Developing Post-Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa : Assessing the Financial Sustainability of Alternative Pathways

Abstract

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.