conference on education and scientific and technical...

Final report

Conference on educationand scientificand technical trainingin relation to developmentin Africa

Nairobi16-27 July 1968

Organizationof African Unity

Unesco

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UNESCO-OAU/CESTA/10PARIS, 15 November 1968ED/CS/125/21


Table of contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

I Ten years of educational developmentin Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

II Steps to be taken for achieving futureprogress in educational development . . . 11

III The future rôle of Unesco in educationand scientific and technical training inAfrica, including the possibility of set-ting up or developing regional officesfor education, science and culture . . . . 15

Resolutions adopted bythe Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Annexes

Annex I Report of Commission I . . . . . . . . . 27Annex II Report of Commission II . . . . . . . . 37

Annex III Addresses delivered at the SolemnOpening Session

1. Address by H. E. The Hon.Daniel Arap Moi, Vice-President ofthe Republic of Kenya . . . . . . . . . . 51

2. Address by Mr. René Maheu,Director-General of Unesco . . . . . . . 53

3. Address by Mr. S. D. Buliro,Assistant Secretary-General, Repre-sentative of the AdministrativeSecretary-General of the OAU . . . . . . 58

Annex IV List of participants . . . . . . . . . . . 63


INTRODUCTION

1. The Conference on Education and Scienti-fic and Technical Training in Relation to Develop-ment in Africa was held in Nairobi (Kenya) from16 to 27 July 1968, in accordance with resolution1.11 adopted by the General Conference of Unescoat its fourteenth session.

2. The Conference was jointly organized andconvened by the Director-General of Unesco andthe Administrative Secretary-General of the Organ-ization of African Unity, in co-operation with theUnited Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

3. In accordance with the decisions of thecompetent organs of Unesco and of the Organiza-tion of African Unity, the following countries wereinvited to send delegates: Algeria, Botswana,Burundi, Cameroon, Central African RepublicChad, Congo (Brazzaville) , Congo (DemocraticRepublic of), Dahomey, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia,Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Li-beria, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauri-tania, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, NigeriaRwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan,Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United ArabRepublic, Upper Volta, Zambia.

4. The United Nations, Specialized Agenciesof the United Nations and the International AtomicEnergy Agency were invited to send observers.International or regional intergovernmental organ-izations having Member States or programmes inAfrica, international non-governmental organiza-tions having consultative arrangements with Unescoand private foundations working in Africa were alsoinvited to send observers, in accordance with a listapproved by the Executive Board of Unesco at its77th session.

5. The Conference was attended by represen-tatives of 35 governments as participants, 12governments as observers, 10 United Nations or-ganizations, 5 intergovernmental organizations and21 international non-governmental organizations.

6. The terms of reference of the Conferencewere defined by the General Conference of Unescoin the resolution cited above as being:

( i) to consider problems relating to education

and scientific and technical training in Africa;( i i ) to review a ten-year report on

Unesco’s activities in its African Member States,taking into account the conclusions of the con-ferences held in Addis Ababa, Tananarive, Abid-jan and Lagos;

(iii) to study the future rôle of Unesco inAfrica, including the possibility of setting up ordeveloping regional offices for education, scienceand culture in Africa.

7. The Conference held its first meetingon 16 July 1968. It received from H.E. Mr.Lynden B. Johnson, President of the United Statesof America, a message of good wishes for thesuccess of its work.

The Conference was solemnly opened byH. E. The Hon. Daniel Arap Moi, Vice-Presidentof the Republic of Kenya, on 22 July 1968 atthe City Hall, Nairobi.

8. The Conference elected the following of-ficers:PresidentThe Hon. Dr. J. G. Kiano, M. P. (Kenya)Vice-PresidentsH. E. Mr. Kithima (Democratic Republic of the

Congo)H. E. Mr. Akalework Habte Wold (Ethiopia)H. E. Dr. Mojabon Dowuona (Ghana)H. E. Mr. Amadou Mahtar M’Bow (Senegal)Rapporteur-GeneralMr. S. J. Cookey (Nigeria)

COMMISSION I

ChairmanH. E. Mr. Z. Mongo-Soo (Cameroon)Vice-ChairmenH. E. Dr. Sid Ahmed Abdelhadi ( Sudan)Mr. A. C. Mwingira (Tanzania)

RapporteurMr. B. Hammiche (Algeria)


COMMISSION II

ChairmanMr. C. H. Thornicroft (Zambia)

Vice-ChairmenMr. G. Traore (Mali)H. E. Dr. Augustus A. Caine (Liberia)RapporteurH. E. Mr. M. F. N. Agblemagnon (Togo)

9. On adopting its agenda, the Conferencedecided to examine in two commissions during thefirst week the several points under item 8: Par-ticular aspects of problems relating to education

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and scientific and technical training. Plenary ses-sions in the following week ( 22-27 July) were de-voted to items 7 and 9: Review of progress ofeducation and scientific and technical training inrelation to development in Africa during the period1958-1967; and the future rô1e of Unesco in educa-tion and scientific and technical training in Africa,including the possibility of setting up or developingregional offices for education, science and culture.The reports of the Commissions were noted withgeneral approval and the resulting resolutionsadopted.

10. At the closing session the Conferenceadopted its report.


I. TEN YEARS OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

1. The Conference on Education and Scienti-fic and Technical Training in Relation to Develop-ment in Africa provided a valuable opportunity totake stock of the results achieved in the field ofeducational development in African countries overa ten-year period. Such a conference, takingplace as it did after a series of conferences ofAfrican Ministers of Education convened at AddisAbaba (1961), Paris (1962) and Abidjan (1964),the Tananarive Conference on the Developmentof Higher Education in Africa (1962), and theLagos Conference on Scientific Research andTraining in Africa (1964)) had nevertheless spe-cial characteristics. It came at a time whendata relating to the first five-year period of im-plementation of the Addis Ababa Plan, known asthe short-term plan, became available. It alsoprovided the first opportunity since the LagosConference to relate problems arising from therequirements of scientific and technological devel-opment in Africa to problems of educational devel-opment in the narrower sense of the term. TheConference, therefore, can be considered as anoccasion for African governments to review theprogress achieved in the last ten years, the pro-blems and lessons emerging from the analysis ofachievements and failures - as well as new pro-blems identified as a result of changed conditions -steps to be taken in order to achieve future pro-gress, and the various aspects of Unesco’s con-tinued rôle in assisting future efforts of Africangovernments, in close collaboration with the Or-ganization of African Unity, towards educationaldevelopment.

MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS

2. A review of the kind indicated above givesone cause for considerable satisfaction. There isno doubt that the last ten years witnessed a seriesof major developments which account for the re-markable expansion and progress achieved in theeducational field. One factor was of course the

accession of a large number of African countriesto independence. Naturally this posed educationalproblems in new terms, numerically and qualita-tively, and gave rise to a genuine thirst for educa-tion in African nations which was met by a corres-ponding will of governments to gratify the need.The second factor was the sense of internationalsolidarity and the framework of international co-operation which made available a substantial, al-though still inadequate, amount of external re-sources for the purpose of educational develop-ment in Africa. At the same time, inter-Africanco-operation, which found its political expressionin the establishment of the Organization of AfricanUnity, was considerably strengthened. A third wasthat at the same time education was recognized asa productive investment and as a major factor ofeconomic, social and technological development.This last factor explains perhaps why educationaldevelopment was almost immediately equated witheducational planning, itself closely related to over-all economic and social planning. This notion wasexpounded in a detailed manner at the Addis AbabaConference, and accepted then by the Africangovernments represented at this Conference. Itgave rise to a series of national education plans,often established with the technical advice of Unescoexperts in educational planning and related to studieson and plans for economic development preparedby organs of the United Nations, such as the Eco-nomic Commission for Africa, the InternationalBank and manpower surveys carried out with theassistance of ILO experts.

