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How does the lack of infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa affect students’ ability to stay in school and succeed academically?

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It all can be traced back to underfunding

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It all can be traced back to underfunding

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This peer review identifies key challenges to reaching SDG 4 and how the roots of these constraints can all be traced back to underfunding. The underfunding is a result of the poverty in these regions, since most of the region's residents live in poverty and are in non-taxed jobs, the government doesn't have money to invest back into infrastructure or education.

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Deeper dive into SSA underfunding of education

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Deeper dive into SSA underfunding of education

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This report reveals that the official development assistance (ODA) allocable to education has been steadily declining for over 2 decades. The current fund sits at around $17 billion; however, it is inadequately distributed, with only a third of it going to Sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to over half of the world's out-of-school children. It was revealed that Sub-Saharan Africa would need $70 billion annually from 2023 to 2030 to reach SDG4. This substantial underfunding has led to Sub-Saharan Africa having the highest rate of learning poverty and out-of-school children.

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Why is Sub-Saharan Africa's average so low?

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Why is Sub-Saharan Africa's average so low?

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When I read that Sub-Saharan Africa's years of schooling average was so low, I started to wonder why. This website talks about the main reasons for the lack of education. It explains how the lack of infrastructure leads to young kids not being able to attend school. This results in the kids who do make it to school being far behind, often not knowing how to read or write.

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Why Becoming Educated is Hard in Sub-Saharan Africa – Especially for Girls - The Water Project

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Here in the United States, late summer is the time of year when kids and parents alike start thinking about heading back to school. In the U.S., the process involves kids getting supplies, meeting teachers, and maybe even scouting the trendiest outfits. It’s unlikely that any U.S. parents are worried about whether the kids will

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I enjoy learning, and I have an interest in creating opportunities for children to receive an education and complete it.

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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was already off-track to achieve its education targets. If no additional measures are taken, only one in six countries will meet SDG4 and achieve universal access to quality education by 2030. An estimated 84 million children and young people will still be out of school and an estimated 300 million student will still not have the basic numeracy and literacy skills they need to succeed in life. To deliver SDG4, education systems must be re-imagined, and education financing must become a priority national investment.

Target 4.1: Between 2015 and 2021, the school completion rate increased from 85% to 87% in primary, from 74% to 77% in lower secondary and from 54% in 2015 to 58% in upper secondary education. Even before the onset of COVID19, these rates had slowed down relative to progress in 2010-15. Looking closely at reading levels at the end of primary school, for which trend data cover 34% of the world's children, the analysis shows that global learning levels showed no progress between 2015-2019. Furthermore, learning losses due to COVID-related school closures have been documented in 4 out of 5 of the 104 countries that have carried out such studies.

Target 4.2: Participation rate in organized learning one year before the official primary entry age has stagnated at around 75% since 2015, still far from the target of ensuring that all girls and boys have access to quality pre-primary education by 2030.

Target 4.3: Among 131 countries with data from 2017 onwards, on average approximately one in six youth and adults aged 15-64 recently participated in formal or non-formal education and training. Participation is substantially higher among youth aged 15-24 (40%-50%), compared to those aged 25-55 (only 5% for most regions).

Target 4.a: Basic school infrastructure is far from universal. In 2020, approximately a quarter of primary schools globally do not have access to basic services such as electricity, drinking water and basic sanitation facilities. For other facilities such as computer facilities and the provision of disability adapted infrastructure, figures are substantially lower, with around 50% of primary schools with access.

Target 4.c: Globally, in 2020, over 14% of teachers are still not qualified according to national norms, with little improvement since 2015.

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Goal 4 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs

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Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

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I read on the SDG website that the percentage of students attending school has increased by 7% over the last decade. However, many countries are going backwards in terms of learning outcomes in secondary schools. I want to look at why countries' learning outcomes are going down when more students are attending school for longer.

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After learning that the percentage of kids going to school has gone up globally. I started thinking about where kids were still not getting schooling. I found that Sub-Saharan Africa only averages 2-4 years of formal schooling. This is surprising to me because I grew up in a community where 12 years of school and then university was so normalized.

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Average number of years adults over 25 years participated in formal education.

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This article talks about why children drop out of school or don't attend at all. It also mentions how children who attended school for a long time still can't read properly. Showing how the school system has failed many students who fought hard to even get the chance to attend school.

