Third Secondary Education in Africa Conference (SEIA), Ghana. April, 2007

The Third Regional Meeting of the World Bank Secondary Education in Africa Conference was held in Accra April 1st-5th with Keith Lewin and Kwame Akyeampong representing CREATE and the CIE. Keith Lewin is the Senior Advisor on Finance to the four year programme and has completed a series of studies across the region including contributions on Benin, Ghana, Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania. Kwame Akyeampong undertook the Ghana study.

The numbers of children excluded from secondary schooling in Sub Saharan Africa are more than five times larger than those excluded from primary. Overwhelmingly they are the poorest and children from poor households have less than a tenth of the chance of surviving to grade 9 as those from rich households. Both equity and growth depend on much more widespread access to affordable secondary schooling.

The meeting was attended by over 280 delegates and included Ministerial delegations from about 30 countries, as well as representatives of the major development agencies. The conference was opened by the President of Ghana and closed by the Minster of Education and the Head of the Africa Region of the World Bank. Throughout the conference experiences and aspirations were shared to find ways of extending access to secondary schooling to much larger numbers of children.

Google worldbank seia for more information and downloadable thematic papers including Lewin K Seeking Secondary Education in Sub Saharan Africa.