3. In a large number of African countrieseducational planning units have been set up, gene-rally within the framework of education ministries.

4. Both for the sake of spreading educationas such and in view of its contribution to develop-ment, governments devoted a large and generallygrowing part of their budget and national incometo expenditures in the educational field. At theend of the ten-year period under review it can bestated that few African countries devoted less than3% of their national income to education with a


substantial group of governments spending 4% oreven 5% for this purpose and some countries asmuch as 7%; these allocations corresponded topercentages of 15%, 20%, 25% and in a few casesmore than 30% of the national budgets.

5. Financial sacrifices made by Africangovernments complemented by such external re-sources, bilateral or multilateral, as were avail-able, explain why such remarkable expansion wasachieved in such a short span of time. Secondaryeducation, according to the priority recommendedby the Addis Ababa Conference, benefited mostfrom this effort, with an enrolment increase of112%; primary education, however, also madeconsiderable strides in absolute terms with a netincrease of 673, 800 pupils enrolled. Higher edu-cation exceeded the minimum increase recommen-ded in the Addis Ababa Plan - in 1961 facilities forhigher education were provided in only a very smallnumber of African countries, whereas today some35 university institutions are in existence. Teacher-training facilities expanded considerably, particu-larly with respect to the training of secondaryschool teachers where they were very scarce before.The number of qualified teachers has considerablyincreased in primary schools with a proportion of50% instead of 45% in 1961.

6. The Africanization of teaching staff is al-most general in primary schools and has made agood start in secondary education as a result ofthe establishment of advanced teacher-trainingcolleges and, on a more limited scale, in univer-sity education where the necessary Africanizationof curricula was also beginning to take place.

7. Governments also began to take the firststeps towards developing policies for the planningof both scientific research and the training of sci-entific personnel.

SHORTCOMINGS AND PROBLEMS

8. It appears, however, that a number ofdifficulties and shortcomings prevent one fromindulging in complacency when assessing the pre-sent educational situation in Africa.

9. The Addis Ababa Plan, not only providedguidelines and established priorities, such as theone assigned to secondary education, but also seta series of quantitative targets for the short-termplan (1961-1966) and for the long-term plan endingin 1980, including enrolment ratios and pupil/teacherratios for the various levels of education.

10. It should be remembered that the targetsthus established were meant as a set of referencedata, to be used as a series of goals assigned tothe combined efforts of African countries at thecontinental level, and as a tool for the measure-ment of regional progress. In no way were theyto be considered as a plan, nor did they apply toany one country in particular. The fact remainshowever that if one adds the adjusted figures -

which measure the results achieved by the coun-tries participating in the Addis Ababa Plan on thebasis of these targets - one finds that the conti-nent as a whole failed to reach the goals except inthe field of higher education. In secondary edu-cation, in 1965-1966, there was a shortfall of272, 000 pupils on the basis of the proportion ofsecondary school pupils to primary school enrol-ment. If this proportion had been related to en-rolment targets in primary education, the short-fall would have been 387, 000. Much more seriouswas the situation at the primary level where en-rolment in 1965-1966 was 1.1 million short of thetotal foreseen and where it appeared that unlessthe trend was reversed, the primary schools ofAfrica would be in danger of losing the battleagainst illiteracy.

11. The causes of the present situation aremany and varied. The first one of course is theinadequacy of financial resources in relation tothe needs. The school-age population, which infact had been underestimated at the time of theAddis Ababa Plan, has considerably increased asa result of rapid population growth. Unfortunatelymany African governments have almost reachedthe limit of their financial effort. Although, asalready mentioned, they have devoted a consider-able percentage of their budget to educational de-velopment, the sums allocated were inadequatebecause of their limited budgetary resources. Thissituation is itself linked to a world economic pat-tern in which terms of trade are unfavourable tocountries whose economies are based on the pro-duction of raw materials, the prices of which havebeen going down while the prices of manufacturedgoods have been soaring up. The amount of exter-nal aid made available to Africa, which was some-what below expectations, did not in any way offsetthis factor.

12. But financial stringency is by no meansthe only cause. The unsatisfactory output of ed-ucational systems is also to be blamed. For in-stance, the enormous wastage at the primaryschool level is measured by the fact that for thecontinent as a whole, only 32% of pupils enrolledin the first year complete their sixth year.

13. This situation of course makes for ex-cessive unit costs which result in a wastage of al-ready too scarce financial resources.

14. Although this phenomenon is largely dueto social and economic factors, certain educationalcauses can be identified.

15. One is the lack of educational facilitiesand of schools which, combined with a shortage ofteachers, results in overcrowded classes A sec-ond cause is the use of many inadequatelytrainedteachers, particularly at the primary level, it-self the result of rapid school expansion. A thirdis the unsuitability of educational systems inheri-ted from the former colonial powers and whosecurricula, therefore, are ill-adapted to the eco-nomic, social and cultural requirements of African

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countries and to the psychology of the Africanpeoples.

16. Another serious problem from the pointof view of the economic development of Africa isthe shortage of scientific and technological person-nel at all levels. This is due not only to the inade-quacy of scientific research and of training facilitiesin Africa, but also to the fact that in higher educa-tion a greater proportion of students are enrolledin courses other than scientific ones, and oftenless than 10% of the enrolment is to be found inagricultural courses. This is partly due to thefaulty teaching of scientific subjects at the second-ary level which fails to attract sufficient numbersof students to scientific studies at the higher level.

This points both to the inadequate contents of cur-ricula and to unsatisfactory educational planning.

17. Another sign of educational developmentbeing insufficiently related to economic and socialplanning is that, at all levels of education, schoolleavers as well as students going out of universitiesare often unemployed.

18. It therefore appears that while there is anobvious need for seeking additional financialresources for the purposes of educational devel-opment, African countries are faced with the pro-blem of rethinking the organization and content oftheir educational systems in relation to their eco-nomic and social conditions and requirements.

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II. STEPS TO BE TAKEN FOR ACHIEVING FUTURE PROGRESSIN EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

19. A first question arises with respect to theimplementation of the Addis Ababa Plan. Since itappears so difficult for many countries, and noeasy task for the continent as a whole, to achievethe targets established in 1961, should they bekept at all, or should they be revised? To answerthis question it should be remembered, as statedabove, that the Addis Ababa Plan was in fact not aplan, but a set of data intended to provide goals anddirections, and a methodological instrument for theassessment of the results achieved at the regionallevel. Nor could it be related to economic plansor to manpower surveys which in most cases didnot exist. It provided orders of magnitude of anindicative nature to the continent as a whole. Theresults achieved in the first five years of imple-mentation show clearly that both from the point ofview of giving indications and directions and pro-viding stimulus to educational development, theAddis Ababa Plan has more than served its pur-pose. As a methodological instrument for measur-ing the cumulative effect of national efforts, it al-so seems to have proved its value. While the 100%enrolment target in primary education may seemdifficult to achieve for certain countries, it stillremains a desirable goal in so far as it is the sta-tistical expression of the right to education whichno government would wish or could afford toignore.It seems therefore that the Addis Ababa Plan shouldbe kept as a general framework.