"A panoply of interconnected challenges undermines local and national initiatives to deliver on the collective goal of ‘education for all’ in Africa."

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Long Delayed: Education for Every Child in Africa | Education Cannot Wait

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Long Delayed: Education for Every Child in Africa | Education Cannot Wait

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Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on the Day of the African Child

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When I was reading through articles, I saw one mention the digital divide. I had heard of this before, but only how it affected industries, so I found this article talking about how it impacted education.

"The digital divide in education presents a significant challenge across both developed and developing countries. In the United States, despite being a technologically advanced nation, approximately a third of teenagers face academic challenges due to limited access to technology at home."

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Right to Education : Situation around the world - Humanium

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Situation of children’s right to education worldwide Today, education remains an inaccessible right for millions of children around the world. More than 72 million children of primary education age are not in school and 759 million adults are illiterate and do not have the awareness necessary to imp…

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This website shows the major steps that have been taken to bridge the digital divide. Many of the companies have created and donated interactive devices. While others have spread awareness and raised/donated money to organizations developing solutions. I didn't realize how many organizations were working to bridge this gap.

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CHALLENGE

Accessible, Affordable, and Inclusive Broadband

The availability and use of digital technologies are strongly linked to economic growth, innovation, job creation, and inclusion, at both the national and regional levels. Sub-Saharan Africa, however, still faces significant challenges in digital development.

The region's digital infrastructure coverage, access, and quality still lag other regions. At the end of 2021, while 84 percent of people in SSA lived in areas where 3G service was available, and 63 percent had access to 4G mobile coverage, only 22 percent were using mobile internet services. The gap between coverage and usage is similarly large for broadband, with 61 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa living within broadband range but not using it.

Affordability of mobile connectivity, measured by the price of one gigabyte (GB) of mobile data, is another major constraint. In 2019, the average cost of one GB of mobile internet as a percentage of monthly per-capita Gross National Income (GNI) was 10.5 percent, which is considerably higher than the 2 percent target recommended by the United Nations Broadband Commission. In addition, in 2021, the median cost of an entry-level internet-enabled handset amounted to more than 25.2 percent of monthly gross domestic product per capita.

The region has one of the widest digital gender gaps globally. The greatest disparity exists for internet use, where women are 37 percent less likely than men to use mobile internet according to 2023 GSMA data.

In 2021, around 470 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa did not have proof of ID, preventing them from fully benefiting from critical public and some private services.

" The minimal usage of mobile internet is a lost opportunity for inclusive growth in Africa," says Andrew Dabalen, World Bank Chief Economist for Africa. " Closing the uptake gap would increase the continent's potential to create jobs for its growing population and boost economic recovery in a highly digitalized world. "

APPROACH

A Strategic Framework for Digital Transformation

The World Bank, together with other development partners and sector stakeholders, is supporting the region in achieving its digital transformation. Within the International Development Association (IDA), technology is a cross-cutting theme covering three areas of work: i) closing the digital connectivity gap; ii) investing in safe and open digital public infrastructure (DPI); and iii) helping countries access and use digital services, particularly in the context of the jobs and economic transformation agenda.

A range of World Bank projects have contributed to a 115 percent increase in the number of internet users in Sub-Saharan Africa, from 19 percent in 2016 to 36 percent in 2021.The World Bank's flagship Digital Economy for Africa (DE4A) initiative supports the ambition of ensuring that every individual, business, and government in Africa is digitally enabled by 2030. Under the DE4A initiative, the World Bank has delivered 70 digitalization projects in Africa since 2019, aiming to build the foundation for a vibrant, safe, resilient, and inclusive digital economy totaling $9 billionacross 37 countries.

Increased accessibility of broadband services, accompanied by enhanced affordability and service quality, leads to higher inclusion. Digital inclusion, in turn, has a positive impact on creating jobs and reducing poverty. In 2023, a World Bank flagship report found that in Nigeria and Tanzania, extreme poverty declined by about 7 percent after three or more years of exposure to internet coverage, while labor force participation and wage employment increased by up to 8 percent.

