Africa: Teacher Recruitment, Retention, Development

According to the latest issue of Education Today Newsletter of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), there were 73 million children at African school desks in 1987. By 2001, the figure had increased to 106 million. If African countries are to meet the goal of universal primary education, their school systems will have to enrol nearly 180 million children in 2015. To cope with this huge challenge, the number of teachers must increase at an even higher rate than the number of pupils, according to the report, 'The Issue of Teaching Staff and Universal Primary Enrolment in 2015 in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) and African Countries having Portuguese as an official language (PALOPs).’