President Hakainde Hichilema has urged his African counterparts to increase investment in education to adequately prepare the continent’s youth for the future.
Virtually addressing delegates at the Association of the Development of Education in Africa, on the side-lines of the on-going United Nations General Assembly, Hichilema says it is critical for leaders to urgently prioritize children’s foundational literacy, numeracy and social learning.
Hichilema, a global champion for Foundation Learning, says these skills are the building blocks for every child’s academic success.
He said education is the key to unlocking the potential of the youth, who are the continent’s greatest asset.
“The African Union has recognized this in declaring 2024 as the year of education. With over 70 percent of our population under the age of 30, we must urgently prioritize investment in education to ensure that our youth are adequately prepared for the future.”
Hichilema says bold education sector reforms supported by strategic investments can greatly improve foundational learning outcomes of children.
“Many learners do not have the skills they need to deal with the social and emotional aspects of life at an early age.”
He says with Africa’s population projected to double to 2.5 billion over the next 25 years, and over a third of the world’s young people between 15-25 years expected to be in Africa in 2050, it is unacceptable that one in every five African children do not complete primary school, and four in five children are unable to read and understand simple text by the age of 10.
“Therefore, we must increase investment where we have the highest yields, at the foundational level.”
He highlighted that Zambia was supporting teachers in transforming how children learn under a catch-up program. “We are working with our partners to implement a teaching-at-the-right-level approach. This has led to significant improvement in early-age learning with an outcome of up to 50 percent.”
