Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa--a moral issue, an economic matter, or both?

Abstract

Generally, it is argued that economic factors explain changes in literacy and enrolment rates in sub-Saharan Africa. This article demonstrates that educational indicators vary as much with religious factors, i.e. degree of Islamisation and Christianisation, as with economic factors. Forty years ago, strongly Christianised countries had higher rates of literacy and primary school enrolment than strongly Islamised countries, regardless of economic level, typpe of state and colonial background, and they still have. The article ends with a number of assumptions which can serve as an agenda for research on educational development in sub-Saharan Africa.