Achieving a vibrant, inclusive, and secure digital economy requires more than basic access to the internet.It necessitates a comprehensive approach that considers the entire digital ecosystem, integrating additional foundational elements to complement infrastructure. While the availability of internet or broadband access is an important first step in getting people online, DPI represents the foundational guiderails for digital transactions among people, businesses, and governments to make them more inclusive, efficient, and innovative. Open standards and interfaces allow DPI to drive innovation in the public and private sectors, while digital identification and authentication of people, and the capability for seamless digital transactions, are prerequisites for a holistic and comprehensive digital transformation.

A thriving digital economy, moreover, needs more than infrastructure alone. It also depends on the presence of a sizable and skilled tech-savvy workforce that can build on digital advancements to drive innovation and productivity, creating a dynamic ecosystem that enables businesses to enter the digital realm and scale up successfully. Once these essential foundations are firmly established, a wide range of transformative use-cases emerge, primarily driven by the private sector.

Increasing Affordable, Inclusive Connectivity

Between 2016 and 2021, Western and Central Africa has witnessed a noticeable increase in the number of internet users, from 23 to 47 percent, while the percentage of people using the internet in Eastern and Southern Africa increased from 16 to 27 percent. Coastal and island states including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Comoros, Mauritania, and Togo gained access to new submarine internet cables, helping to increase available capacity and raising the average broadband download speed on the continent from 2.68 megabytes per second (Mbps) in 2019 to 8.31 Mbps in 2022. This improvement in speed allows the user experience to move from basic Web surfing to accessing a variety of productive content (such as online learning and basic services).

Connection affordability has also improved significantly and rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa, with costs decreasing on average from 11.5 percent of monthly gross national income (GNI) per capita in 2019 to 5.7 percent in 2021. These advances are particularly noteworthy in Benin (where this figure fell from 20 percent to 3 percent) and Somalia(from 18 percent to 2 percent). In Niger, the Smart Villages for Rural Growth and Digital Inclusion Project helped reduce the retail price of 1GB per month by 71 percent between 2019 and 2022.

The World Bank has also supported countries such as Angola, Ethiopia, and Senegal in implementing reformsaimed at enhancing competition and better management of public telecom assets, and helped countries such as Mauritania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cabo Verde to open the internet wholesale and retail markets to competition.

Digital inclusion is benefiting women and girls, as well as populations in underserved areas, in many African countries. For example, in Uganda, a 2021 World Bank collaboration with the EQUALS Global Partnership's Access Coalition, GSMA, Trickle Up, and AVSI launched a women's digital literacy and inclusion pilot among refugee and host community participants. Participants reported a fourfold increase in basic digital skills. Over 90 percent of women reported having ownership and control of digital devices, as well as new or improved income-generating and/or employment opportunities. In Ethiopia, over 900,000 poor households in drought-prone communities received their benefits in electronic accounts in 2023, 43 percent of which are owned and operated by women. In Mozambique, the Social Protection and Economic Resilience Project increased the number of families with children in the poorest districts that received social protection transfers through digital payments 121-fold between 2021 and 2022.

" For us who live far from the city, mobile transfers helped us a lot, especially in the time of COVID-19 confinements. Because before then, when we needed products, we had to travel to go to the supplier. But now, I call, order the product, transfer the money, and they deliver it here." - Maria Djata, a trader from Guinea-Bissau who is leveraging digital technology to improve her business.

Expanding Broadband in Mauritania

Mauritania had limited access to international connectivity, and the cost of internet services was high and of low quality. The West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (WARCIP) provided $330 million in IDA credit and grants, seeking to increase the geographical reach of broadband networks and reduce the cost of communications services in West Africa.

In December 2012, when WARCIP's implementation began in Mauritania, the mobile broadband penetration rate stood at 3 percent. By 2021-2022, the project had contributed to extending connectivity to previously underserved or unserved areas through the deployment of 1,700 km of fiber optic cable. Access and affordability increased significantly, with a 53 percent increase in localities connected to broadband, and a 99 percent reduction in the average wholesale broadband price, from $7,000/month to $55/month.

The case of Mauritania illustrates a trend across the West Africa region, where the volume of available international internet bandwidth increased 9-fold between 2011 and 2017, and the retail price of internet services decreased by 81 percent.