20. One should also take into account the factthat progress is not static, that history points todynamic forces at work in development, throughwhich a much more rapid pace of growth can beachieved in the subsequent period both as a resultof possible changes in the economic and financialsituation and of experience gained in the firstperiod as well as of improved methods and of in-creased determination on the part of the govern-ments.

21. It seems that although the priority givento secondary education in the Addis Ababa Planshould be maintained, due importance should alsobe attached to primary education. While secondary

education and higher education alike, continue tobe of considerable importance for training thecadres of economic development, primary educa-tion must be expanded in order to respond to thedemand of the African people for more education.This is an inescapable political fact as well as arequirement for educational expansion at subse-quent levels.

22. However, it may be that the Addis Ababatargets will have to be revised for the next five-year period when new data have been collected forthe purpose of this revision. In this connexion itwill be useful that Unesco, in co-operation withECA and OAU, undertake the necessary studiesand make the results available to governments.Furthermore, in so far as the Addis Ababa Planis not a plan but a set of regional data, it will nowbe for governments to establish their own targets,using the hypothesis and methodology on which theAddis Ababa Plan was based. It will also be in-cumbent on them to establish their own prioritiesin the light of their economic and social require-ments and conditions and their respective educa-tional priorities.

EDUCATIONAL PLANNING INRELATION TO OVERALL PLANNING

23. While there is an obvious need for im-proving the methodology of educational planning,which is still in its incipient stage, and thereforeto intensify, among other things, efforts for thetraining of educational planners, the main needsseem to be for better integration of educationalplanning with overall economic and social plan-ning of scientific personnel training and of scien-tific research policies. This implies increasedco-operation between the ministries concerned,better integration of education and of the produc-tion sector, and the participation, as required,of scientists in developing scientific and techni-cal education programmes. It also implies thateducational development should be viewed not only

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in terms of manpower requirements, as has beendone so far, but also in terms of employment op-portunities if school and university leavers are tofind their place in productive activities and in so-ciety. Lastly, it requires that steps taken for theexpansion and improvement of educational facilitiesbe supplemented by the necessary measures tocreate sufficiently attractive conditions of employ-ment, improved living conditions, particularly inrural areas, and economic, social and employmentpatterns designed to accommodate school and uni-versity leavers.

INCREASED EMPHASIS ON QUALITY

24. Another way of achieving better resultsin educational development and of relating it moreclosely to economic and social development pur-poses, is to aim not only at quantitative expansion,but also at increased quality which appears so es-sential in order to make the best of limited re-sources.

25. In this connexion, the reduction of unitcosts, itself calling for a reduction of excessiveschool wastage, points to the need for studies onthis subject. They should start with a precise def-inition of wastage - a phenomenon ascribable to manycomplex social and economic factors as well as toeducational ones. Such studies should cover bothcauses and remedies.

26. The first important series of steps to betaken to improve the quality of educationalsystemsrelate to teacher training. While a quantitative ef-fort is still needed at the secondary level to reducethe measure of dependence on foreign staff, and atthe primary level to remedy the present situationof overcrowded classes, qualitativeprogress shouldbe the main concern in teacher and in- service teach-er training. This applies particularly to primaryeducation where the rapid increase in enrolment,despite the improved ratio of qualified to non-quali-fied teachers, will make it necessary for manygovernments for many years to come to employteachers who are not fully qualified. The solutiontherefore lies with continuous programmes of up-grading and of in-service training which will grad-ually bring teachers and instructors recruited ata modest level of general and professional prepara-tion up to the status of qualified teachers.

27. But at least as important appears to be areorientation and reform of the content of education.

28. Education should be viewed not only as ameans of providing instruction but also as a prep-aration for life and for the future responsibilitiesto be assumed by each individual as a producer andas a citizen.

29. At the primary educational level, it isclear that in most cases primary education sys-tems, inherited as they are from those of the for-mer colonial powers, are not consonant with theeconomic requirements of the countries concerned

or with the environment of the child. In so far asmost African countries still have predominantlyagricultural economies, and as the greater partof the population still lives in rural areas, thereappears to be a strong case for ruralizing the con-tent of primary school education, a particular as-pect of the general desirability of relating educa-tion to the environment. Thus primary educationwill not act as an uprooting factor and a force ofsocial disintegration. This means that the con-tents of primary education should have an agricul-tural bias, not to be mistaken for agricultural ortechnical education as such, and should inculcatein pupils a respect for manual work. It goes with-out saying, however, that primary education inrural areas should provide the same basic know-ledge and promote the same values as primaryschools in urban areas.

30. The change in the orientation and con-tent of primary “ruralization” of primary educa-tion, in which many countries are already engaged,often means a shorter cycle, in order to spreadeducation more evenly in less well providedareas.In this situation - but also in the case of completeschools - there is a need for post-primary educa-tion because secondary schools, which offer a limi-ted number of places through a process of selection,cannot accommodate all primary school leavers.This group is not trained for employment, sinceprimary education cannot be really either agricul-tural or vocational. Furthermore, there is a gapbetween the school leaving age and the age at whichthey can be employed. Post-primary educationwith an agricultural or vocational bias, as well asapprenticeship schemes, should fill this gap. Ad-ult education schemes are also necessary to makeparents literate and to make them work towardsimproved living conditions, and to understand bet-ter the respective rôles of school and community.An integrated effort of educational development,itself geared to rural development, is needed tomake the rural primary school effective. Nothingillustrates better the fact that the social objectivesassigned to education, its orientation, and its con-tent, cannot be separated from school organizationand structure.

31. An aspect related to the reform of educa-tional content at the primary level is the choice oflanguages. At present, in many African countries,it appears that teaching in languages other than themother tongue acts as the content of educationdoes,as an uprooting psychological factor and makeslearning more difficult for the child, with resultinglower attainments.

32. It is therefore desirable that African lan-guages and, in so far as possible, the mothertongue, be used in primary education whereverfeasible. There are, however, certain countriesof considerable linguistic diversity where the useof another language is justified for the sake ofstrengthening national unity. But, in such cases,studies should be undertaken to determine the

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optimum age for starting the teaching of a non-African second language, which should be taughtas a foreign language with the help of modernteaching aids. Thus, the use of African languagesas vehicular languages, which is imperative forpedagogical as well as for cultural reasons, can bereconciled with the need for teaching English andFrench as the two main languages of wide communi-cation used in Africa.

33. At the secondary school level, the revi-sion of curricula should achieve several purposes.First, in general education, much more attentionshould be paid to science teaching and to sciencecourses and new methods should be used inscienceteaching. Two different aspects should be consid-ered. All students should receive a basic know-ledge of mathematics and science which will makeit possible for him or her to understand and fit inwith an increasingly scientific world. From thispoint of view, the first cycle of the secondary schoolcurricula should provide adequate instruction inmathematics and general science giving proper at-tention to observations and deductions, the study ofenvironment and the application of science to every-day technology. A proper basis for scientific ed-ucation should be provided at the primary level.It is also possible at this stage to teach basic no-tions of technology.

34. In the second cycle of secondary school,the main purpose of scientific teaching is to attracta greater number of students to higher level sci-entific studies. Science teaching should acquaintpupils with the situation faced by practising scien-tists. For this purpose, it should resort to appliedsciences and technological experiments and willrequire, therefore, not only well-trained teachersin sufficient numbers but also laboratory techni-cians to assist them, and laboratory apparatuswhich should be produced locally in instrumenta-tion centres. Programmed instruction and audio-visual aids should be used as much as possible.

35. Secondary education should also contri-bute to the training of the pupil as a future citizenand equip him with moral and cultural values aswell as with desirable social attitudes. It shouldprovide artistic and aesthetic education, but hereagain, it should be as closely related as possibleto the cultural environment of the child. Fromthis point of view, the teaching of history and geo-graphy should be revised to improve the knowledgeof African history, culture, and economic and so-cial problems.

INCREASING THE SCIENTIFICPOTENTIAL OF AFRICA

36. Providing Africa with the scientific per-sonnel needed for its economic and technologicaldevelopment requires a series of steps to whichAfrican countries should pay the greatest attention.

37. One is that the desirable percentage of

secondary school leavers be attracted to scientificcourses at the higher education level. This is es-sential in order to reach by 1980 the figure of 200scientists and science teachers per million inhab-itants recommended at Lagos, and to train everyyear the necessary minimum of 10 to 15 engineersper million inhabitants in Middle Africa. One shouldnote with concern the fact that the recommendedshift in secondary and higher education enrolmentfrom general to scientific and technical educationfailed to materialize and that indeed the reversetrend was observed. Redressing this situation re-quires improved science teaching in secondaryeducation, as well as providing more attractiveconditions of employment to graduates in scienceand technology. This applies particularly to sci-ence and technical education teachers who have tobe trained in increased numbers as the first con-dition for any substantial increase in the trainingof scientific and technical personnel.

38. It is of course necessary to provide forexpanded facilities for scientific training and re-search.

39. In this connexion, a particularly import-ant aspect is the proposed establishment of a newtype of institution of advanced training and researchor “centres of excellence”, the creation of whichhas been decided by the Organization of AfricanUnity in eight selected fields: geology, geophysicsand mineralogy; climatology and meteorology;hydrology; human medicine (preventive and socialmedicine) and pharmacology (African medicinalplants) ; food science and technology; veterinarymedicine; applied science and engineering (pre-viously physics and mathematics including elec-tronics and research in solar energy); marinescience and technology (previously oceanography,marine biology and fisheries).

40. However, it also appears necessary thatsuch centres also cover the fundamental sciences,the social sciences, and documentation. It ap-pears that the OAU should be entrusted with theresponsibility of implementing this decision inconsultation with the Member States and the inter-national organizations concerned, taking accountof existing facilities and of the natural resourcespotential within Member States, as well as of theexperience available, in deciding on the creationof those centres. It is hoped that the establish-ment of such institutions, by training and attract-ing highly qualified African scientists and engineersand by conducting research at the highest level,will contribute towards solving the scientific pro-blems related to the economic development ofAfrica and will also reduce the brain drain.

41. Finally, a last aspect of developing thescientific potential of Africa is the need for co-ordinating research at government level and ofachieving closer links between science trainingand research in higher education institutions andin the productive sector. Close co-operationbetween universities and governments is also

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necessary so that their activities in the field of sci-entific training and research can make a full con-tribution to development.

IMPROVED UTILIZATION OFAVAILABLE RESOURCES

42. Improved quality in education and the de-velopment of new types of institutions will not besufficient to increase the productive capacity ofthe output of African educational systems. An over-all effort for utilizing more intensively and morerationally all resources both in teaching staff andin educational facilities, should be made. Increasedand improved teacher training and in-service facili-ties have already been mentioned. The use of for-eign volunteers in spite of certain shortcomingsmay be considered. Economical educational pat-terns such as multiple-class teaching schemes orone-teacher schools can be used as well as doubleshifts with increased salaries, and all devices ca-pable of contributing to a better utilization of theteaching staff available. The use of new educationaltechnology, particularly audio-visual aids includ-ing educational radio and television and programmedinstruction will go a long way to remedythe inade-quacies in training and to improve the efficiencyof qualified teachers. However, studies on the ef-ficency of educational technology appear necessary.Other conditions should also be met for more ra-tional utilization of the resources available. Oneis to produce locally such scientific or teachingequipment as can be produced in Africa. Nationaland regional centres should be set up for this pur-pose and personnel should be trained in the pro-duction, repair and maintenance of such equipment.In addition, educational facilities such as schoolsand laboratories could often be used jointly by sev-eral schools so as to be put to full use. As forsecondary school buildings, their constructionmay be undertaken by local communities throughself-help programmes.

INTER-AFRICAN CO-COPERATION

43. The best utilization of resources avail-able, which should be sought at the national level,also requires intensified inter-African co-operation.This can be achieved through the joint use of insti-tutions by several African countries. This applies

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to laboratories, equipment production centres,universities and regional centres of higher educa-tion, and to centres for advanced studies whosecreation is now being contemplated. Collabora-tion between universities and higher education in-stitutions is also called for in order to cover thefull range of disciplines without duplication, andbetween regional and sub-regional organs of co-operation in the field of higher education. Thegrouping of higher institutes of scientific trainingwithin the framework of universities would facili-tate inter-African co-operation in the field of sci-ence.

44. Documentation centres and the exchangeof educational information on national experienceswill also contribute towards the best utilization ofeducational resources. The joint production oftextbooks wherever possible will serve the samepurpose.

EXTERNALRESOURCES

45. Whatever steps, however, may be takenby African governments to make greater financialresources available to education and to improvethe output of the educational systems, it is clearthat the desired objectives and targets will not bemet unless increased external resources are alsoavailable.

46. From this point of view, one can notethe proposal made by the OAU that an EducationalRevolving Fund be established under the aegis ofthe OAU and the ADB, in association with Unesco,to provide low interest loans. This would be partof an overall effort which appears to be requiredfor obtaining for African countries increased ex-ternal resources, better terms of loans, and moregenerous assistance in various forms. That Afri-can countries are becoming increasingly aware ofthe need to achieve self-reliance as early as pos-sible and to depend primarily on their own effortsshould not lead the richer countries to the conclu-sion that their own contribution to African devel-opment should be decreased. On the contrary,the advances already made and the will of govern-ments to devote the necessary resources to fur-ther progress, clearly indicate that external as-sistance, adjusted to the plans and objectives ofthe African countries, at no time stood a betterchance of achieving fruitful results.


III. THE FUTURE ROLE OF UNESCO IN EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFICAND TECHNICAL TRAINING IN AFRICA, INCLUDING THE POSSIBILITYOF SETTING UP OR DEVELOPING REGIONAL OFFICES FOR EDUCATION,SCIENCE AND CULTURE

47. This problem was considered during a con-sultation with the Director-General and with theHeads of Delegations. A brief review was made ofthe machinery of Unesco and statements were madeconcerning Chiefs of Mission and Regional Centres.

CHIEFS OF MISSION

48. The Director-General emphasized the use-ful rôle that Chiefs of Mission can play in implement-ing decisions relating to projects in Africa. Theyform an important link between Unesco and the Mem-ber States, not only interpreting Unesco’s plans toMember States but also helping Member States intheir planning of programmes and in the prepara-tion of their requests for UNDP aid. Of the 16Chiefs of Mission which Unesco has throughout theworld, 10 are in Africa.

REGIONAL CENTRES

49. The Director-General made reference tothe report of the Special Committee which evaluatedthe Regional Centres in Africa. In his view, the re-port of this Committee was on the whole fair and hewas inclined to accept the recommendations of theCommittee if they were generally endorsed by theConference.

