Education In sub-Saharan Africa Research Articles

Threading through the needle of digital education in Sub-Saharan Africa: understanding the concerns of university lecturers

ABSTRACT Adopting the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) in education has generated mixed worries, particularly concerning the perceived challenges faced by students, lecturers, and institutions. In this article, we report the findings of a study investigating the lecturers’ concerns about adopting the 4IR in education and what institutions may undertake if it is to be successful. The study, designed as a qualitative descriptive survey, was framed from Fuller’s [(1969). Concerns of teachers: A developmental conceptualization. American Educational Research Journal, 6(2), 207–226. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312006002207] concerns-based adoption model to glean insights from 15 lecturers from universities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Online questionnaires generated data that were thematically analysed. Findings show that lecturers were worried about the inadequacy of the digital infrastructures, increased social inequalities among students, reduced lecturer autonomy, and the threat to their jobs. This study implores governments of developing universities to initiate crowdfunding to set up digital infrastructures that are democratically used to mitigate the imminent exclusion of marginalized students from university education. Moreover, lecturers need to be re-skilled to remain relevant. The study provides emerging universities with policy and practice insights on capacity building in lecturers and a funding alternative for institutional support during technology adoption, drawing from the lecturers’ perspectives whose opinions are sometimes not sought during educational reforms.

Do tuition-free lower secondary education policies matter for antenatal care among women in sub-saharan African countries?

Antenatal care (ANC) is critical to reducing maternal and infant mortality. However, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to have among the lowest levels of ANC receipt globally, with half of mothers not meeting the WHO minimum recommendation of at least four visits. Increasing ANC coverage will require not only directly reducing geographic and financial barriers to care but also addressing the social determinants of health that shape access. Among those with the greatest potential for impact is maternal education: past research has documented a relationship between higher educational attainment and antenatal healthcare access, as well as related outcomes like health literacy and autonomy in health decision-making. Yet little causal evidence exists about whether changing educational policies can improve ANC coverage. This study fills this research gap by investigating the impact of national-level policies that eliminate tuition fees for lower secondary education in SSA on the number of ANC visits. To estimate the effect of women's exposure to tuition-free education policies at the primary and lower secondary levels on their ANC visits, a difference-in-difference methodology was employed. This analysis leverages the variation in the timing of education policies across nine SSA countries. Exposure to tuition-free primary and lower secondary education is associated with improvements in the number of ANC visits, increasing the share of women meeting the WHO recommendation of at least four ANC visits by 6-14%. Moreover, the impact of both education policies combined is greater than that of tuition-free primary education alone. However, the effects vary across individual treatment countries, suggesting the need for further investigation into country-specific dynamics. The findings of this study have significant implications for policymakers and stakeholders seeking to improve ANC coverage. Removing the tuition barrier at the secondary level has shown to be a powerful strategy for advancing health outcomes and educational attainment. As governments across Africa consider eliminating tuition fees at the secondary level, this study provides valuable evidence about the impacts on reproductive health outcomes. While investing in free education requires initial investment, the long-term benefits for both human development and economic growth far outweigh the costs.

Barriers and Challenges Affecting Quality Education (Sustainable Development Goal #4) in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030

Education is a fundamental human right and a crucial tool for sustainable human capacity development, which can advance the economic growth of a country. Yet for many children in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), quality education remains out of reach. This study aimed to identify the barriers and challenges to enacting Sustainable Development Goal 4: “Ensuring Inclusive, Equitable, and Quality Education and the Promotion of Lifelong Learning Opportunities for All”. Through a content analysis of the relevant literature, we identified three themes: funding constraints, access and inclusion, and teacher education. Regarding funding, issues of resource allocation, technical capacity, and accountability were identified as primary factors requiring intervention strategies to become fully realized in SSA. When exploring access and inclusion, we found that incorporating students with disabilities, gender disparities, physical barriers, and inadequate curriculum are essential factors limiting quality education in SSA. Finally, teachers’ conditions and training emerged as crucial challenges to reach quality pedagogy. Some SSA countries have improved their efforts for quality education, but these barriers and challenges continue to impact education for all children. A new perspective on mitigating these impediments can address several factors responsible for the exclusion of diverse groups from accessing quality education in the SSA region.