DATA HIGHLIGHTS

PARTNERSHIPS

Joining Efforts for a Regional Digital Market

The World Bank is stepping up support for digital transformation in Africa in collaboration with several partners, such as the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the GSMA, the United Nations, and donor governments. The DE4A initiative, for example, contributes to the operationalization of the African Union's Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa, which was developed with support from the World Bank. The strategy highlights the key policy reforms and investments needed at the national and regional level for the continent to achieve its digital development ambitions. As such, the World Bank supports national, regional, and continental efforts for high-level policy and regulatory harmonization, cooperation, and coordination between countries within the regional economic communities (RECs), as well as between RECs and the AUC at the continental level to achieve the continent's digital development ambitions. Other partnerships with local and regional organizations, as well as with the private sector, are key to achieving long-lasting impact on digital development. The Smart Africa Alliance, an innovative commitment from African heads of state and government, has grown its membership from seven countries in 2013 to 31 countries in 2020 and, with the World Bank, supports its member countries to "usher Africa into the knowledge economy era through smart use and leveraging of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)."

LOOKING AHEAD

A People-centered Technological Transformation

Digital investments and reforms are being scaled up significantly and will support African countries in accelerating their digital transformation. The three main priorities moving forward are:

Accelerating affordable broadband for all by closing the access gap through sector reforms and catalytic investments in connecting rural/remote areas, schools, clinics, and community centers, and addressing the usage and inclusion gaps to include affordability, devices, gender and inclusion, and digital literacy.

Scaling up inclusive and safe DPI through investments in digital ID, payment systems, and data sharing; strengthening trust and resilience through improved cloud services, data protection, and cybersecurity; and facilitating high-impact digital services (e.g., financial services, tax declaration, agriculture, e-health, and cash transfers)

Building in-demand digital job skills for digitally enabled industries and developing local information technology industry, content, and support services.

The World Bank is actively supporting digitalization initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa, using both existing and future digital infrastructure to ensure that digital technologies better meet the needs of people, households, and firms, and strengthening a virtuous cycle of technology-led transformation.

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Digital Transformation Drives Development in Africa

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Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces critical challenges for digital development, including underdeveloped digital infrastructure, lack of accessible and affordable connectivity, a stubborn digital gender gap, limited skills for digitally enabled industries, and inadequate regulatory and policy environments.

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The 15 countries where it's toughest to get an education 

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The 15 countries where it's toughest to get an education 

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I learned some new country-specific reasons for low education rates from this article. Most of the countries on the list are in Sub-Saharan Africa. It lists Mali and Niger as the top two countries it is hardest to get an education, with Mali being number one.

"On average, most children have still only completed 1.6 years of school compared to an expected 7 years of education. "

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8. Djibouti

Over the last decade, Djibouti has improved enrollment rate for primary education (from 55% in 2012 to 64% in 2022). However, while the overall completion rate for primary education was 81% in 2017, there were large discrepancies in this figure when region was brought into account; girls in rural areas of the country, for example, were only 42% likely to complete primary school.

7. Senegal

While student enrollment in Senegal is relatively high compared to other countries on this list, the World Bank points to a key issue around the learning-adjusted years of schooling: Although children can expect to complete an average 7.3 years of school, that number of years drops down to 4.8 when you factor in what they actually learn in those 7.3 years. They also score below average on standardized tests at an international level.

6. Guinea

Education for girls in Guinea is especially difficult, according to UNESCO. Primary school completion rates for the country were 56% for girls and 70% for boys in 2021. A similar gap existed in secondary school completion, with only 31% of girls enrolling compared to 41% of boys. (It's only at the university level that we see this shift, with 9% women enrolled in 2021 compared to 4% men.)

5. Chad

Fewer than 34% of students in Chad are expected to complete primary school as of 2023. Looking at more complete data from 2019, we can also see an equality gap between genders and locations. Children in urban areas, for example, were more than 55% likely to complete primary education, compared to children in rural areas who were just 19% likely to complete.

Completion rates also dropped significantly between primary and secondary education in 2019, with only 13% of Chadians expected to complete lower-secondary school and 4.5% expected to complete upper-secondary school. These become fractions of percentages when factored out by gender, income, and geography (less than 0.2% of girls from the lowest-income rural families completed their secondary education in full).

Concern has worked in Chad for nearly two decades with programs that touch on this key area of need. Last year, we worked with nearly 3,400 students and community members through programs aimed at increasing access to education, improving its quality, and supporting the wellbeing of children and teachers.