50. He felt that it was time that Unesco had arepresentative in Addis Ababa for the liaison withthe United Nations Economic Commission for Africaand the Organization for African Unity in order toavoid wastage due to duplication or dispersion ofefforts. Member States were invited to send theirviews in writing if they wished to do so, both on Re-gional Centres generally and on the proposed Re-gional Representation in Africa. In connexion withthe opening of a Regional Office in Africa, however,he pointed out that other regions like Asia and LatinAmerica might want similar offices and that thiscould lead to high administrative and other costswhich the Organization may not afford.

51. Referring to one of the resolutions whichasked that Unesco should amend the Draft Pro-gramme and Budget for 1969-1970 in order to ac-commodate the recommendations made by the pre-sent Conference, the Director-General pointed outthat it was too late for him to make any alterationsto the draft programme and budget which had al-ready been studied and recommended by the Exe-cutive Board of Unesco, but that he would bringthe recommendations of the Conference to the no-tice of the General Conference of Unesco whichopens in October, when it discusses the draft pro-gramme.

52. During the discussion that followed thepoints indicated below emerged:

A. Regional Centres

53. There was general support for RegionalCentres in Africa; it was felt that on the whole thesecentres were doing useful work although they suf-fered from certain handicaps which limited theirvalue to African countries. The following sugges-tions were made to improve the effectiveness ofthe Centres:

(i) Need to define functions: it was felt thatsome Centres were not quite clear about what theywere supposed to do and that it was better to limitthe functions of a particular centre within a well-defined area.

(ii) The centres which the Evaluation Com-mission recommends to strengthen should be ade-quately staffed. The situation was that some ofthe Centres were so ill-staffed that their impactwas not felt in countries other than the one in whichthey were located.

(iii) Need for publicity: one reason, perhaps,why the Centres were not effectively used was thatmost Member States were not aware of their exist-ence. It was suggested, therefore, that some pub-licity should be made to ensure that Member Statesare aware of the existence and the functions of thevarious Centres.

15


(iv) Mobile teams: because of the vastdistances in Africa and poor communications, itwas suggested that mobile teams could be set upwhose job it would be to visit Member States witha view to stimulating their increased participationin the activities of the various Centres.

(v) National Units: several Member Statesagreed with the suggestion that, in order to de-rive the greatest benefit from the existence of Re-gional Centres, corresponding national units couldbe set up in each country. These units could dofor each country what the regional units try to dofor a regional area and there should be co-opera-tion between these units and the relevant Centres.

(vi) Need for economy: it was pointed outby several speakers that one of the aims of Cen-tres like the Khartoum Centre for School Buildingsand the Yaoundé Centre for Book Production was toadvise on ways and means of producing buildingsand books cheaply and thereby cutting down thecost of education.

(vii) Evaluation: there was a general agree-ment that there should be a permanent machineryto review periodically the work of the Centres andthat their co-operation with the international andregional organizations active in this field shouldalso come under review by way of an appropriateco-ordinating machinery.

(viii) Avoidance of duplication: it was feltthat since there were many other agencies besidesUnesco interested in giving aid to African countries,it was necessary to co-ordinate all internationalor bilateral aids and to examine the various projectsto make sure that they were not too ambitious andthat they were not being duplicated.

(ix) Need to make fullest use of existing facil-ities: some members deplored the fact that as arule African countries were reluctant to make useof the existing institutions in Africa. Some insti-tutions are under-used while in countries not farfrom them there is a lack of similar institutions.It was agreed that Member States which have fa-cilities should make information about them avail-able to other Member States. For Unesco Centresto be truly regional, it is important that they havea special status and that efforts be made by Mem-ber States to remove the political stumbling blockwhich makes it difficult for nationals of certainStates to study in Centres located in other States.Each country should be free to send its nationalsto participate in the work of any Centre, no matterwhere located.

B. Unesco Regional Office

54. The idea of a Unesco Regional Officewasgenerally welcomed. It was felt, however, thatthe details for setting up such an Office should beworked out later.

C. Chiefs of Mission

55. Most Heads of Delegations agreed thatthe Chiefs of Mission have a very important rôleto play and showed appreciation of their work.During the discussion the followingpoints emerged:

(i) Chiefs of Mission should travel more thanthey do at present. If it is not possible to provideChiefs of Mission for all the States, the existingones should try to cover as many States as pos-sible.

(ii) Chiefs of Mission should not think ofthemselves as ambassadors who must serve pro-tocol at all times, but should feel that their firstduty is to offer assistance and even, if need be,constructive criticism to the governments of thecountries they serve.

(iii) Chiefs of Mission should be supportedby adequate staff, particularly where a Chief ofMission is also Director of a Regional Centre.

D. Need for co-operation

56. The effectiveness of Unesco RegionalCentres can be enhanced if there is full co-op-eration between Unesco and the Economic Com-mission for Africa and the Organization of AfricanUnity. Such co-operation should lead to a betterunderstanding of African problems, to more effec-tive planning and to the avoidance of duplication.

E. Experts

57. Brief mention was made of the work ofexperts. Two points were raised:

(i) The process of recruiting experts was aslow one; every effort should be made to quickenthe process so that Member States do not have towait too long to have their requests met.

(ii) It was suggested that considerationshould be given to the possibility of getting moreexperts from African countries, one of the advan-tages in this being that African experts would bemore familiar with the background of most Mem-ber States in Africa than experts from outsideAfrica. The need for non-African experts to un-derstand the African situation cuts down the amountof service they can give, as some months wouldbe needed after their arrival to get their bearing.

16


RESOLUTIONS

RESOLUTION I: INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION FOR THEDEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN AFRICA

The Conference,

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Considering that the development of education and the intensified training of African scientificand technical personnel are decisive factors for Africa’s economic and social development,

Considering that despite the efforts and financial sacrifices made since the Addis Ababa Con-ference ( 1961) by the African States to develop their educational systems, and despite the sat-isfactory progress achieved, the results still fall far short of those expected at the end of thefirst half of the Development Decade launched by the United Nations in 1960.

Noting that the inadequacy of the results recorded during that period is mainly due to the dis-proportion between the efforts required and the resources available to the African States fortheir economic and social development,

Noting that the contribution of the developed countries shows a downward trend in relation totheir own gross national product,

Considering that the expenditures on education of most African States represent a very highproportion of their national budgets and incomes and that in present circumstances it wouldbe difficult to exceed those percentages without endangering the entire economic and social de-velopment of those countries,

Considering therefore, that the indispensable development of education in Africa is impossiblewithout far more external financial assistance than in the past, combined with the efforts of theAfrican countries,

Noting the intention of the General Assembly of the United Nations to proclaim 1970 Interna-tional Education Year,

Invites the African governments to continue their own efforts to develop their educational sys-tems and to ensure that the available funds from every source are used rationally, in particu-lar by improving, through appropriate reforms, the quality and efficiency of the education intheir countries,

Launches a solemn appeal to the spirit of international fellowship for a substantial increase bythe developed countries in the amount of their aid to the African countries, particularly for ed-ucational development,

Requests Unesco to intercede on behalf of the Conference with the developed countries and theinternational organizations providing financial assistance, drawing their attention to the factthat a great many African States are liable to reach a dead end if they are not assured of moresubstantial external aid,

17


11. Invites Unesco in particular to urge the United Nations Development Programme and other in-ternational financing bodies, with special reference to the International Bank for Reconstruc-tion and Development, to make the criteria, conditions and procedure for the provision of theiraid to the African States more flexible.

