?It time to act now on Africa’s education, Uhuru tells Ministers

President Uhuru Kenyatta has called on African governments to address challenges facing education and offer solutions that would give hope to learners.

Uhuru said governments are aware of the problems and it is now time to solve them.

“We know the problems facing education in African countries and have the answers. What we need now is how to implement the solutions,” the President said as he closed the three-day International Education Conference in Nairobi.

Uhuru said the right partnerships and adequate financing complete with right leadership will fix Africa’s education challenges. “Education systems must provide solutions to our problems. Do we have the answers? Yes. What are our goals and what does it mean to educate children? What stands on our way to do them?” the President posed.

Inadequate funding, poor implementation strategies and political commitment were cited as some of the reasons education is struggling in Africa.

Education CS Amina Mohammed said the meeting focused on building a conducive environment for education transformation. She said promoting good governance, leadership and accountability in education management were the critical points of emphasis. Amina said the government had stepped up efforts to address obstacles to girls’ education.

She said outlawing female genital mutilation (FGM) and introducing rescue centres for girls running away from the cut or early marriages are part of the strategies. The conference aims at accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal Number 4 and the Strategy for Education in Africa 2016-25 (CESA 16-25).

The details emerged on a day the Ministerial Segment of the Pan African High Level Conference on Education (PACE) drew up the Nairobi Declaration that addressed action points.