Commonwealth to help improve education in Sub-Saharan Africa

"Lack of professionalism among teachers and the general decline in values, norms and ethics, plus under-qualified people classified as teachers, is a major concern."

Virgilio Juvane, Chief Programme Officer for Basic Education and the Teaching Profession at the Commonwealth Secretariat, drove home the point to visiting African journalists. The group - including four winners of the Africa Education Journalism Award and their editors - visited Marlborough House, the Secretariat's headquarters in London, UK, on 28 September 2004.  

Mr Juvane is also Co-ordinator of the Working Group on the Teaching Profession (WGTP) for the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). ADEA WGTP is working with countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to improve the quality of basic education by assisting ministries, teacher training colleges, non-governmental organisations and the private sector. 

"Lack of professionalism among teachers and the general decline in values, norms and ethics, plus under-qualified people classified as teachers, is a major concern," said Mr Juvane. "There is a need for staff and curriculum development, and improvement in classroom resources." This would help to create a strong teacher management and support system and a better environment for both teachers and pupils. 

Dr Gari Donn, Chief Programme Officer for Higher Education at the Secretariat, emphasised the importance of achieving the Millennium Development Goals in education, targeting six key areas -- universal primary education; gender disparities; quality of education; distance learning to overcome geographical barriers; education in difficult circumstances; and mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS.  

The Secretariat is collaborating with the Commonwealth of Learning, the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the Commonwealth Centre for Education to assist member countries as they implement policies in support of these six action areas. 

Dr Amina Osman, Co-ordinator of the ADEA Working Group on Non-Formal Education (WGNFE), explained: "There is potential for non-formal education to be a major force in tackling a wide range of development problems, which include education for nomadic populations, street children, HIV/AIDS orphans and other vulnerable groups, in addition to adult literacy and community development programmes."  

ADEA WGNFE assists governments in making non-formal education an integral part of the education system. Non-formal education may be the most viable approach where there is civil conflict or natural disasters, or a need to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. 

The journalists -- who were from Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Namibia and South Africa -- were keen to play their part in supporting education and were only Education too familiar with not having the tools to do the job. "Our problems include the simplest things like not being able to get hold of enough paper," said one.