Education in Africa

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The history of education in Africa can be divided into pre-colonial and post-colonial periods.^[1] Since the introduction of formal education by European colonists to Africa, education, particularly in West and Central Africa, has been characterized by both traditional African teachings and European-style schooling systems.^[2]

The state of education in this modern African society results in part from the after-effects of colonialism and neocolonialism suffered by these countries; political and geopolitical failures, due on the one hand, to instability at the head of states, caused by armed insurrections in many regions of Africa, but also to the lack of education development strategies in line with the many civilizational challenges, and mainly globalization which puts all the inhabitants of the planet in competition, each in a field, economic or not.

Although the quality of education and the quantity of well-equipped schools and well-qualified teachers has been steadily increasing since the beginning of the colonial period, evidence of inequality still exists in the educational systems based on region, economic status, and gender.^[3][4]