‘No ActionAid-Sponsored Child Should be Deprived of Schooling'

The African Education Network of ActionAid International has frowned at the ‘unacceptable’ low completion rates among children across Africa.

Education activists of the global anti-poverty NGO promised to heighten campaign for not only the enrolment, but also the retention and completion of children in school, particularly girls.

This undertaking was made during a 3-day capacity-building meeting of the network that comprises various education units of ActionAid country offices in Africa. 

The meeting, hosted by ActionAid International-The Gambia, wrapped up Wednesday at the Laico Atlantic Hotel in Banjul, drawing participants from eight African countries from West, East, Central and South Africa – Malawi, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia.

“At no point should an ActionAid-sponsored child be deprived of schooling,” the meeting resolved, a stands endorsed outright by the Executive Director of AAITG, Kujejatou Manneh, who officially declared the meeting opened.

Dr Manneh noted that education constitutes one of the most important units of ActionAid, as it especially focuses on youth and young people.

The participants, after going through a number of presentations that centered on a range of education-related topical issues, also discussed strategies to improving the state of education in Africa.

Country experiences were shared, exploring achievements and challenges in various countries. All the nine countries seem to have adequate legal and policy framework to support education, but the problem of poor quality education, regional and gender disparities, among a few others, appear common, though the degree varies from one country to another.

Earlier speaking in welcoming the participants, were AAI Education and Youth Team’s Senior Programme Manager Mohammed Tanvir Muntasim, and Kadijatou Baldeh, Education Advocacy Advisor, AAITG.

Kadijatou said the Banjul meeting came about four years after the rights to education training meeting in India in 2008, during which education officers agreed to network in order to share experiences and support each other.

Similar meetings were held in Senegal and Ghana, before the back-to-back meeting in Mombasa last year.