Psychosocial factors associated with intention to pursue tertiary education among Malawian students: the moderating effect of mental health

BackgroundIn Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), approximately 9 million students are enrolled in tertiary education (TE), which is 4% of the total TE enrolment globally. Barriers to higher education in SSA are numerous: poverty, food insecurity, gender, and disability, while the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation. Little is known about the psychosocial factors and underlying mechanisms associated with students’ intention to apply for TE. Using a psychological theory of behaviour change, our study investigated the psychosocial and context factors associated with the application to TE.MethodsIn a cross-sectional research study 821 interviews using researcher-administered questionnaires were conducted with secondary school students in rural and urban Blantyre, Malawi. A quantitative questionnaire based on the risks, attitudes, norms, abilities, and self-regulation (RANAS) model was used to assess psychosocial factors underlying application for TE. The Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) and household hunger scale were used to assess mental health and hunger respectively.ResultsMore than half of the youth were at risk to develop depression (66.5%). Girls reported experiencing more depression symptoms than boys. Around 1 in every 5 interviewed youth lived in a home experiencing moderate or severe hunger. A higher intention to apply for TE was related to perceived vulnerability, affective beliefs (joy, happiness, excitement), injunctive (approval of others) and personal norms, self-efficacy, and commitment to apply. Factual knowledge about TE application was very limited. An intention to apply for TE and self-efficacy was positively associated with regular physical exercise, but negatively associated with mental health and hunger. However, mental health moderated the effects of physical exercise on the intention to apply for TE. We found significant differences between poor and good mental health groups on intention to apply for TE in perceived vulnerability, descriptive (behaviour of others) and personal norms, self-efficacy, maintenance self-efficacy and commitment factors. The results informed a behaviour change intervention strategy to increase students’ intention to apply for TE.ConclusionsOur research findings are an important contribution to the long-term strategy of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and contribute to the inclusion of vulnerable students with impaired mental health in higher education in Malawi and beyond.

Challenges, Strategies and Recommendations for Reengineering Engineering Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review

With the continent of Africa occupying the front seat of underdevelopment in the world, and its population increasing exponentially, there is an urgent need to come up with strategies to tackle the underdevelopment ravaging the continent and the demand posed by its constantly growing population. Engineering through appropriate engineering education is the answer to these challenges. In this review article, some of the challenges facing engineering education in sub-Saharan Africa such as responsiveness and relevance in the design of the undergraduate curriculum, shortage in the engineering capacity, etc. were studied. The factors that influence engineering education, in general, were also discussed and the strategies that are required for producing engineering graduates capable of taking up the challenges facing the 21st century engineers in the region were highlighted. Lastly, the review presents a guide for future engineering education and recommendations on how to re-engineer engineering education in sub-Saharan Africa to produce engineering graduates who are qualified technically and otherwise.

Emergency remote assessment practices in higher education in sub-Saharan Africa during COVID-19

Following the disruptions to in-person schooling during COVID-19 and the need for emergency remote teaching, this study explored the assessment experiences of teacher educators in Ghana. Through a qualitative transcendental phenomenological approach, purposive criterion sampling was used to select 25 teacher educators from 15 teacher training institutions in Ghana who participated in online teaching during COVID-19 school closure. The findings show that teacher-centered approaches to assessment dominate emergency remote assessment practices of teacher educators. Hodgepodge grading and general feedback were more prevalent during remote assessment. Teachers were also found to randomly select a few students to provide individualized feedback due to the large class size. Challenges including limited knowledge of the use of the online teaching platform for assessment, inadequate professional training and access to technological resources, and concerns about academic dishonesty were reported. However, teachers reported that their involvement in abrupt remote teaching and assessment has been a learning opportunity for them to develop new skills, which is imperative for their professional development.