" Learn more about Concern's work in Chad

Headteacher Abdurahim Oumar at Karo primary school in Sila Province, one of the schools participating in Concern's Hope II Program, desgined to enable access to quality education for vulnerable students in Sila Province. (Photo: Eugene Ikua/Concern Worldwide)

4. Yemen

Recent figures from UNICEF show that school-aged children represent 33% of the Yemeni population. Nearly a decade of conflict has created what the UN calls an "education crisis" in the country, with 4.5 million children out of school in 2023. That represents about one out of every three children. Additionally, over 2,400 schools have either been damaged or closed due to the crisis.

Even before the onset of conflict in 2015, however, education was an issue in Yemen. In 2013, UNESCO reported an overall primary school completion rate of 62%, with less than half of those students completing their secondary education. There were also considerable gaps in completion rates between children in low-income and high-income communities, and between rural and urban students.

" Learn more about Concern's work in Yemen

Abdul Ghaffar, Concern Program Director and Health facility Manager with children of a small village in Tuban district, Lahj Governorate where Concern is providing health and nutrition services. (Photo: Aamar Khalaf/Concern Worldwide)

3. Burkina Faso

An ongoing crisis in Burkina Faso has contributed to an education loss for a country where 43% of the population is aged 14 or younger. A World Bank brief suggests that 74% of all Burkinabè in the final years of primary school are not proficient in reading, and that 67% have not achieved the minimum proficiency level in literacy. That's to say nothing of the 21% of primary school-aged children who are not enrolled at all, in many cases due to security concerns and over 6,100 schools reported closed as of last year.

In recent years, we've seen some gains in education, with UNESCO reporting that the completion rate for upper-secondary education in rural areas of the country more than doubled between 2017 and 2021. However, overall completion rates for primary, lower-secondary, and upper-secondary education have all dropped in recent years and we continue to see a wide gap between educational opportunities in urban versus rural areas, and between families with higher and lower incomes.

" Learn more about Concern's work in Burkina Faso

Sylvie Adama Oubda, an internally displaced person, with two of her children, Larissa and Jean-Baptiste, in Pouytenga, Burkina Faso. (Photo: Jean-Paul Ouedraogo/Concern Worldwide)

2. Niger

The same pattern of instability and conflict in the Sahel affecting Burkina Faso can also be seen in Niger (and in Mali, below). Last year, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that four years of heightened insecurity in the region had nearly doubled the number of school closures, resulting in over 13,200 schools closed across eight countries in central and west Africa. This included approximately 940 schools in Niger as of late last year, affecting over 74,000 students and nearly 1,800 teachers.

Education has been a priority for the Nigerien government and in recent years, before regional violence and political instability escalated, there had been several successes in enrollment and educational outcomes. Between 2014 and 2019, minimum proficiency levels for primary school students increased from 2% to over 14% for literacy, and from 28% to 67% in numeracy. However, the needs remain high, especially for children who have either been displaced or continue to live in volatile areas.

In Niger, Concern equipped 20 villages with library boxes to improve reading practices for children, for whom access to textbooks and books is very limited.

Concern's education program in Niger covers over 250 schools and supports over 80,000 children, with a focus on preserving the right to education in situations of armed conflict. We work to build school infrastructure and strengthen teacher skills. We also work with communities to create a safe learning environment by setting up bridge classes, listening clubs, mobile libraries, and distance coaching.

" Learn more about Concern's work in Niger

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15 Countries where it's toughest to get an education

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Calling these the "least-educated" countries oversimplifies a complex issue. Here's what you should know.

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This website discusses why Mali's education rates are so low and why most kids end up dropping out of school. It also covers what solutions are being implemented to help improve these numbers and keep them high.

"Although education in Mali has been improving over the last decade, more than two million children aged between 5 to 17 still do not go to school, and over half of Mali’s young people aged 15 to 24 are not literate."

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UNICEF in Mali supports the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Vocational Training and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to fulfil a vision of lifelong learning. This starts with ensuring children start learning early in life through positive parenting and pre-primary education. When children are of school-going age, UNICEF and partners support their access to, and retention in, school, with the vision of ensuring children receive the skills and qualifications they need to pursue their dreams, start businesses, or get jobs later in life.

