The study by Abubakar Musah, Godfred Aawaar, and Godwin Musah examines how public spending on education affects the quality of education in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Using annual data from the World Bank from 1970 to 2021, the study employs the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to analyze both short- and long-term effects of public education financing on educational outcomes, specifically the pupil-teacher ratio at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.

The study aims to provide clear evidence on how public education financing affects educational quality in SSA, addressing a gap in the literature. It uses the pupil-teacher ratio as the primary measure of educational quality. Public education financing is measured by the government's education spending as a percentage of GDP.

Oando Foundation, an independent charity established to support the Nigerian government in achieving its Universal Basic Education goal, through its earlier Adopt-A-School strategy, has increased access and improved quality of basic education delivery in 88 adopted schools across 23 states in Nigeria, deploying a multifaceted approach that targeted education infrastructure, scholarships, in-depth teacher support and learning innovation, which transformed learning outcomes for pupils and delivered basic education dividends at community level.

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for close to 30 per cent of all out-of-school children globally. Although huge progress has been made in the last 20 years on access to school, the region unfortunately remains the worst performing globally on learning, with nine out of 10 children unable to read with understanding and do basic Mathematics by age 10 (World Bank, 2022).

The All-Africa Students’ Union, AASU, has called for urgent action to make education in Africa affordable and accessible for all.

This is as the continental students body commended President Bola Tinubu’s Student Loan Scheme and tasked African private sectors to follow the example set by Nigeria’s Dangote Group, the Africa’s second-largest contributor to education after the Nigerian government.

AASU President, Osisiogu Osikenyi Enyinnaya,said these in his passionate address to mark the 2024 Africa Students’ Day. The event, held in Nigeria’s capital,Abuja, commemorated the sacrifices of students who fell victim to the Soweto massacre on June 16, 1976, while protesting against educational injustice in apartheid South Africa.

As part of efforts to address the shortage of teachers in public secondary schools in Ogun State, the state’s Teaching Service Commission, (TESCOM), has commenced the process of enlisting 1, 200 new interns under the Ogun Teach programme to teach in public secondary schools across the state.

The programme, which started in 2021 had initially injected 2,000 interns into the teaching profession. The Chairman, TESCOM, Evangelist Olalekan Ifede, while fielding questions from pressmen in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, said the shortage of teachers in public secondary schools was being addressed with the deployment of interns to teach in schools and improve the standard of teaching in the state.

According to him, only applicants that met the prerequisite cut-off mark were invited, pointing out that the programme had made a positive impact by improving the teacher-student ratio, effective tutelage, and better academic records, among others.

The returns to education are high in most countries. An additional year of schooling increases earnings by 10 per cent a year. At the same time, education is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality, as well as for laying the basis for sustained growth.

Many ideas on how to realise those returns have been put forward, but the question is how to finance it. It is estimated that global education expenditure was $4.6 trillion in 2012, rising to $5.4 trillion today.

Public expenditure on education is significant; on average, countries spend about 3-5 per cent of GDP on education, or 10-20 per cent of public expenditures. Given the returns to education, where should one invest the marginal dollar? Or in other words, given law of diminishing returns, what’s the best value for the money spent?

In the lead up to Sunday's Day of the African Child, themed this year on “Education for all children in Africa: the time is now” UNICEF is releasing new education financing analyses that show most African countries are not meeting their commitments to allocate the 20 per cent of their national budget benchmark on education, as recommended by the Sustainable Development Goal framework for action for education.

Nine out of 49 African countries - less than 1 in 5 - dedicated 20 per cent or more of their public spending to education, whilst 24 committed at least 15 per cent, and six countries directed less than 10 per cent.

Education is key for building human capital for prosperity on the continent. Financing is a major issue across Africa, leaving millions of children unable to acquire the foundational skills needed for them and their countries to thrive in the future

There is a global paradigm shift with the trend and heavy demands on the knowledge of technology towards solving human problems in today’s world, making technology the most sought-after skill that needs to be introduced to students in primary and secondary school in Nigeria as part of our curriculum.