Managerial Entrepreneurial Competencies Framework for Technical College Programs: Concept and Relevance

One of the challenges of technical education in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, is the lack of an appropriate entrepreneurial framework for the content of the technical college curriculum. The purpose of this study was to explore the managerial entrepreneurial competencies for technical college programs in Nigeria. This study was guided by a qualitative approach through document analysis and semi-structured interviews with 15 participants selected purposively and 11 Journal Articles were analysed. The empirical findings from semi-structured interviews confirm the theoretical findings in document analysis. This study found several managerial entrepreneurial competencies in document analysis and interviews, eventually analysed thematically. Themes include Business planning, Decision-making, Technical know-how, Interpersonal relationships and Communication. The study analysed only 11 documents and conducted 15 interviews, so the conclusions drawn from these sources depend on the authenticity of the information provided by the participants. The findings of the study indicate that managerial entrepreneurial competencies are worthy of inclusion in the technical college curriculum in Nigeria. Therefore, it is recommended that the curriculum needs to be reviewed to ensure that it meets the educational changes such as global trends and 21st-century education policies which now become a worldwide phenomenon.

Digital divide in higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

Digital divide in higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

Exploring Managerial Entrepreneurial Competencies Framework for Technical College Programs

One of the challenges of technical education in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, is the lack of an appropriate entrepreneurial framework for the content of the technical college curriculum. The purpose of this study was to explore the entrepreneurial competencies for technical college programs in Nigeria. This study was guided by qualitative approach through document analysis and semi-structured interview with 15 participants selected purposively and eleven Journal Articles were analyzed. The empirical findings from semi-structured interviews confirm the theoretical findings in document analysis. This study found several managerial entrepreneurial competencies in document analysis and interviews, eventually analyzed thematically. Themes include: Business plan, Decision making, technical know-how, Interpersonal relationship and Communication. The study analyzed only 11 documents and conducted 15 interviews, so the conclusions drawn from these sources depend on the authenticity of the information provided by the participants. The study found that managerial entrepreneurial competencies are worth for inclusion into the technical college programs curriculum in Nigeria. Therefore, it is recommended that the curriculum needs to be reviewed to ensure that they meet the educational changes such as global trends, 21st century education policies and Industrial Revolution 4.0, which now become a worldwide phenomenon.

The Importance of Higher Education on Economic Growth

"It is very important for countries to stimulate their economic prosperity and reduce poverty. While it is commonly accepted that education of all forms enhances economic performance of a country, yet the question of which level of education, secondary or tertiary, is more important to fuel the economy is not conclusively answered. The finding in Avraham Cohen’s PhD thesis is that education, as measured by published research, is strongly associated with Artificial Intelligence index of countries. Also, he found that AI is strongly associated with GDP. His findings encourage the idea that higher education, which is needed for Artificial Intelligence (AI), will be a dominant factor for economic growth in general; hereby, policy makers should invest in higher education to ensure economic affluence. Enrollment rates for higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa are by far the lowest in the world and the academic research output in the region is among the world’s lowest. Because of a belief that primary and secondary schooling are more important than tertiary education for poverty reduction, the international development community has encouraged African governments’ relative neglect of higher education. Using methodology of fuzzy logic-based soft regression, this study challenges these beliefs and demonstrates that economic growth is almost exclusively determined by higher education. Also, the importance of higher education relative to secondary education is more so in recent years relative to a decade or two ago. Motivated by this finding, I propose to find the right branch of higher education for every country based on its economic competitive advantage that will impact its economic growth best. Keywords: Education, Economic Growth, Artificial Intelligence, fuzzy logic, soft regression"

The Effect of Pre-Colonial Ethnic Institutions and European Influences on Contemporary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

