1. Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
PROGRESS REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE AFRICAN UNION’S PLAN OF ACTION FOR THE SECOND DECADE OF EDUCATION FOR AFRICA
PACTED III-COMEDAF BUREAU, ADDIS ABABA
15-20 July 2013
ECOWAS Commission, Abuja
Department of Human Development and Gender
Directorate of Education, Culture, Science and Technology

2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Established by our founding fathers on 28th of May 1975, in Lagos, Nigeria
Composed of 15 West African Countries (8 Francophone, 5 Anglophone & 2 Luxophone countries).
With a population of about 300 million
Accounts for 4.6% of the world population and over 40% of that of sub-Saharan Africa
Land area (5,110,914 km2), stretches from the Cape Verde archipelago in the West to Nigeria in the East.
Therefore the most populated Regional Community in the Continent

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4. VISION OF ECOWAS
The Vision of ECOWAS towards an ECOWAS Peoples as against ECOWAS of States is to achieve “A region without borders in which the populations can access and are able to Harness its abundant resources by creating Opportunities for the population and sustainable environment”.

5. ECOWAS FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
Equality and Interdependence
Inter-state Co-operation
Solidarity and collective self-reliance
Harmonization of Policies and Programmes.
Non-aggression
Regional Peace, Stability and Security
Peaceful Settlement of Disputes
Respect, Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
Promotion and Consolidation of Democracy and Good Governance
Accountability, Economic and Social Justice.

6. OBJECTIVES OF ECOWAS
To promote cooperation and integration, leading to the establishment of an Economic and Monetary Union in West Africa in order to raise the living standards of its people, ensure economic growth, foster relations among Member States and contribute to the progress and development of the African Continent.

7. STRUCTURE OF EDUCATION SYSTEMS
Francophone countries have more that one Ministry of Education and practice the school system
Anglophone countries except the Gambia have one Ministry of Education and practice the system
Cape Verde has three Ministries and school system
Guinea Bissau has a more complex structure- a Ministry in charge of Education, Sports and Culture with two Deputy Ministers specific to Education
Guineas Bissau also practice a system of four years of primary education; followed by two years of complementary education; six years of secondary education with the last years designated to pre-university and finally four or five years of university education ( In summary )

8. REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF PROGRESS ON PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
Increase in Gross Enrolment Ration (GER) at the primary level in 10 out of 12 reporting countries ranging from 4.1 per cent in Senegal to 15.5 per cent in Burkina Faso
However, regional average declined by 1.8 per cent largely due to 19.8 per cent decline reported by Nigeria in the GER for primary education from per cent in 2006 to 83.1 per cent in 2009
It is envisaged that this has greatly improved due to the massive of the current administration of Nigeria for street children
In all but one member state, the GER for female learners rose at a faster pace than that of males, an indication that interventions for improving access of girls are yielding dividends

9. REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF PROGRESS ON PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION CONT.
According to available data at the UIS for 2006, a huge chunk of learners in the region that should be in secondary school were out of school, with only 31.7 per cent of potential learners enrolled against the continental average of 39%
Despite improved capacity by Member States, only six countries, (Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali and Nigeria) reported higher GER’s at this level in 2009.
Extreme cases of GER of 85.4 per in cent Cape Verde and 20 per cent in Burkina Faso and Niger

10. COORDINATION OF IMPLEMENTATION
Sensitization and advocacy of the Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education for Africa ( )
Presentation of regional reports
Focal persons/committees on the POA
Regional integration of AU POA into existing priorities
Status of a Division for Education
Additional staff for Education Division since November 2012
Matrix of AU Plan of Action has formed the basis for education input to ECOWAS Strategic Plan and annual work programmes
Increase in annual budgetary allocation and external resource mobilization

11. COORDINATION OF IMPLEMENTATION CONT.
Partnerships:
Key among partners:
UNESCO on Conferences of Ministers; TVET curriculum; IATT
UNDP on IATT, NQF & RQF
World Bank, UNICEF, UNAIDS on School Health, HE, Nutrition and HIV/AIDS
ADEA Working Group on Education Management and Policy Support –EMIS N&S, Assessment, capacity building strategy, regional reports
UNICEF West and Central Africa, CIEFFA and FAWE on Girls Education
AfDB - Equivalence of Certificates, EMIS and Higher Education
EU Ministries of Youth and ECOWAS Youth and Development Center on the training of 287 youths in different fields of Agriculture and electricity since 2008

12. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA- Methodological considerations
The template of AUC for COMEDAF V
POA for 2nd Decade (
Collaboration with the ADEA (WGEMPS
2006 as the baseline year, while 2009 as the target year
For reasons of international comparability of data, the statistics referred to in this report are sourced from the database of UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Where possible, the report has relied on weighted averages, produced by UIS, to balance the relative population sizes of countries to each other. Where, however, these weighted regional averages are not available, a simple average has been derived from adding up the indicators and dividing by the number of reporting countries.

13. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA- Gender and Culture
By 2009-Overall improvement regionally
Improved access in ten countries with gender parity in only three countries (Senegal, Gambia and Ghana)
Improving access but at slower pace with disparities at secondary and tertiary levels- average enrolment of five males to every female at university level in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso
Teaching remains a male dominated profession, 32 per cent of primary school teachers are females - worse at secondary level
The region may not meet the 2015 MDG and EFA goals on girls’ education
Meeting of experts was held in April to prepare a status report and chart the way forward

14. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA- Out – of – school children
ECOWAS region had 16 million children out of school in 2009
Number of out of school children is on the increase, up to 9% from 2006
Nigeria had 7 million out of school children (2006), Burkina Faso and Niger each 1.2 million (2009)
Bold steps are being taken to address this retrogression by the countries
In 5 of the 8 reporting countries majority of out-of-school learners are female
Need to urgently improve access, further explore catch up or alternative modalities

15. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA- Education Management Information Systems (EMIS)
Data availability improved from 31 per cent of AU indicators having data in 2006 to 45 per cent of AU indicators reported on.
Extreme disparities of existing required data - 1.6% from Liberia against 88% from Niger
Data availability in Nigeria and Guinea Bissau had worsened
Region has a school census return rate over 90 per cent, albeit for public institutions only.
Progress remains very slow-will the EMIS goal in the AU POA be achieved?
There is need to collect return rate information on non public institutions.

16. EDUCATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS (EMIS) CONT.
Despite reduced data availability Gender and Culture remains with most comprehensive data coverage.
Highest rate of data blanks are in the area of Higher and Tertiary education; and TVET
A regional EMIS assessment in 2010 identified the following as key challenges
Lack of legal frameworks and limited sanctions for breach
Focus on primary sector in production of statistics
Inadequate human, financial and ICT resources
Lack of statistics culture, year books published in ad-hoc fashion and policy makers seldom refer to statistics
EMIS function is fragmented –various ministries /Agencies- and poorly coordinated

17. EDUCATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS (EMIS) CONT.
Rescue measures:
Advocacy among Ministers for national EMIS Units using the report of Assessment Survey among Ministers in 2012
Adoption of EMIS Norms and Standards developed in 2011 in collaboration with ADEA (WGEMPS) by Ministers in 2012
Development of a Capacity building Strategy in in 2012 collaboration with ADEA (WGEMPS)
Development of a comprehensive proposal/roadmap in 2013 in collaboration with ADEA (WGEMPS) for resource mobilization

18. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA- Teacher Development
In 7 countries, teachers instructing fewer learners in 2009 compared to Despite slow decline in primary Pupil Teacher Ratio the region still requires more teachers as 6 countries have PTR greater than 42 pupil per teacher
70 per cent of ECOWAS primary teachers are trained, challenges remain in Benin, Ghana, Senegal and Togo with less than 50 per cent of teachers trained as at 2009
Primary school teacher supply improved by 23 per cent in 3 years while secondary improved by 36 per cent
At secondary level number of female teachers rose by 50 per cent over the 3 year period
ECOWAS is implementing capacity building for teachers and heads of institutions in TVET and science

19. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA- Higher /Tertiary Education
In 2006, one out of every tertiary learners in Africa were domiciled in the ECOWAS region
Over the three year period, all the reporting countries (5) had recorded impressive rise in enrolment- highest being 85% in Cape Verde and Ghana, and the lowest though impressive being 43% in Niger; Burkina Faso and Senegal have recorded increase of 56% and 50% respectively
However, an average access of 6 students per 1000 inhabitants in ECOWAS to higher and tertiary Education compared to 9 students per 1000 on the continent, is still rather low
In 2006, Niger had lowest levels of access to tertiary education of 1 student per 1000 inhabitants while Cape Verde has 18 per 1000, an 80% jump from 10 students per 1000 inhabitants.

