Sub-Saharan Africa needs 350,000 teachers annually —UNDP

 

 Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Nigeria, Mr. Daouda Toure
| credits: realnewsmagazine.net

The United Nations Development Programme has said that sub-Saharan Africa needs no fewer than 350,000 new teachers annually.

This, the UNDP said, would enable the countries to meet with the “enormous shortage of teachers’ challenges” in the region.

The UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. Daouda Toure, who made this known on Wednesday during the Greensprings School’s 30th anniversary lecture in Lagos, also noted that there was the need to overhaul their curricula to meet the 21st Century challenges.

He spoke while delivering a paper titled “The future of Education in an Uncertain World: Redefining Education in Africa.”

Toure, who spoke through another UNDP official, Mr. Pa Lamin Beyai, noted that there was the need to re-define and reform the continent’s education system.

According to him, with a redefined education system, the countries would contribute to solving not only Africa but also the world’s capacity challenges in the 21st Century He explained, “We cannot solve 21st Century problems with 20th Century curriculum. Our un-reformed education system has served the colonial era and the immediate post-independence period. We must overhaul it completely to serve us in the 21st Century.“Changes can also be made to the existing system through training and continuing education for teachers, review of the methodology, use of up-to- date learning materials, and adoption of pedagogical approaches, which allow students to work in self-directed teams to learn, discuss, and actively practice, using the basic content of standard governmental curricula instead of oral/abstract teaching.

“Through this unique combination of relevant content, practical implementation, and student empowerment; our children will develop a body of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, which will avail them the opportunity to succeed after leaving school, regardless of whether they go to tertiary education far from home or remain in their communities to translate their knowledge to practice.”