage of graduates to drive technology. In a 1998 study of 41 countries, South Africa's average score of 275 out of 800 was well below the international average of 487.
• Gender disparity remains a major barrier, with Unicef estimating that 60% of girls (approximately 24 million) in sub-Saharan Africa were not in school in 2002. Educating girls is linked to economic benefits and a reduction in HIV/Aids infection rates.
• Corruption is widespread in African education systems, ranging from the embezzlement of school funds and 'ghost teachers' in South Africa to the selling of fraudulent diplomas in Kenya and the payment of contractors for 'ghost schools' in Malawi.
• Curricula in many sub-Saharan schools are outdated and rely on rote learning, failing to teach pupils how to be independent, critical thinkers or problem solvers.
• East Asian nations achieved economic transformation by making education a non-negotiable priority, carefully planning the supply of skills to match job creation, and investing heavily in technical and vocational training.
• The practice of setting international targets (like the MDGs) often creates a 'façade of precision' where unreliable data is used to make judgments, and the drive to meet numerical targets can lead to dubious practices in schools to inflate results.

APA

Govender, P., & Gruzd, S. (2004). Back to the Blackboard. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/Nepad-Policy-Focus-Back-to-Blackboard.pdf

Chicago

Govender, Peroshni, and Steven Gruzd. Back to the Blackboard. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2004. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/Nepad-Policy-Focus-Back-to-Blackboard.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Govender |first1=Peroshni |last2=Gruzd |first2=Steven |title=Back to the Blackboard |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=2004 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/Nepad-Policy-Focus-Back-to-Blackboard.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{govender2004back, author = {Govender, Peroshni and Gruzd, Steven}, title = {{Back to the Blackboard}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2004}, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/Nepad-Policy-Focus-Back-to-Blackboard.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }