Africa Development Bailout: Some Strategies for Development

By Norman A.S. King

The book provides vital information on the strategies that are required to be considered for the development of Africa as a continent and the entire world. The book emphasizes on the need for competence based recruitment, promotion and appointment if development is of concern. It further emphasizes on the importance of strategic thinking on every matter if Africa wants development. We realize that Africa is a leading continent on applauding religion but the least in development. It is one of the leading continent on pilgrims on both Christians and Muslim but the least in development.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 8, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543912432

Book preview

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CHAPTER ONE

Africa Development Bailout: A Focus on Improving Primary Education

ABSTRACT

Primary education is considered the key foundation of knowledge rendered to human beings. In some instances, when we compare the importance of various levels of education, we admit the fact that primary education is a mandatory stage for any human being. We are what we are because of primary education and the educators who taught us on that very level. However, we have varied contents of primary education, to the extent that we are not certain what should be included and/or what should not for improving the development of our countries. Hence, there is a need for thinking big on what should be included in primary education in Africa and, specifically, Tanzania, where development is the key. This chapter uses documentation, reflections, and experience as the source of information for accomplishing this study. A case study design has been chosen to provide the required information, and logical reasoning has been used to analyze the information presented and to come up with the positions argued. This is a descriptive study as it attempts to describe and explain the condition of primary education in Africa with a symbolic case on Tanzania. The chapter concludes that primary education must reflect the African natural economic merits or opportunities that are available for the enhancement of development. It equally recommends that subjects at this very level must focus on tackling the challenges that we find in the entire African context.

Keywords: Primary education, development, subjects, courses

1. INTRODUCTION

Education refers to a set of knowledge learned through various methods of teaching that provides answers to the challenges that we face in our environments (Norman, 2011). Primary education refers to the formal education provided to children at the very beginning of learning. In Tanzania, children become eligible to join primary schools at the age of seven, and these schools have a duration of seven years. In Uganda, primary education also lasts seven years (URT, 1995), and generally, most countries in Africa provide seven years of primary education, though there are some variations, with some countries providing eight years (Ministry of Education, 2008). This list includes Kenya, a leading economic nation in East Africa (Ong’ang’a, 2005; East African Community, 2004). The purpose of primary education is to teach children how to read, write, and count, among other things.

Primary education includes teaching how to perform elementary additions, subtractions, multiplications and divisions. In some nations, however, the strength of such education depends on what is taught and learned. In Tanzania, for example, in the 1970s and 1980s, primary schools used to teach books that are now considered more advanced literature. The same books were abandoned by primary schools in the late 1980s (URT, 2006). In fact, the books that are now taught in secondary schools are the ones that used to be taught in primary schools. This is not to say that the former education was much better than the current. Not at all; rather, it indicates the importance of the link between primary education and its contribution to the development of African countries.

This paper focuses on four main questions: 1) Why is primary education so important? 2) What kind of education can help the people of Africa defeat the challenges that we face. 3) Is primary education in Africa oriented toward development? 4) What is the way forward?

The first question, seem to be tackled easily. Why is primary education so important? Of course, the purpose of primary education is to provide a foundation for learning for our children. This foundation includes teaching children to write, read, and count, among other things (Berlinski et al., 2006). It also includes imparting the ability and confidence to deal with the challenges that we face in our environment (Norman, 2011; Norman and Mdegella, 2012; Cohen, 2006). Question two tackles the contents of that education, in an attempt to determine what type of education will eventually enable the African continent to move forward. The type of education received differentiates the quality of one person from another. Question three asks if, in primary education, there is an emphasis on the need for development. This is critical, since most of our programs need a clear indication of how one can contribute to the development of the country. Targets may be set for ensuring that all children who are eligible to join primary education do so. The final issue is to determine what types of contributors to society have been created in terms of the education they have attained. Can the nation differentiate between those who have attained versus those who have not attained? Can we draw a line of demarcation between those who have attained a certain level of education versus those who have