Developing Post-Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Assessing the Financial Sustainability of Alternative Pathways (Africa Human Development Series)

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have made substantial progress in universalizing primary school completion. Many young Africans are completing primary schooling, and many more will do so in the coming years. The pressure—already strong—to expand secondary and tertiary education is expected to intensify. Finding a sustainable path for such expansion is a challenge for all countries in the region. Given the diversity across African countries, 'Developing Post-Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Assessing the Financial Sustainability of Alternative Pathways' offers no generic policy fix. Rather, it seeks to provide policy makers and their development partners with an analytical tool to inform discussion and debate about alternative options in light of country circumstances. It presents simulation scenarios that serve an illustrative function to draw attention to the implications of such options as raising the share of education in the national budget, reforming the service delivery arrangements to manage costs, diversifying the student flow beyond lower secondary education, and enlarging the role of private funding, particularly in post-primary education. The study captures the nature of the policy choices by presenting alternative packages of policies and using them to clarify the affordability of what the authors characterize as spartan and generous choices. One of the study’s most valuable contributions is the flexibility of the simulation model, which can be used to adapt the package of policies to national contexts. 'Developing Post-Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Assessing the Financial Sustainability of Alternative Pathways', which contains detailed annexes with results for 33 low-income countries, will be of interest to national education policy makers and development partners, as well as education researchers and education consultants. "Because of the remarkable progress that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have made toward universalizing primary school completion (a Millennium Development Goal), many young Africans are completing primary schooling and many more will do so in the coming years. As they seek opportunities for further education, the pressure to expand places in secondary and tertiary education, already strong at present, can be expected to intensify in the future. Finding a sustainable path for expansion is thus a challenge that all countries in the region are grappling with. This study seeks to provide African policy makers and their development partners a factual basis for developing a mutual understanding of the nature of the challenge and its implications for alternative options for expanding opportunities in post-primary education. It was first prepared as a background study for the 2008 Biennale of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) whose theme was "Beyond Primary Education: Challenges of and Approaches to Expanding Learning Opportunities in Africa." Given the diversity across African countries, the study naturally offers no generic policy fix. It is rather intended as an analytical tool for use by national leaders and their development partners to inform discussion and debate about alternative options in light of country circumstances. The simulation scenarios it presents therefore serve an illustrative function, to draw attention to such options as raising the share of education in the national budget, reforming the service delivery arrangements to manage costs, diversifying the student flow beyond lower secondary education, enlarging the role of private funding, particularly in post-primary education, and so on. Helpfully, the study captures the nature of the policy choices by presenting alternative packages of policies, using them to clarify the affordability of what the authors characterize as spartan and generous choices. The simulation model's flexibility can be exploited to adapt the package of policies to suit national contexts. This feature is perhaps one of the study's most valuable contributions."--Publisher's website Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have made substantial progress in universalizing primary school completion. Many young Africans are completing primary schooling, and many more will do so in the coming years. The pressure—already strong—to expand secondary and tertiary education is expected to intensify. Finding a sustainable path for such expansion is a challenge for all countries in the region. Given the diversity across African countries, 'Developing Post-Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Assessing the Financial Sustainability of Alternative Pathways' offers no generic policy fix. Rather, it seeks to provide policy makers and their development partners with an analytical tool to inform discussion and debate about alternative options in light of country circumstances. It presents simulation scenarios that serve an illustrative function to draw attention to the implications of such options as raising the share of education in the national budget, reforming the service delivery arrangements to manage costs, diversifying the student flow beyond lower secondary education, and enlarging the role of private funding, particularly in post-primary education. The study captures the nature of the policy choices by presenting alternative packages of policies and using them to clarify the affordability of what the authors characterize as spartan and generous choices. One of the study’s most valuable contributions is the flexibility of the simulation model, which can be used to adapt the package of policies to national contexts. 'Developing Post-Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Assessing the Financial Sustainability of Alternative Pathways', which contains detailed annexes with results for 33 low-income countries, will be of interest to national education policy makers and development partners, as well as education researchers and education consultants.

All countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face the prospect of a substantial increase in the number of primary school completers in the coming years. Although initial conditions vary widely from country to country, this increase will inevitably intensify pressure on the education system, particularly at the secondary and tertiary levels. African countries may thus find it timely to align their education policies and strategies to the emerging challenges. A key goal is to ensure that the education system continues to develop in an efficient, equitable, and fiscally sustainable manner even as it expands to accommodate the rising numbers seeking a place in secondary and tertiary education. The rest of this report is organized as follows. Chapter two elaborates the policy context for education development in SSA. Chapter three explains the methodology and data sources. Chapter four examines the challenges and constraints posed by the sheer volume of increases in enrollments in post-primary education with which most education systems in SSA must grapple in the coming years. Taking these constraints into account, the report evaluates the scope for policy development from three perspectives in the subsequent chapters: the coverage of education systems (chapter five), the quality and cost of service delivery (chapter six), and the division of financing by public and private sources (chapter seven). The fiscal implications of plausible policy packages that SSA countries might consider are assessed in chapter eight. Chapter nine seems up the general conclusions of the report.