UNICEF's education programme aligns itself with national priorities and puts an emphasis on the most vulnerable children: those who are currently outside of the school system, girls, children on the move, children with disabilities and those affected by conflict or other emergencies.

UNICEF works with partners to provide out-of-school children with non-formal and informal education, to facilitate school reintegration through accelerated learning programmes, and direct reintegration, and in the case of conflict-affected children whose schools are closed, community-based education opportunities. UNICEF also works hand in hand with the Government of Mali and other partners to support the improvement of quality education through:

improving the governance of schools by building the capacity of School Management Committees;

teacher training and the establishment of peer-to-peer training among teachers of the same school, including through innovations and new technology;

increased access to pedagogical and school materials for school principals, teachers and schoolchildren.

In 2019, UNICEF supported the return to school of more than 200,000 out-of-school children and more than 30,000 children benefited from early learning activities.

In order to bring quality education to every child in Mali, UNICEF in Mali works closely with the Government of Mali, as well as civil society partners, donors and other UN agencies such as UNESCO and WFP. UNICEF also plays the role of lead coordinating agency in the cluster system for humanitarian intervention and in the Local Education Group for development interventions in Mali.

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Harnessing children's potential through quality education for every child

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This article presents the five main facts of the Niger education crisis. It explains the causes of these issues and what is being done to improve them. The fact below is the one I found most interesting because I wonder why kids aren't in school and what they are doing instead.

"More than 50% of children between the ages of 7 and 16 do not attend school. Meanwhile, the preschool enrollment rate sits at only 7%"

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This article discusses the solution of better access to electricity, which can lead to a better quality of living and possibly an economic boom. It explains how, in low-income countries where resources are scarce, people don't often think of electricity as the first solution, even though it could have a big impact on their lives.

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'New frontier' in tackling global poverty

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In a real-world test of a new tool to better evaluate anti-poverty policies, a new study shows the economic benefits of expanding electricity access.

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There are many regions around the world with poor education, but Sub-Saharan Africa is not improving at the same rate. Because of this, I want to focus my research on why they are not improving at the same rate and what ways we can help them achieve high-quality education.

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This article gave me insight into how countries improved their quality of education in different regions around the world. It explained the different types of solutions that were implemented depending on the region of the country. It also explains what programs were put in place to ensure the country doesn't fall back to where it was and continues to improve.

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This article discusses solutions currently being implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa to improve the quality of education. It brings up how these solutions that worked in other countries to improve education are not working effectively in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Goal: cut learning poverty in half by 2030 

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Goal: cut learning poverty in half by 2030 

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This article explains the World Bank's main goal for solving the education crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa and how it plans to achieve it. It plans to focus on solving learning poverty to improve education rates and quality.

"Learning Poverty is defined as the percentage of 10-year-olds who cannot read and understand a simple story."

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How has the lack of education in SSA caused the cycle of poverty to continue?

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How has the lack of education in SSA caused the cycle of poverty to continue?

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This article discusses how children living in poverty do not have access to schools to teach them critical skills. The lack of education has resulted in the children becoming a part of the unskilled workforce in Sub-Saharan Africa, continuing to live in poverty.

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This article outlines a long-term strategy on how to improve the Sub-Saharan Africa education crisis. The study highlights four priority areas that they are going to tackle first to create a stable environment, so they can later move in with more specific projects.

"The study lays out concrete steps in four priority areas: providing universal basic education with a focus on equitable access, quality and retention; ensuring effective management and support of teachers; increasing financing for quality education; and boosting institutional capacity."

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This analysis focuses on a systematic approach to the education crisis in hopes of lasting improvement. The article talks about reimagining education in Sub-Saharan Africa, not just as schooling but as a holistic process. It also mentions how the "youth bulge" is both an opportunity and a risk depending on how it is managed.

"Africa is a young continent, with 40% of its population aged 15 or younger as of 2021."

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I think I want to research the education crisis and its relation to poverty, which must be addressed to reach SDG #4. I will focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and how systematic plans to improve the quality of education can help end the cycle of poverty, creating a lasting impact. I want to research this because I believe every child deserves access to quality education, which will lead to an overall better society.

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How do socioeconomic inequalities in Sub-Saharan Africa contribute to the cycle of poverty by restricting access to education?

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What education strategies can effectively address challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa to reduce learning poverty and promote long-term development?