RESOLUTION II: REGIONAL PRIORITIES AND OBJECTIVES

The Conference,

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Considering that the Addis Ababa short-term targets for education have not in general beenachieved,

Considering that this delay is due not only to the inadequacy of financial resources but also, inlarge measure, to such difficulties as drop-outs, lack of flexibility in the curricula and theshortage of qualified teachers, particularly in the scientific and technical fields,

Considering that every delay in resolving these problems merely accentuates the dispersal ofthe human and material resources,

Considering further that the necessary information for a possible overall revision of the AddisAbaba targets is lacking,

Considering lastly that there is a serious shortage of technical and scientific manpower whichis seriously impeding the economic development of the countries of Africa,

Recommends:

(a) that during the second phase of the Plan, the Addis Ababa targets be maintained as gene-ral objectives and that the qualitative improvement of primary and secondary educationbe stressed; and that Member States, while keeping those objectives in mind, bring theminto line with national development plans;

(b) that Unesco, in co-operation with OAU and ECA, prepare as soon as possible the docu-mentation needed for a possible general revision of the previous targets, due accountbeing taken of the true economic situation of the African countries and of the externalaid likely to be available:

( c ) that, while working along the lines of the agreed targets, due emphasis be given to thereorientation of primary education, to women’s education and to preparing pupils forscientific and technical training;

(d) that, to this end, special emphasis be given to the training of rural-oriented primaryteachers, the development of curricula and teaching techniques suited to predominantlyrural populations, and the preparation of the scientific and technical training of teachers;

(e) that steps be taken to expand secondary education capacity in order to reduce the presentbottleneck at the entry to secondary education;

(f) that, in the development plans of the African countries, all due attention be given to sci-entific and technical manpower requirements and that every effort be made to attain acertain autonomy in this respect before 1980.

RESOLUTION III: REFORM OF PRIMARY EDUCATION

The Conference,

Invites the African governments:

1. To ensure that the primary education systems of the African countries, in ways varying fromcountry to country,

18


(a) achieve as soon as possible the 100% school enrolment at primary level which wasscheduled for 1980 in the Addis Ababa Plan and which is in conformity with the right toeducation, the desire for education shown by the peoples of Africa and the democratiza-tion willed by the governments;

(b) contribute to the strengthening of national unity;( c ) bring about the social and cultural integration of children in the community;

(d) act as factors of change and of economic and social development;

2. To reform, for that purpose, the content and orientation of primary education with a view toensuring that:

(a) the risk of the child being uprooted is reduced to the minimum;(b) the aim of the primary school is not only learning but preparation for life as well;( c ) the primary school inculcates in the child a respect and taste for manual work;(d) the requisite attention is given to the possibility of using the national languages as lan-

guages of instruction and to determining the optimum age and the most effective methodsfor learning the first language of wide communication;

(e) primary education, in both rural and urban areas provides all the children with thesame basic knowledge and offers them the same chances of continuing their education;

3. To improve the output of the primary education systems, in particular by reducing the enrol-ment wastage rates,

4. To provide for the continuous in-service training of the teachers,

5. To create rural-oriented primary teacher training institutions,

6. To reform the structures of primary education and post-primary education in accordance withthe new objectives assigned to primary education,

7. To introduce adult education measures and the different educational activities which are neededto supplement the expansion and reform of primary education as part of rural and, more gene-rally, social and economic development,

8. To make the necessary provisions for integrating primary school-leavers in society,

9. To bring the school closer to the community and the community closer to the school;

10. To improve rural living conditions and to raise the prestige of the farmer, in order to preventthe school from accelerating the trend towards a rural exodus,

11. To encourage greater co-ordination, between the work of educational planners and of thoseresponsible for economic and social development,

12. To convene, in consultation with ILO, Unesco, FAO, ECA, and OAU, National Commissionsto study the means of introducing into the production circuit, and particularly into the ruralsector, pupils coming out of primary education and not going on to secondary education. TheseCommissions should examine the problems involved in the post-primary education and trainingwhich those concerned should be given and in finding employment for them later on.

RESOLUTION IV: PREREQUISITES FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL TRAINING

The Conference,

Invites African governments:

1. To ensure, through appropriate arrangements, that the physical development of pupils is ac-corded an important place in school programmes;

19


2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

To give prominence in the curricula to the practical teaching of the mother tongue and the lan-guages widely used nationally and internationally;

To accord, in all sections at the various levels of education, an adequate place to training inmathematics, science and technology;

To develop the study of environment to the maximum both in primary education and in juniorsecondary education;

To introduce the teaching of technology more particularly into the first cycle of secondary ed-ucation in order to enable young pupils to improve their understanding of the surrounding tech-nical world;

To accord a place to civic education and to the social sciences with a view to the pupil’s inte-gration not only in professional life but also in national and international life;

To ensure that prevocational education is accompanied by a humanistic and artistic educationthat will bring out the full potential of the pupil;

To revise teaching methods in all disciplines along experimental and practical lines, SO thatschool and modern life may be fused in one attractive whole;

To equip the specialized training sections (languages, technology and science) of teacher-training institutes with the most modern material and to provide the necessary infrastructureand staff to maintain and repair that material.

RESOLUTION V: SCIENCE TEACHING AT SECOND AND THIRD LEVELS

The Conference,

Noting that the provision of science and technical teachers in secondary schools has fallen farshort of demand, and that the shortage of teachers is partially due to the variety of more re-munerative posts available to graduates with scientific qualifications,

Recalling the recommendations of the Lagos and Tananarive Conferences,


(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

A

To use all possible means of information, publicity and national awards for science andtechnical graduates to take up teaching;To ensure that salaries and promotional opportunities for fully qualified science teachersare comparable with those expected by other equally qualified professional cadres in pub-lic services;

To ensure that all students in the first cycle of second level education receive adequateinstruction in mathematics and general science. Particular emphasis should be given tofostering observation and deduction, the study of environment and the application of sci-ence to everyday technology. All schools should have a practical bias in the junior forms:

To make full use of existing television and radio facilities and other mass communicationmedia for teaching both children and adults:To maximize the use of existing personnel, school buildings and other such facilities;

To take full advantage of such regional projects as the Unesco Pilot Schemes in ScienceTeaching;

To aim at giving all science teachers in secondary schools some knowledge of appliedscience and technology as well as of the disciplines of pure science;

To ensure through legal provisions that teachers in higher education have the opportunityof taking part in the elaboration, revision and adaption of secondary school curricula:

20


(i)

( j )

(k)

( l )

(m)

(n)

BTo establish manpower boards to fix enrolment targets in higher technical institutionsand universities bearing in mind the recommendation of the Lagos Conference ( 1964)that within 20 years from now 200 science teachers and research workers per millioninhabitants are trained, and that 10 to 15 engineers per million inhabitants are trainedeach year in Middle Africa, more than twice that proportion in North Africa, and, ineach area, at least four times more technicians:To strengthenall institutes of higher education with a view to bringing them into univer-sity structures on a national or regional scale as this would facilitate the co-ordinationof higher scientific and technical education and inter-African co-operation in this field;To provide high level institutions as far as possible with buildings and equipment whichmeet their functional needs;To provide incentives to prevent the “brain drain” and ensure an adequate supply oftrained personnel in such critical fields as university and secondary school teaching, re-search, industrial and agricultural development;

To plan the development of high level manpower on the basis of needs so as to avoid anywastage;To collaborate on a regional basis in developing specialized fields of study in universi-ties or higher technical institutions.