Present-day education outcomes in Africa cannot independently be attributed to pre-colonial ethnic institutions, exposure to historical missionary activity or colonial rule. It is instead the complementarity or contention between these European influences and pre-colonial ethnic institutions such as political centralisation that result in education outcomes we observe today. Using geolocated DHS literacy outcomes for thirteen sub-Saharan African countries, our findings suggest pre-colonial political centralisation and European influences have heterogeneous effects on contemporary literacy, depending on the interaction between these institutions. This paper contributes to debates on colonial and pre-colonial ethnic influences on African development, moving beyond country-level analysis.

Trends and Challenges in Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) Research in Sub-Saharan Africa: a Narrative Review.

Adolescent sexual and reproductive health remains a major public health challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Comprehensive sex education (CSE) has been hailed as a key strategy to inform young people about sexual health and wellbeing and prevent negative health outcomes. This paper presents an overview of the trends and challenges around sex education in SSA and puts forth key recommendations for future research and policy initiatives. This review employed a narrative approach to synthesize evidence on the implementation of comprehensive sex education in SSA. The literature review elicited four key themes: (i) comprehensiveness of CSE curricula, (ii) gender norms in CSE, (iii) prominence of 'fear' narratives in CSE implementation, and (iv) CSE delivery methods. Additionally, the authors propose a fifth theme-'Future-proofing CSE programs', based on their learnings from implementing sex education interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic. These five themes are presented through a narrative description of current research accompanied by reflections from the authors on the implementation of a parent-focused sex education program in Uganda. Based on the insights from the literature review and the authors' reflections, three recommendations are put forward to guide the design of further CSE initiatives: (i) stakeholder engagement in determining CSE priorities and strategies, (ii) diverse delivery pathways for CSE programs, and (iii) active engagement of both boys and girls to challenge gender norms in CSE.

Can Experience Determine the Adoption of Industrial Revolution 4.0 Skills in 21st Century Mathematics Education?

Teachers in secondary schools were studied to determine their readiness to adopt fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies to enhance their teaching practices and student learning. Through Industry 4.0, technologies are also becoming available as products for education, transforming the rules and norms of education. Secondary school mathematics teachers in Nigeria must prepare themselves to embrace digital skills so that they will be ready for new teaching and learning processes that are being introduced by these new digital tools. In this study, a cross-sectional quantitative approach was used. The data were collected using a self-developed instrument with a content validity index of 0.96 and a MacDonald Omega reliability index of 0.84. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 211 mathematics teachers in three Lagos State education districts. Analyses of the obtained data were performed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA at a significance level of 0.05. Results indicate that mathematics teachers are ready to integrate 4IR skills and emerging technologies into their classrooms. In addition, the willingness of participants to adopt relevant 4IR skills across their years of experience was statistically significant. A new path is charted for school administrators, mathematics teachers, and stakeholders in the education sector to assist in policy design toward 4IR, thereby contributing to the existing literature on adopting emerging technologies to teach mathematics education in sub-Saharan Africa.

Examining Barriers to Entry: Disparate Gender Representation in Cybersecurity Within Sub-Saharan Africa

