ADEA triennale agrees to revitalisation of education

Representatives from 28 African countries pledged to revitalise and transform their education systems for growth and sustainable development on the continent, at the 2017 Triennale of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, or ADEA.

The theme of the conference, which was held in March in Diamniadio, Senegal, was “Revitalising education towards the 2030 Global Agenda and Africa's Agenda 2063". The 900 participants included 24 ministers of education.

The main topics discussed were:

• • Implementing education and lifelong learning for sustainable development; promoting science, mathematics and ICT;
  
• • Implementing education for African cultural renaissance and Pan-African ideals; and
  
• • Building peace and global citizenship through education.

The conference documents can be accessed here.

In the final declaration, ministers committed themselves to emphasising and prioritising preschool education and widening access to quality education, especially for children and vulnerable communities, reported Sud Quotidien of Dakar.

They agreed to encourage increased funding for quality education and nutrition programmes, and to share good practices and programmes which had proved successful in African countries for transforming and developing education.

This included protecting social cohesion and eliminating radicalisation to ensure fulfilment of national, regional and continental visions, and to promote and put into action appropriate and consistent policies and practices to provide African youth with the necessary knowledge and skills to face the challenges of the 21st century, reported Sud Quotidien.

They realised quality education and training was costly, and the challenge was how to use the financial resources available. Faced with the scarcity of funding required to achieve the aims of quality education for all, it was necessary to improve spending control, said Sud Quotidien.

Education fund

At the opening of the conference the president of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, had called for an education finance fund for Africa.

He said the Pan African Bank had decided to involve itself in the funding of education in Africa, to establish “sustainable mechanisms to support governments in the implementation of quality education according to Agenda 2063”.

Agenda 2063 is an African Union action plan providing a strategic framework for the socio-economic development of the continent over the next 50 years.

About 900 participants, including 24 ministers of education, attended the Triennale. Countries represented were Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, The Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.