How well paid are primary school teachers in Sub-Saharan Africa? A review of recent evidence

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to evaluate the robustness of the arguments that have been forwarded to support what from the early 2000s became dominant policy and academic narratives that teachers are over-paid in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is done in two main ways. Firstly, by identifying shortcomings in the theoretical and conceptual frameworks that have been adopted and, in particular, the heavy reliance on the GDP per capita pay ratio as the key pay indicator. And, secondly, by undertaking a comprehensive empirical analysis of three key types of pay data namely; (i) national GDP per capita pay ratios; (ii) pay differentials between teachers and comparable occupation groups; (iii) the adequacy of teacher pay in relation to minimum living standards for typical households. Recent information on teacher pay in the late 2010s was collected from primary and secondary sources in 36 out of 42 mainland countries in SSA. The main conclusion of the article is that, for the large majority of countries in SSA, school teachers are not over-paid in relation to any of these three indicators. The main focus is on primary school teachers in government/public schools who account for over two-thirds of teachers across the continent as a whole.