The Human Capital Africa (HCA) roundtable on the learning crisis in Africa is underway at the Harvard Club in New York.
The event, which has attracted different heads of state, education ministers, business leaders, civil society organisations, and distinguished African intellectuals is held alongside the United Nations General Assembly.
The conference aims to discuss the crucial role of foundational learning in enhancing education for the future of Africa and to highlight the leadership being demonstrated across the continent in a bid to tackle the issue.
Frank Nweke, a member of the Human Capital Africa corporate board, who represented the chairperson of the Advisory Board and former President of Malawi, Dr. Joyce Banda, highlighted the magnitude of the learning crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa and shared some hope that evidence-based approaches can help reverse the situation.
Meanwhile, Uganda’s State Minister for Primary Education, Dr. Joyce Moriku said the country has walked the talk to improve education by investing in the human capital scorecard to ensure that needed data is collected to make policy decisions.
“More investments should be made and there is a need to learn from homegrown solutions to fix the learning crisis. Ultimately, our aim is to establish a system capable of understanding classroom needs, implementing structured pedagogical interventions, observing progress and adjusting interventions based on the system’s reaction, and maintaining regular accountability to the targets we set to improve FLN outcomes,” Moriku said.
The founder and CEO of Human Capital Africa, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, highlighted the need and the urgency to address the fact that 9 out of 10 children in Africa are unable to read with understanding by the age of ten.
