Challenges Associated with Reading Acquisition in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The widespread persistence of illiteracy across the world deprives millions of citizens of the economic and political opportunity to secure their basic human rights. Out of 650 million children of primary school age, at least 250 million are not learning the basics in reading and mathematics (Education for All Global Monitoring Report Team, 2014)(hereafter EFA). Out of these children, 130 million had attended school for several years. In sub-Saharan Africa, one in five children was out of school in 2011 (EFA, 2014), and across Africa fewer than half of the children reach the end of primary school (Heugh, 2011). In 17 sub-Saharan countries, fewer than half of the children are learning the basics, and they are poorly prepared for transition to secondary education (EFA, 2014). Such outcomes are the rule in Africa, not the exception (as documented in several reports of the Africa Progress Panel until the end of this forum, 2017) and pose a great risk to the continent. It has, after all, a rapidly growing population of young people, all of whom need to find employment and livelihoods. The promotion of literacy in Africa faces challenges at many levels. Universal access to education was an important objective of the decolonization movements and, indeed, these movements did trigger dramatic rises in enrolment for basic schooling across many African nations, among them Zambia. But with rapid demographic growth and economic recession, the proportion of primary-schoolage children out of school began to rise again in the 1990s. By 2014 it had reached 21% in sub-Saharan Africa, with about half of the children affected not expected to ever enter school (UNESCO, 2016). In Zambia, the net enrolment ratio for primary schooling remained quite high, estimated by the World Bank as 95% in 2014 (FHI, 2016).

Learning to read in environments with high risk of illiteracy: The role of bilingualism and bilingual education in supporting reading.

“…Bilingual Education Quality in Sub-Saharan Africa Education quality impacts a child's academic success; it is important to consider the quality of education across monolingual and bilingual programs when assessing language and literacy outcomes. Many primary schools in SSA struggle with large class sizes, a shortage of motivated and appropriately educated teachers, outdated school facilities, and insufficient teaching materials (Heneveld, 1994;Lyytinen et al, 2019;Milligan et al, 2017;Oladele et al, 2019). Such issues can be exacerbated in bilingual schools.…”