Education in Africa can be divided primarily into pre-colonial and post-colonial influences. European-style schooling systems took a primary focus during heavy colonial influences in Africa. Particularly in West and Central Africa, education has been characterized by traditional teaching balanced with a European-style schooling systems residual of the continent's colonial past.
Education in modern African societies is influenced by colonialism, neocolonialism, and political instability caused by armed conflicts across the continent. Additionally, the lack of effective education strategies aligned with global and civilizational challenges, including the pressures of globalization, has further hindered progress.
Although the quality of education, as well as the number of well-equipped schools and qualified teachers, has been steadily increasing since the beginning of the colonial period, evidence of inequality still exists in educational systems based on region, economic status, race, and gender.
List of African countries by level of literacy The following table uses information gathered by the CIA World Factbook. Unless otherwise noted, a country's reported literacy rate reflects the percentage of people aged 15 years and over who can read and write. Countries Total population Male Female YearNotes 81.4% 87.4% 75.3% 2018 71.1% 82.6% 62.4% 2015 45.8% 56.9% 35% 2021 88.5% 88% 88.9% 2015 46% 54.5% 37.8% 2021 74.7% 81.3% 68.4% 2021 90.8% 94.2% 87.4% 2021 77.1% 82.6% 71.6% 2018 37.4% 49.5% 25.8% 2018 26.8% 35.4% 18.2% 2021Ages 15 and over can read and write French or Arabic. 62% 67% 56.9% 2021 80% 89.5% 70.8% 2021Ages 15 and over can read and write French, Lingala, Kingwana, or Tshiluba. 80.6% 85.9% 75.4% 2021 89.9% 93.1% 86.7% 2019 73.1% 78.8% 67.4% 2021 95.3% 97.4% 93% 2015 76.6% 84.4% 68.9% 2018 88.4% 88.3% 88.5% 2018 51.8% 57.2% 44.4% 2017 85.5% 86.2% 84.7% 2021 58.1% 65.2% 51.2% 2021 79% 83.5% 74.5% 2018 45.3% 61.2% 31.3% 2021 52.9% 67% 39.9% 2021 82.6% 85.5% 79.8% 2021 81% 72.9% 88.8% 2021 48.3% 62.7% 34.1% 2017 91% 96.7% 85.6% 2015 77.3% 78.8% 75.8% 2021 67.3% 71.2% 63.7% 2021 35.5% 46.2% 25.7% 2018 67% 71.8% 62.2% 2021 92.2% 93.5% 90.5% 2021 75.9% 84.8% 67.4% 2021Does not include data from the former Western Sahara. 63.4% 74.1% 53.8% 2021 92.3% 90.6% 92.3% 2021 37.3% 45.8% 29% 2018 62% 71.3% 52.7% 2021 75.9% 78.7% 73.3% 2021 94.8% 96.5% 91.1% 2021 56.3% 68.4% 45.4% 2021 95.9% 95.4% 96.4% 2018 48.6% 56.3% 41.3% 2022Ages 15 and over can read and write English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic. 95% 95.5% 94.5% 2019 34.5% 40.3% 28.9% 2018 60.7% 65.4% 56.1% 2018 81.8% 85.5% 78.2% 2021Ages 15 and over can read and write Kiswahili (Swahili), English, or Arabic. 66.5% 80% 55.1% 2019 82.7% 89.1% 82.7% 2021 79% 84% 74.3% 2021 86.7% 90.6% 83.1% 2018 89.7% 88.3% 90.9% 2021Any person age 15 and above who completed at least grade 3 of primary education.
History Education in pre-colonial Africa Pre-colonial Africa was made up of ethnic groups and states that embarked on migrations depending on seasons, the availability of fertile soil, and political circumstances. Households and ethnic groups usually organized power around property on the basis of primogeniture. Households were largely economically independent. In much of pre-colonial Africa, formally organized education was unnecessary, but state-organized formal schools existed among Sahelian kingdoms in West Africa.
Education in many pre-colonial African states was in the form of apprenticeship, a form of informal education, where children and younger members of each household learned from older members of their household, and community. In most cases, each household member learned more than one skill, in addition to learning the values, socialization, and norms of the community, tribe, and household. Some common skills included dancing, farming, fishing, winemaking, cooking (mostly for females), and hunting. Some people in pre-colonial Africa also learned how to practice herbal medicine, and how to carve stools, masks, and other furniture.