Education as an instrument of social engineering and societal development has made tech knowledge easier to ascertain, and channelling and campaigning tech at the lower level of education in our country (Nigeria) will not only inculcate the right tech skills in them but also guide them towards choosing the right future career.

Technology has become a necessity as we’re in a digital age. By fostering a deeper understanding of technology from an early age, students are better prepared to harness their potential and contribute meaningfully to society.

In an ever-evolving world of teaching and learning, technology is becoming increasingly central to the educational experience. One company at the forefront of this shift is Chronicles Software Development Company Limited, the brains behind the groundbreaking SuccessTAB educational device. This innovative tool is set to revolutionise the learning process for students in Africa.

Co-founder and CEO of Chronicles Software Development Company Limited, Oluwakoyejo Oluwatosin, shared his passion for bridging the learning gaps in Africa, stating: “Our drive is to ensure every child/ student gets a learning tablet.

Furthermore, SuccessTAB has garnered recognition and accolades for its significant impact on education. Oluwatosin proudly shared: “Lagos State gave us the Platinum Award. That is the highest award for innovation in learning engagement in Lagos State. We got that in 2022 based on all our functional inputs to advance teaching and learning.”

“The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS)- West Africa Affairs, is deeply concerned about the recent suspension of certificates issued by universities in Benin Republic and Togo. This decision affects thousands of Nigerian students who have invested their time, resources, and dreams in pursuing quality education.

“We acknowledge that some Nigerian universities have also been accused of certificate racketeering and other misconducts, yet the government has not taken similar action. In fact, some Nigerian universities are not accredited, and this has not led to a suspension of their certificates. We urge the government to address the issues in our own universities rather than targeting foreign institutions.

“However, we are concerned that the suspension of certificates will not address the root causes of the problem. Instead, we propose a collaborative approach to regulate and upgrade university education in the sub-region. This will strengthen regional cooperation and improve education standards.

Research has shown that innovative teaching approach has boosted primary school pupils’ performance in mathematics in Kwara State. Recent study by a Kwara State University (KWASU) lecturer, Dr. Kayode Ezecheal Obafemi ,shows that the inside-outside circle instructional strategy significantly improves primary school pupils’ mathematics performance

Dr. Obafemi of the Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education KWASU added that “study found that those taught with this method outperformed their peers taught with the traditional method, with a notable improvement in test scores.

“The findings suggest that this innovative teaching approach could enhance pupil engagement and understanding, offering a promising solution to the persistent challenge of poor mathematics achievement in Nigerian primary schools.”

United States of America’s Scholar Fellowship Programme for educational projects at African higher education institutions, known as Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Programme (CADFP), has picked Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), Ekiti State, for a collaborative project on Curriculum Co-Development for Gender Studies.

FUOYE was picked out of over 170 universities in Nigeria to host African Scholars from the United States of America. This is coming barely four years after CADFP picked Benue State University, Makurdi for Graduate Students Teaching Mentoring and Collaborative Research.

In a statement by FUOYE’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Foluso Ogunmodede, CADFP said it selected FUOYE for the project, tagged: “Collaborative project on Curriculum Co-Development for Women and Gender studies”, following the university’s academic status which had earned it Nigeria’s fastest-growing university under the watch of its vice-chancellor, Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina.

A member of the House of Representatives representing Yewa North/Imeko-Afon Federal Constituency in Ogun State, Gboyega Isiaka, has employed 20 support teachers as an education intervention plan to address the challenges faced by rural communities in his constituency.

Isiaka, who is also the House Committee Chairman, Students Loans, Scholarships and Higher Education Financing, said the development was aimed at improving access to quality education.

According to a statement signed by his media aide, Femi Peters, and made available to newsmen in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Wednesday, the development also aimed at enhancing the teaching of core subjects like English and Mathematics across public schools in the area.