20. HIGHER/ TERTIARY EDUCATION CONT.
Also Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana recorded a high ratio of 8 students per 1000 inhabitants in 2009
Only Burkina and Ghana have available data on female graduates in 2009 with 20% and 42% in Burkina and Ghana respectively
Studies of strategic importance, engineering, science and manufacturing remain closed to males, with less than 30% of enrolments being females
ECOWAS graduates are concentrated in the social sciences, business and law than in any other field
Rescue measures:
Funds have been allocated to a feasibility study on the establishment of an ECOWAS university after the order of the AU PAU
Criteria for the establishment of centres of excellence have been developed
Consultations are ongoing with the World Bank for the development of a regional HE policy

21. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA-LITERACY
It is envisaged that Regional literacy rate will improve by 7% to 54% in 2014
Despite improving literacy, only three out of every ten adults in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso can read and write
Most of these illiterate people are females-four illiterate women to every illiterate man
Youth literacy is also improving, 66% will be literate by end of 2014.
ECOWAS reported the worst illiteracy profile on the continent
Rescue measures are not yet in place at the regional level but concerted efforts are being made by national governments
Need for collaboration

22. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA-TVET
of the 5 million TVET enrolments on the continent are in ECOWAS
Strong growth in TVET enrolments was reported in Guinea 156% increase, Mali 96% and Ghana 60%
However, TVET remains a small sector with only 5% of secondary enrolments in TVET in 2009
40% of TVET students in the region are female
Supply of trained teachers for TVET remains a challenge

23. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA- TVET CONTD.
Rescue measures include:
Capacity building of national TVET Personnel (Heads of institutions, Inspectors, Teachers, Administrator etc) on annual basis in each country on a UNESCO developed format and methodology for the revision and development of TVET Curriculum and Instructional materials (Over 1000 personnel already trained)
Assistance by UNESCO to develop curriculum in on some emerging fields-computer, mobile technology
Inauguration of regional IATT on TVET secretariat and chair at UNESCO and UNDP regional offices in Dakar respectively
Survey on TVET MIS and Delivery in Member States, beginning with 5 countries already in 2013
Development of guidelines for RQF and NQF in 2012 under IATT
Positive response from Member States through replication of the training sessions, actual curriculum revision and ongoing internal consultations

24. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA-Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Materials
Increasing awareness on the provision of adequate curriculum and teaching and learning materials
Each primary pupil in Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea and Mali has a core mathematics text book. Benin, Guinea, Mali and Niger provide each pupil with their own reading text book.
However, challenges exit in many countries as a result of limited funds.
In Togo almost four learners share a single mathematics text book, while up to three pupils share a reading book in primary school.
In Burkina Faso and the Gambia there is one reading textbook for every two primary pupils
Rescue measures:
Adaptation of TVET curriculum development and revision format to other sub- sectors of education
Development of e-learning policy and PIDs to derive optimum benefit from existing personnel and facilities -awaiting adoption by relevant Ministers

25. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA-Quality Management
7 out of 10 children of primary age are in school
25 per cent of children who should be in secondary are in school largely as a result of
High dropout rate with only 66 per cent of student surviving primary school
Less than 60 per cent of students in Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger make it to last grade of primary
Only 68 per cent of primary school learners transit to secondary education
Need to improve, the ability of the school system to retain learners and ensure their transition to next levels
Rescue measure-school feeding
Regional consultation on free and compulsory education using international conventions as legal framework

26. QUALITY MANAGEMENT CONT.
Investment per student at primary level varies across the region from USD178 in Niger to USD567 in Cape Verde
On average 20 % of ECOWAS region’s total government expenditure is on education (Gambia 16% -lowest, Senegal and Ghana 24% -highest)
Over the 3 year period, public expenditure on education rose in 4 countries from 0.2% in 2006 to 1.7% in 2009.

27. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POA Early Childhood and Development
Low access levels to ECD with one of five children in school. Five countries have Net Enrolment of less than 10%
Need for policy reform and greater resource allocation to improve access to ECD
Quality of ECD in the region is questionable, 26% of students repeat Grade 1 in Togo. Repetition rates are also high in Gambia, Guinea and Mali

28. EARLY CHILDHOOD AND DEVELOPMENT CONT.
Region has highly feminised (64% female) and untrained ECD teacher corps
High population growth rates (5 children per woman)
Need to increase capacity in the ECOWAS education system to accommodate growing population
Need for increased investment in health and nutrition initiatives to ensure learners can gain more from the classroom experience

29. CROSS CUTTING ISSUES-EDUCATION SECTOR RESPONSE TO HIV/AIDS
Network of Focal persons from Ministries of Education was inaugurated in 2001
Due to the peculiarities of the challenges of HIV and AIDS, no one country has all the answers but different countries have posted unique achievements
Nigeria has developed a manual for acceptable Family Life Health Education to all parts of the country despite its diversity
(ii) Senegal has a functional school health unit that caters for HIV and AIDS, Nutrition, Reproductive Health and Malaria

30. EDUCATION SECTOR RESPONSE TO HIV/AIDS CONT.
(iii) Guinea, Benin, Nigeria, Ghana have developed HIV and AIDS policies
(iv) Ghana has successfully integrated HIV and AIDS into school curricula
(v) The Network has established a coordinating committee of four countries and two partners to embark on resource mobilization and to ensure that member states abide by the regional Plan of Action
(vi) Scope of the Network has been expanded to include other health concerns-Nutrition, Malaria, De-worming, Tuberculoses etc affecting the education system
However Effective operation of the Network is marred by shortage or
lack of funds

31. CROSS CUTTING ISSUES - e-learning
Achievement since 2004 when e-learning was adopted as a priority include:
Inauguration of an internal Task Force
Survey in Member States
Development of e-learning Policy
Development of eight Project Implementation Documents (PIDs) awaiting adoption by the Ministers

32. E-LEARNING CONT.
Conceptual Frameworks have been developed on the PIDs namely:
ICT Youth entrepreneurship Plan
TVET and skills entrepreneurship
Excellence in e-learning awards
ICT Youth volunteer corps
e-tourism
Teachers’ e-learning content Awards Scheme
ICT Youth business plan

33. CHALLENGES National level Funds constraint
Limited number and quality of human resources
Poor infrastructure
Dissipation of limited resources between commitments in ECOWAS and other blocks
Weak structures for internal coordination and implementation of the Focus Areas
Other challenges peculiar to individual countries

34. CHALLENGES CONT. Regional Level
Inadequate coordination of implementation in Member States due to highly limited staff. In addition to its traditional roles of coordination, research, harmonization of policies, programmes and activities, additional responsibilities of programme implementation are placed on the technical Departments.
Limited financial resources

35. REGIONAL INTERVENTIONS
The following regional approaches have been
improve the situation:
Advocacy during sectoral and statutory meetings
consultative and Interactive meetings
Capacity Building in Member States and at the regional level
Studies and Surveys
Policy development
Resource Mobilization (Internal and External)
Institutionalized Partnerships (Technical and Financial

36. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Steady progress has been made by ECOWAS and its Member States during this reporting period to domesticate the Focus Areas of the Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education in Africa
A lot more deserves to be done in the education sector to guarantee evidential access for the teaming population of children, youths and adults
There is the need to beef up quality in all ramifications and literacy

37. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS CONT.
Girls and women participation in Education, particularly at the tertiary level remains abysmally low. There is need for more aggressive interventions/legislations
ECOWAS graduates are concentrated in the social sciences, business and law than in any other field. Need to improve participation in agriculture, engineering, science, manufacturing and construction
Due to high illiteracy and out of school population, TVET should be deployed in a more pragmatic manner to promote employment and wealth creation

38. APPRECIATION ☻☺☻☺☻☺ ☻☺ ☻☺
THANK YOU
JE VOUS REMERCIE
MUITO OBRIGADO