The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and the Ministry of Basic Education of South Africa in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, will host the first-ever ADEA High-Level Annual Policy Dialogue Forum on Secondary Education in Africa from 29th to 30th July 2019, at the Emperors Palace Hotel, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Forum will provide an opportunity to review and discuss the findings and recommendations of the Mastercard Foundation report, Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing Youth for the Future of Work.
The Forum will bring together Ministers responsible for education, youth, and labour from across the African continent, academics, policy-makers, high-level representatives from development cooperation partners, the private sector, civil society, teachers and parents associations, youth organizations and the media. This key event will provide all the participants with an opportunity to reflect on, design and implement innovative models required in secondary education in Africa to better equip teachers and prepare students for the future of work.
Key themes will include; fostering relevant knowledge and skills; financing for equity, teacher motivation, teaching and learning, and digital secondary education for 21st century skills, and so forth.
Over the next few decades, young Africans will play a critical role in the social and economic development of the continent. Africa is currently the youngest continent in the world and will continue to be for the next several decades. By 2100, almost half of the world’s young people will be African. The continent’s efforts to educate its youth will have vast implications for its economic development, stability and prosperity.
Africa can seize the opportunity offered by the demographic shift by investing in human capital development, particularly at the secondary education level in which youth gain the skills and knowledge needed to be productive citizens.
To this end, each year ADEA will organize a High-Level Annual Policy Dialogue Forum in order to bring together key stakeholders to showcase, share and discuss comprehensive and innovative education and training models and programs that aim at developing the leadership, skills and equipping the youth with the necessary knowledge, tools and know-how for employability or job creation.
The main theme of the first ADEA High-Level Annual Policy Dialogue Forum is “Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing Youth for the Future of Work.”
Albert Nsengiyumva, Executive Secretary of ADEA said:
We all need to look at how to move from research to implementation, shape policy change in secondary education and embed the findings and recommendations in country level priorities and practices.
Kimberley Kerr, Director of Regional Programs at Mastercard Foundation commented further:
Secondary education is and will continue to be an important platform for young people to secure or create their own work. We look forward to a productive dialogue on how we can all ensure young people are prepared for the future.
The Minister of Basic Education in South Africa, Mrs Angie Motshekga, said that the current debates on our continent were influenced by the need to tackle Africa’s glaring inequalities and the legacy of colonialism.
In his inaugural 2018 State of the Nation Address the President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised the need to harness technological change to advance radical socio-economic transformation. The “schooling system therefore, needs to make optimal use of emerging technologies to strengthen teaching and learning, but also needs to consider how learners can be better prepared for technological change in society, and to help bring about radical socio-economic transformation.