4. Invites institutions of higher education:

(a) To ensure that curriculum content in the field of science and technology pays due regardto a comprehensive approach before proceeding to the specialized fields;

(b) To maintain contact with government, industrial and economic interests so as to definemore accurately goals for both training and research;

( c ) To improve the methodology of teaching, and in particular to accord considerable import-ance to integrated practical training.

RESOLUTION VI: TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

The Conference,


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

To create among the peoples the motivation which prepares the way for setting up and develop-ing the basic structures that are necessary for introducing scientific and technical innovations;

To grant real priority to scientific education and technical training, particularly in agriculture,and to reverse the present trend of falling proportions of students going to technical and voca-tional schools in some African countries;

To take steps to obtain the participation of scientists, engineers and other specialists in na-tional planning and to revise any policies which tend to exclude scientists and engineers fromaccess to top policy-making positions in government administration:

To ensure that ministries whose activities are primarily concerned with the application ofscience and technology are staffed at policy-making level by administrators with professionalqualifications in the appropriate field;

To plan the development of technical education in close agreement with economic developmentplans and in collaboration with the economic sectors concerned; to set up the appropriate co-ordinating agencies; to adopt adequate legislation to facilitate training and to ensure that trainedpersonnel will find employment;

21


6. To make certain that technical training institutions are equipped in such a way as to give stu-dents satisfactory and adequate practical training;

7. To encourage those responsible for technical and vocational education to integrate as far aspossible general culture, particularly in its national and African forms, with scientific andtechnical culture; and to develop scientific and technological studies in such a way as to makeincreasing use of the African context and environment.

RESOLUTION VII: ROLE OF TEACHERS ANDOF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

The Conference,


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

TO undertake research on the rational utilization of secondary school teachers and teachingstaff in general;

To make a more thorough study of teacher-pupil ratios at the different levels of general educa-tion, taking account of the possibility of resorting to educational technology;

To engage as soon as possible in the training of laboratory technicians with a view to a moreeffective utilization of science teachers in the various disciplines;

To proceed with research on the local production of teaching aids and their efficiency, and withthe training of technicians for the maintenance of aids and of electronic equipment:

To improve the circumstances of teachers in order to make their profession more attractiveand thus avoid their exodus to other callings;

To pursue experiments in both pre-service and in-service teacher training in order to achievethe best output possible, both quantitatively and qualitatively;

To make optimum use of educational facilities through careful planning at the national level;

To encourage inter-African co-operation with respect to the exchange of students and teachersso as to promote better inter-African understanding and overcome the present language diffi-culties, and to this same end to encourage the teaching of both English and French in all sec-ondary schools and universities.

RESOLUTION VIII: INTER-AFRICAN CO-OPERATIONIN HIGHER EDUCATION

The Conference,

1. Considering that:

higher education and scientific research are indispensable for the scientific, technical, eco-nomic and social development of Africa and that it requires resources which are not availablein most African countries in the present situation;

2. Believing that:

(a) the most effective solution might be to resort to a planned programme of all Africanco-operative research;

22


(b) attending the same universities may promote understanding and solidarity among theyoung educated Africans;

( c ) African unity, may be strengthened by studying together economic, social and culturalproblems, with each country respecting the political options of the others;

3. Recommends the African governments, in the interests of a better utilization of availablemeans (premises, equipment, teachers and research workers) and with a view to promotinga harmonious development of higher education and scientific research:

(a) to take practical steps wherever necessary to pool their efforts and their means and,wherever possible, to create inter-State universities, integrating into them, if neces-sary, higher educational and higher technical schools or institutes located elsewhere;

(b) to examine the current university map of Africa with a view to encouraging specializa-tion of the universities or their complementarity in the different technical and scientificfields (including the human sciences and economics) as well as in different lines of re-search;

( c ) to institute effective co-operation between the African universities, in particular by or-ganizing:(i) exchanges of teachers, students and research workers;(ii) the creation of documentation and information centres for exchanging results of

research work;(iii) the organization of periodical symposia and training courses

(d) to convene, under the auspices of the African Scientific Council and with the co-operationof the Association of African Universities, a conference of African research workers toprepare the ministerial conference on science policy in Africa which Unesco proposes toorganize.

RESOLUTION IX: CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE ANDEDUCATIONAL REVOLVING FUND

The Conference,

1. Congratulates the OAU on having proposed the establishment of centres of excellence in Africa,A

2. Recommends to the OAU:

( a) that the initial fields of study mentioned in OAU resolution CM/116(IX) include the basicsciences, documentation, teaching and research in the social sciences, and such otherdisciplines as it may deem appropriate;

(b) that it undertake at all stages the necessary preliminary consultations and seek advicefrom Member States and international organizations and other authorities in implementingthe decision to establish centres of excellence in Africa;

( c ) that in formulating their plans for the individual Centres, the proposed teams of consul-tants take into account, among other aspects, the existing facilities and natural resourcespotential in Member States in the disciplines concerned, and the experience acquired inthose fields by international organizations and individual States, so as to avoid previousmistakes and to profit from results already achieved;

(d) that in executing this programme, it take all necessary steps to ward off the economic,social and political problems which may arise from the presence of those centres ofexcellence in Africa:

(e) that it establish a permanent committee to review continuously the execution of the pro-gramme concerning the centres of excellence, and co-ordinate the activities and pro-mote the expansion of the latter;

23


(f) that it continue to co-operate closely and effectively with the United Nations family oforganizations and with non-African States which are in a position to assist, in any way,the early and effective establishment of the proposed centres of excellence.

B3. Requests the OAU and the ADB, with the co-operation of Unesco, to study in detail the proposed

establishment of an Educational Revolving Fund, including its financing, paying special atten-tion to the possibilities of external financing, and to present their study to the meeting of theAssembly of African Heads of State and Government.

RESOLUTION X

The Conference,

AInvites Unesco and the regional organizations, upon request of the African governments concerned:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

To help the African countries to reach the targets set forth in resolutions I to VII;

To help to set up a network of centres for the design, manufacture, repair and maintenanceof scientific apparatus and equipment;

To help create and develop in Africa immediately, as a matter of priority, a network of tech-nical teacher training colleges or departments like those already existing for teachers in gene-ral education;

To undertake thorough studies in comparative education on the subject of technical educationand to ensure the dissemination of the relevant information.

BRequests Unesco and ECA and other interested organizations, in liaison with universities andspecialized institutions of learning and research in Africa, to initiate feasibility studies on thepossibilities of manufacturing laboratory equipment and other teaching aids locally with a viewto setting up national and regional production centres;

Requests Unesco and other organizations, in liaison with universities and specialized institu-tions of learning and research in Africa, to set up machinery to study the standardization ofschool teaching equipment used at all levels in order to facilitate their mass production anddistribution at economical cost;

Requests Unesco and OAU to set up commissions of African specialists to study the problemof harmonizing history and geography curricula in the secondary schools of English-speakingand French-speaking African States. The commissions, where necessary should suggestchanges to improve the knowledge of African history, cultures, and economic and social pro-blems.