Globally, women are underrepresented in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this underrepresentation is even more prevalent, as fewer women pursue STEM careers in SSA when compared to the global norm. Cybersecurity is a critical subsection of STEM; one that is widely accepted as a field with enormous growth potential, yet only a small proportion of these jobs belong to women. Despite attempts to narrow the gender gap in cybersecurity, persistent factors still contribute to this disparity. Within this field, developing countries struggle with the same issues that impact their more developed counterparts. Issues that impact both SSA and the global participation of women in cyber-security include lacking representation and awareness as well as retention problems. Further, issues such as harassment, gender bias and the idea that cybersecurity is a “man’s world” are also contributing factors. A slew of other factors is also at play in SSA; this includes issues of low school attendance by girls, restricted educational opportunities, and other systemic challenges. Girls and women are less likely to complete lower and secondary education, which has a ripple effect – fewer women reach higher education in SSA when compared to global trends. Generally, higher or tertiary education is necessary to join the cybersecurity workforce. Research exploring the challenges women in SSA face when trying to enter the cybersecurity field is limited. This paper presents an overview of the most persistent challenges faced in SSA and globally. It highlights the current skill shortage in the cybersecurity field that is exasperated by global challenges, including issues unique to the region. Educational pathways available to girls and women are explored, as well as the issues leading to widespread skill shortages within SSA. Programs striving to increase the participation of women in cybersecurity are discussed. Lastly, some suggestions to remediate this pervasive issue are also provided.

STRATEGIES FOR RE-SHAPING INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION TO STEER HOLISTIC AND SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION IN AFRICA

Education is the only institution through which society can attain its ideals and aspirations. For this to happen, teachers play a pivotal role in translating the ideals into mini activities that are meant to transform individuals’ learners into useful competent citizens. This is the main reason that Teacher education as a special programme of education, has undergone tremendous transformations over few decades ago in Africa and the world. These transformations, however, have not been accompanied by concrete actions to adapt Teacher Education to the different dynamisms the African society is traversing. This paper aims at examining the effectiveness of practices being used in current initial teacher education in sub-Saharan Africa. The focus of the paper is based on three paramount questions: 1. What are the current practices versus new requirements in initial teacher education of the Twenty-First Century (21st C) in the context of Africa? 2. How best can teachers be prepared to meet the needs and aspirations of African societies and the world in the Twenty-First Century and beyond? 3. What are the challenges militating against quality teacher education in Africa? The first question seeks answers on who should be the teachers in the 21st Century classroom in Africa. The second question focuses on who and how such a teacher can be prepared. The third attempts to identify challenges that potentially threatens the attainment of an effective and efficient initial teacher education. The information generated from these questions will not only help in shedding light on some wrongdoings surrounding initial teacher education, but also unlock the door to more modern and ultra-modern practices that can make Africa produce useful, competent, and exportable teachers.

Performance Evaluation of UDSM Network to Deliver Multimedia eLearning Contents: Case of CoICT

The use of technology in education in Sub-Saharan Africa has been reported to be hindered by many factors including inadequate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, low internet speed, and lack of skills to use educational technologies. This paper aim at evaluating how the available ICT infrastructure at the College of Information and Communication Technologies (CoICT) can support, with acceptable Quality of Service (QoS), the delivery of multimedia applications for eLearning services. The evaluation was performed over a network testbed implemented in a computer laboratory for wired and wireless connections. The testbed consisted of five personal computers (PCs) connected via a switch and a router to the internet for the wired connection. The wireless connection consisted of three PCs and a laptop connected through a switch and a router to the internet via a wireless access point. Four different multimedia applications were run through the PCs, and traffic data was mirrored and captured at one of the PC using Wireshark network analyzer. The traffic included streamed and conversational video and audio using YouTube and Zoom applications, respectively; interactive web browsing using web browsers; bulk file transfer, and a mixture of all applications running on the computers. Traffic data captured during the running of these applications were packet loss, delay, jitter, and throughput. The QoS performance parameters obtained were within the acceptable threshold values as per International Telecommunication Union, Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) values. Results revealed that ICT infrastructure at CoICT can support delivery of multimedia content for eLearning purposes for both wired and wireless connections. Having the infrastructure capable of supporting multimedia applications with the acceptable QoS implies that instructors are equipped with a conducive environment that supports multimedia application. Hence, they are expected to use and continue using educational technologies to facilitate teaching and learning processes.

