Background and Context
The Teacher is a prime mover in the Agenda 2063 quest for an education and skills revolution for achieving an integrated, peaceful and prosperous Africa. This aspiration is unpacked in the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25) which has Teacher Development as the first of its Strategic Objectives. CESA was adopted by the AU Summit in January 2016 as a strategy for ensuring that Education adequately contributes to the attainment of the people-centred African Vision of Agenda 2063. It is a domestication of the Global Education 2030 program and is therefore the African Response to SDG 4.
Background
The advent of COVID-19 has exacerbated challenges in Africa’s education and training systems, and reinforces the need for innovative solutions that are fit for context, and can be scaled up sustainably to meet the continually evolving context of education and training. Although the education deficit in Africa is large, significant progress has been made over the past decade. About a fifth of children between the ages of 6-11 are out of school, whereas for children between 12-14, exclusion is about 33%; and an estimated 60% of youth between the ages of 15-17 not in school, with girls more negatively affected. Thus, access remains a challenge at different levels.
Africa has diverse systems of higher education. This diversity limits recognition of university degrees and certificates, thereby restricting the mobility of students across Africa and hindering African academic integration. The African Union therefore developed a framework for harmonisation of higher education in Africa to facilitate the mutual recognition of academic qualifications. The Harmonization Strategy was endorsed by the third Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF III), in 2007.
Read more: Continental Higher Education Harmonisation Program