On June 16th 1976, as many as 20,000 black South African school children left their schools in Soweto and walked en masse to Orlando Stadium at the center of the township. It was a peaceful protest, but police responded by releasing dogs and firing on the students, tragically killing some children and injuring more than a thousand. The primary goal of the march was to pressure the South African government to improve the students’ grossly under-resourced schools and to allow them to learn in their own native language.

Since 1991, the world has commemorated that day of defiance and tragedy every June 16 with The International Day of the African Child. Nearly four decades since the brave Soweto protest, that observance reminds us that far too many children across Africa continue to miss out on the education they deserve.

The last decade has seen striking progress across the continent, driven in large part by momentum from the Education for All movement and the Millennium Development Goals, which will expire later this year. But enormous challenges remain.

The Challenges of Access, Quality and Equity

African children are by far the most disadvantaged in the world regarding education access, education quality and equity.

When it comes to education access, Africa is well behind other regions of the world. As of 2012, there were nearly 58 million out-of-school children of primary school age worldwide. Of those, 32.7 million – or 56% -- live in sub-Saharan Africa according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

But for far too many African children who are in school, the quality of learning falls short of what they need to acquire even the most basic foundation of literacy and numeracy.  That’s due to a wide range of factors, among them: many school systems and individual schools still struggle to provide safe and well-equipped schools with sanitary facilities in close proximity to students and their families, making it especially difficult for girls and rural children to perform well.

Likewise, many schools and school systems across Africa don’t have enough experienced, professionally prepared and adequately compensated teachers, who are essential for delivering real and lasting learning. And many children lack basic learning materials:  it is hard to learn to read without books.

Moreover, in many regions of Africa, education is not evenly available across many communities and populations. While there has been some progress in reducing the volume of out-of-school African girls, their numbers in 2012 still exceeded those of out-of-school African boys – 18.2 million girls were not in school in contrast to 14.5 million boys. Also, children from disadvantaged, poor or geographically remote communities, as well as children with disabilities and children in fragile and conflicted affected countries, are disproportionately represented among the ranks of those out of school. That speaks directly to why, under the soon-to-be launched Sustainable Development Goals, there will be an emphasis on a more equitable distribution of education – that is, spending more resources, energy and creativity on educating the hardest-to-reach children.

A priority for the Global Partnership for Education

For all these and many other reasons, Africa is a high priority for the Global Partnership. Not coincidentally, most GPE developing country partners are in Africa, and the Global Partnership is the largest funder of basic education African GPE partner countries.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, the Global Partnership has supported the government’s efforts to offer free, quality education to all with a US$100 million grant that covers school rehabilitation and construction in the most deprived provinces, distribution of 20 million textbooks around the country and enhancements in sector management. So far, even within a very fragile environment, there is progress in DRC: the rate of students who repeat grades – an indicator of weak education quality – has decreased from 14% in 2010 to 11.4% in 2013. There is also an average of two children fewer per classroom today (37 against 39), which contributes to better learning in DRC. Needless to say, much more needs to be done.

Rwanda has received two Global Partnership education grants totaling US$175 million. The results of those investments have been encouraging and tangible. The number of out-of-school primary-aged children dropped from 15% in 2002 to 1.3% in 2012; primary school net enrolment rates increased from 85% in 2002 to 99% in 2012. The introduction of a nine-year basic education cycle and the elimination of fees for lower secondary school in 2006 boosted the number of lower secondary students by 25% within a year. The government is now working towards providing 12 years of free education for all.

Thanks to a clear focus on improvements in the policy and planning cycle of the government, Zimbabwe, also a GPE developing country partner, has been able to develop a credible sector plan, fully budgeted and including a monitoring and evaluation framework. The Global Partnership’s support helped achieve greater coherence and alignment between the government and its development partners.

Progress like this reminds the world that, educating all of Africa’s millions of children is an achievable goal. It starts with a clear commitment from developing countries to make education a priority, as so many GPE development country partners have. Increased international aid to education – delivered around a national plan for education – can have a strong impact.

The International Day of the African Child is a reminder of the thousands of South African children who courageously spoke out and stood up for their right to education nearly 40 years ago. May their memory inspire leaders today to do what’s necessary to ensure the same right for millions more African children today and in the years to come.