President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged education stakeholders to prioritize education and find solutions that will catapult the standards of education in Africa. Speaking during an international conference seeking solutions for Africa’s education challenges held in Nairobi, President Kenyatta noted that the UNESCO conference has been organized at a time when a clear understanding of education is needed in the continent to ensure challenges facing education in Africa are tackled, “As a first step, we must ensure that Africa has the answer to the question why half of our children are out of school,” he said. T
he next vital issue to be solved, he said, is the meaning behind education for the African child and what acts as an impediment to education for the African child.
Moreover, he said Africa has answers to the problems we face, but what is needed is a well-educated population. The African Union has already come up with a plan that deals with the conundrum of education, and what’s remaining is its implementation. “We have identified the answer to our problems, what remains is to implement the solutions, and to also forge partnerships with each other and with our friends, many of them are represented here today,” he said.
The AU Continental Education Strategy 2016-2025 that was forged by the Union set up the vital strongholds for education development in the continent, they include a strong political peaceful and a secure environment, gender equity and equality, resource mobilisation from domestic sources, capacity building and continuous development of learning environments.
President Kenyatta further said there should be more cooperation between governments, parents and multilateral agencies to improve access and quality of education.