Education primaire et croissance économique en Afrique subsaharienne : les conditions d'une relation efficace

Abstract

This article is looking at the causes of the low effectiveness of educational investment in Subsaharan Africa, both at the micro level (effect on labour productivity), and at the macro level (effect on the rate of economic growth). Several recent empirical studies have shown that education impact is systematically weaker in this region than in the rest of the world, and even sometimes negative, as in the case of agricultural productivity. Two series of causes may explain this lack of impact : first, inappropriate economic policies at the macro level which hamper the role of education, either through negative incentives structures, or because of the absence of provision of associated factors (education is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for economic development). The second series of causes is linked with inadequate education policies, which have neglected the objective of universal primary education and have not allocated efficiently enough available educational resources. The article is suggesting some ways for improving the effectiveness of education production.