A review of research on learning support in mathematics education in Sub-Saharan Africa: The case of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

All learners have different educational needs, and learners taking mathematics are no exception. This review paper focuses on the recent studies in Sub-Saharan Africa in four countries: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia in mathematics education. These countries perform poorly in mathematics according to all SACMEQ (Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality) reports, though there has been an incremental improvement. The methodology of the study incorporated research studies on mathematics learning disabilities and difficulties, however, only limited research was found in Namibia and none in the other countries using this terminology. In all four countries, the inclusive education policies do not specifically mention MLD. As a result, this study was expanded to include learners’ performance in mathematics in general. The articles sought were research-based articles and were mainly empirical for the period 2010 to 2021. Most research focuses on problems related to poor performance of learners, teachers' and learners’ perceptions and attitudes, and teacher training in mathematics education. These issues are compared and contrasted in different countries. The limited research found on MLD focuses on beliefs, misconceptions, barriers in teaching and learning mathematics, and learning support. We recommend that in these four countries, more research is needed on learners with MLD within the general mathematics population. The focus area should include early identification of learners with MLD, support based on the diagnosed learning needs, and teacher training on MLD, appropriate teaching and learning strategies.

The Demographic Dividend As A Pathway To Development: The Role of Fertility and Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. A Narrative Review

Purpose: Sub-Saharan African countries are experiencing rapid population growth. This is essential in achieving the Demographic Dividend. Age structure, fertility and education play a key role in the achievement of the Demographic Dividend. Although gains from age structure are crucial, its gains are not automatic. However, the inter-relatedness of fertility and education makes a reduction in fertility a cause and effect on investments in education.
 Methodology: This narrative review looks at studies discussing the Demographic Dividend from a development theory point of view. It is an attempt to explain how different countries within Sub-Saharan Africa are faring due to the inter-play between fertility and education.
 Findings: The results highlight how the Demographic Dividend is really an Educational Dividend. It also shows a negative correlation between education and fertility across regions and time. The political environment with emphasis on good governance plays a key role in harnessing the Demographic Dividend. Aside this, a fertility decline alone could worsen the existing economic conditions if it is not in tandem with higher education rates among young adults. This is in line with Ester Boserup’s view of seeing population as a resource.
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy (recommendation): A conducive political environment attracts investments and creates room for entrepreneurship and job creation which are necessary to be able to harness the Demographic Dividend. There’s the need to however, look at the definition of working age group and conditions necessary to promote entrepreneurship. 
 

Financial development and educational quality in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines the effect of financial development on educational quality in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper also analyses the interaction effect of public education financing and measures of financial development on quality of education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study adopts the two—step system generalised method of moment (Two-Step System GMM) model in estimating the effect of financial development on educational quality and the interaction effect of financial development and public education financing on educational quality. We use data for the period 1990 to 2019 for 42 Sub-Saharan African countries obtained largely from the World Development Indicators of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) financial development index database. The results show that overall financial development, financial access, financial depth, and financial efficiency improve quality at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of education. We also find that public education financing improves quality at all levels of education. The results also show that public education financing positively moderates the nexus between measures of financial development and educational quality in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Describing competency requirements for competency-based regulatory sciences education in sub-Saharan Africa – A qualitative systematic review

Background: Competency-based regulatory sciences education could expand the workforce of regulatory scientists in sub-Saharan Africa. A competency framework is foundational to developing competency-based education. Objective: To identify the entry-level competency requirements of regulatory scientists in sub-Saharan Africa. Method: This research was a systematic review of the literature based on a pre-registered protocol. The research used the "framework synthesis" systematic review model to deductively identify competencies and code them into clusters with NVivo 12 software. Result: Three broad clusters of competencies were identified – enabling behaviours, knowledge, and skills. The knowledge and skills clusters were further subdivided into sub-clusters: the knowledge cluster into administrative, regulatory governance/framework, and scientific knowledge, and the skills cluster into functional and technical skills. Conclusion: The identified competencies will assist in developing an entry-level competency framework required for competency-based regulatory sciences education in sub-Saharan Africa.