Storytelling also played a significant role for education in pre-colonial Africa. Parents, older members of households, and griots used oral storytelling to teach children about the history, norms, and values of their state, household, and community. Children gathered around the storyteller, who then narrated stories, using personification to tell stories that encourage conformity, obedience, and values such as endurance, integrity, loyalty, and other ethical values important for community cooperation.
Festivals and rituals were also used as means to teach the history of their region or state. Rituals were mainly used to teach young adults about the responsibilities and expectations of adulthood, such as teaching women how to cook and care for a household, and teaching men how to hunt, farm, make masks, etc. Dipo, a rite of passage, is one example and is used to teach young girls – usually adolescents – about cooking, motherhood, and other necessary skills and values before they marry. is a Venda rite of passage for both girls and boys held after their puberty rituals, following which they enter adulthood. It lasted for 912 months and involved them working for a sponsor (chief or headman) in the day, and having lessons () in the night. also included a 'python dance', with this and the lessons taught by ritual specialists in dedicated enclosures. were taught via proverbs, riddles, dances, physical exercise, songs, and dramas, with figurines used as teaching aids.
Early African education may be found in Egypt. One of the first convenient mediums for retaining accurate information, papyrus, was used to develop systems for learning and developing new ideas. In fact, one of the first forms of higher education in Africa were the School of Holy Scriptures in Ethiopia and Al-Azhar in Egypt. These schools became cultural and academic centers as many people traveled from all over the globe for knowledge. Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, founded around 970–972 CE, is recognized as one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the world. It has served as a prominent center for Islamic and Arabic scholarship.
Colonial and Post-colonial Periods
The colonial period, beginning in the 19th century, began to replace traditional African education with formal European styles. Colonial powers did not view investing in African education as a practical use of their revenue or refrained from educating Africans to avoid uprisings. Those in positions of authority were specifically afraid of widespread access to higher education among the native populations.
A 2021 study found that colonial education systems may also have had some positive effects on education levels in Africa, namely on numeracy. Numeracy in Africa had accelerated since the 1830s but increased during the late 19th and the first two decades of the 20th century.
Between the 1950s and 1990s, African countries regained their independence from colonial powers and many experienced resurgence in traditional forms of education, which coexisted with formally structured education.
Post-colonial African states were largely developing countries in need of international support. In the 1960s, (known as the First Development Decade by the UN), policymakers prioritized secondary and tertiary education, then on universal primary education around 1980. Although children and adults may learn from their families and community, formal schooling is also prevalent. African education programs have evolved to include both types. For example, an HIV/AIDS awareness program may involve members visiting communities to share their knowledge.
French Colonial Africa
Education as a tool of colonization was widespread throughout the French Colonial Empire. Hubert Lyautey, the first Resident-General of French Morocco, advocated for the facilitation of ruling and conquest through cooperation with native elites. To facilitate the relationship with this "bourgeois" class of francophone Africans, selective educational institutions were established across the French Empire.
The teaching of the French language in Moroccan institutions of higher education, such as the University of Fez, was intended to "promote economic development and political compliance without assimilating or deracinating the students or preparing them for political agency." This system allowed colonial authorities to educate a class of native Moroccans that could carry out administrative roles and functions, to assist in the administration and exploitation of the protectorate for as long as possible.
Students were given a predetermined curriculum in classrooms. The basic goal of this classroom practice was to provide only a limited selection of information for students, leaving very little margin for questioning or critical thinking. Only a limited number of families were permitted to send their children to school, which fit with the underlying goal of creating an exclusive class of native-born Moroccans who would serve as a sort of liaison between white colonial officials and the masses.
British Colonial Africa
Education in British Colonial Africa can be characterized by three primary phases. The first of these is from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of the First World War, then the Interwar Period, and finally, the conclusion of the Second World War until independence.
From the late 19th century until the First World War, British colonial education in Africa was largely carried out by missionaries at mission schools. Although these schools were founded with religious intent, they played a significant role in the early colonial machine. Much like in French Colonial Africa, British colonists sought out English-speaking natives who could serve as liaisons between them and the native population; however, this was done far more out of economic incentives than political ones. As the demand for English-speaking Africans increased, mission schools provided training in the form of teaching of the Bible. As time went on, however, British industrialists began to complain about the lack of skilled labor. As such, the British Government supplied mission schools with grants for the vocational training of Africans in various trades critical to British industrial efforts.