Accra, July 20 (IANS) Africa faces a deficit of 15 million in the supply of teachers, which hinders the continent’s development, a senior African Union (AU) official has said.
Mohammed Belhocine, the AU commissioner for education, science, technology and innovation, made the remarks on Friday at a press briefing at the ongoing 45th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the AU in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, warning that this deficit has a negative impact on the continent’s ability to meet its education and development aspirations, Xinhua news agency reported.
The commissioner, therefore, called on the continent to take steps to bridge this gap to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education by 2030 set by the United Nations.
“This teacher deficit is huge, and we need strong efforts to bridge the gap and make the best use of what we are already investing in our educational systems,” Belhocine said.
Africa needs an investment of about $90 billion to bridge the gap, improve infrastructure in education, and meet the SDGs on schedule, observed the commissioner.
The situation in Africa is due to the diminishing social status of the teaching profession, according to Belhocine. “Today, it is more flamboyant to be a businessman than to be a teacher. This is what is creating the gap in the supply of teachers.”
He urged the rebranding of the teaching profession to motivate more competent people to embrace the profession.
“The other solution is to use digitalization as a shortcut so that with digital infrastructure in place, one teacher can reach more children at the same time using the electronic platform and reduce the burden of the deficit,” Belhocine said, adding that information and communications technology proficiency should be part of teacher training for this solution to succeed.
He also called for global support for improving educational systems in Africa to achieve better outcomes, because the entire world might need to depend on African youth in the next 20 years due to the low population growth in other parts of the world.
The AU Executive Council’s 45th Ordinary Session, a meeting of foreign ministers of AU members, is a prelude to the 6th Mid-Year Coordination Meetings of the heads of state of AU members.
–IANS
int/sha
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BhaskarLive.in and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of BhaskarLive.in We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, BhaskarLive.in takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
