A Gendered Pan-African Education

Education is a right, a precondition to self-determination and self-realization. It is about societal empowerment for economic growth and societal progress. Through education, members of society learn skills and abilities for survival and gain the opportunity to live responsible lives as citizens. An educated individual is enabled to live a good, healthy, productive life. When a social group is excluded from accessing education or miseducated, their access to progress is undermined. Africans face the challenge of accessing quality gendered education. Studies show that out of 773 million adults lacking basic literacy and numeracy skills in the world, 27% live in sub-Saharan Africa. In essence, of the 182 million adults without basic literacy in Africa. Two-thirds of them are women. Studies also show that Africa’s scorecard for quality education remains poor, as 90% of people in Africa are reported to have difficulty reading with comprehension by the age of ten. While Africa has made some achievements in education, miseducation and access to quality education remain a significant challenge, especially for the female gender. This chapter employs a Pan-African and intersectionality framework to explore challenges to quality education in Africa and how to strategize for a gendered Pan-African education.