RESOLUTION XI

The Conference,

Invites Unesco, upon request of the African governments concerned:A

1. to assist in carrying out pilot projects for rural primary schooling;

2. to ensure the exchange and dissemination of information concerning such projects and concern-ing the numerous experiments carried out by the African governments in this domain:

24


3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

to define more precisely the concept of enrolment wastage and to undertake studies of the vari-ous causes of this phenomenon, as well as of measures for remedying the situation;

to continue and to intensify, with the help of the United Nations Development Programme (Spe-cial Fund), its assistance towards the establishment of rural-oriented teacher-training schools.

B

to continue to assist governments in the establishment and operation of teacher-training insti-tutions;

to help governments to set up and operate institutions for training laboratory technicians;

to supply aid in the form of qualified staff able to undertake research on the utilization of edu-cational technology for remedying the shortage of teachers or their lack of adequate qualifica-tions;

to assist in the preparation of programmes, adapted to the needs of Africa, for educationaltechnology use;

to help these countries to procure and to produce teaching aids which are too costly for theAfrican governments to purchase;

to ensure the dissemination of information and studies on methods of utilizing educationaltechnology;

C

to include in the agenda of the forthcoming regional conference on the application of scienceand technology to development in Africa, a specific study of problems concerning higher sci-ence education and the training of engineers and technicians.

RESOLUTION XII

The Conference,

1. Noting with satisfaction the important rôle of Unesco in the development of education, science,culture, and mass communication in Africa,

2. Appreciating the initiative taken by Unesco to establish various regional centres in Africa,

3. Noting further with satisfaction the efforts of the Director-General of Unesco to ensure theeffectiveness of these centres,

4. Taking into consideration the findings of the committee set up by the Director-General in 1967to evaluate Unesco operated or aided regional offices, centres and institutes in Africa,

5. Believingthat a Unesco regional office in Africa is urgently needed,

6. Invites the Director-General of Unesco, acting in full co-operation with the African MemberStates,

(a) to take due account of the recommendations made by the Committee which appraised thecentres;

(b) to make, within the next two years, a report on the progress made towards improvingthe performance of these centres since the 1967 evaluation;

(c) to make a detailed study, within the next two years, of the implications of establishingthe Unesco Regional Office in Africa.

25


RESOLUTION XIII

The Conference,

Convinced that the immediate implementation of the conclusions of this Conference will go a longway towards solving some of the educational, scientific and technical problems of Africa,

Requests, the Director-General of Unesco:

1. to take note of the recommendations made by the Conference with a view to the discussion ofthe. Draft Programme and Budget for 1969-1970 by the General Conference;

2. to ensure in co-operation with the OAU, that the date of subsequent regional meetings at mini-s-al level is chosen in such a way that their conclusions are available when the programmeand budget to be submitted to the next following General Conference is being prepared, in orderthat appropriate provision can be made for their implementation.

RESOLUTION XIVVOTE OF THANKS TO THE KENYAN AUTHORITIES AND PEOPLE

The Conference on Education and Scientific and Technical Training in Relation to Development inAfrica,

Having met in Nairobi (Kenya) from 16 to 27 July 1968,

Deeply appreciative of the generous facilities put at its disposal by the authorities of the Republicof Kenya, and of the unfailing courtesy and kindness shown to its members by the Kenyan people,

Places on recordits gratitude to His Excellency Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, President of the Republic ofKenya and his Government for having invited the Conference to meet in Kenya and for the measuresthey have taken to ensure its success; and to Dr. Kiano, Minister of Education, and his staff forthe part they played in the preparation and conduct of the Conference.

26


ANNEX I

REPORT OF COMMISSION I

Commission I held eight meetings, from 16 to 20July 1968, to consider items 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 ofthe agenda and to adopt its report.The Commission elected the following as its of-ficers:ChairmanH.E. Mr. Z. Mongo-Soo (Cameroon)Vice-ChairmenH. E. Dr. Sid Ahmed Abdel Hadi (Sudan)Mr. A. G. Mwingira (Tanzania)Rapporteur: Algeria

In the absence of the Rapporteur the Commissiondecided that the Chairman should assume his du-ties.

Item 8. 1

GENERAL OBJECTIVES AND TRENDS INPRIMARY EDUCATION, WITH SPECIALREFERENCE TO RURAL PRIMARYSCHOOLING

Introduction

1. The development of primary education inAfrica within the framework of the targets andguidelines laid down by the Addis Ababa Planraises a whole series of qualitative and quantitativeproblems, which are, moreover, closely connec-ted. From their discussion it would seem that theentire question will have to be re-examined if thepresent situation is to be remedied; for reachingthe quantitative targets fixed for primary schoolenrolment is likely to prove a difficult task; nordoes primary education appear to be equal to itstasks as regard adaptation to environment, prep-aration for living, and contributing to economicand social development.

2. In this connexion, a large number of Afri-can countries have moved in the direction of “ru-ralizing” primary education, or of working out

systems of primary education suited to the needsof rural areas. Such solutions must be viewed inan economic and financial context, and related tothe circumstances of geography and time.

3. In the first place, one point must be noted.All the African countries have endeavoured toreach the targets fixed by the Addis Ababa Confer-ence. Many of them, as a result, have increasedconsiderably their -total budget expenditures on ed-ucation and training, even at the cost of sacrific-ing other sectors of national development. It must,however, be acknowledged that in the present situ-ation, neither available resources, nor the exter-nal aid, which is only parsimoniously granted, areenough to enable many countries to step up the paceof their educational development satisfactorily.This is essentially due to world market conditionsand to the methods of granting certain investments,which render ineffective the efforts of many coun-tries to increase their resources. Furthermore,the twofold effect of population growth and demandfor education, and the underestimation of the ac-tual school age population, have resulted in schoolingrequirements that are higher than was fore-cast. In these circumstances, it would seem that,while condemning the inequalities of which the de-veloping countries - and those of Africa in parti-cular - are victims, and while expressing the hopethat an end will be put to those inequalities, theAfrican countries should seek new methods of im-proving the output of primary education.

4. In recent years, the vital rôle of educa-tion in economic development has been fully rec-ognized. Applying this to primary education in apredominantly rural continent leads quite naturallyto the concept of rural primary education or the“ruralization” of primary education. This impliesboth the extension of primary education to all andits reorientation.

5. The question nevertheless arises as tohow far such rural primary education should con-stitute a separate form of primary education, andhow far it represents a final course to be adoptedin primary education or else a provisional solution

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which, for want of better, makes it possible tomeet certain contingencies, at a certain level ofmeans.

6. Rural primary schooling - a specific re-flection of the need to adapt education to its en-vironment - must naturally be rooted in the Afri-can setting and in its cultural traditions, fromwhich it will derive its characteristics, its trendsand its content.

I. Objectives

7. Primary education in Africa draws its in-spiration from the objectives common to educationalsystems throughout the world. In the first place,it imparts a necessary minimum of basic knowledgeand fundamental concepts required for implementingthe right to education. It must mould the attitudes,character and moral being of the child. It may al-so be regarded as forming an integral part of acontinual process of education and as paving theway for the acquisition of additional general orspecialized knowledge.

8. But primary education in Africa must havecertain more precise objectives.

9. First of all, to meet the increasing demandfor education which the African governments haveto face, primary education must make it possibleto attain in the relatively near future the universalschool enrolment which is necessary alike for theapplication of the right to education and for thebuilding of a democratic society.

10. The Addis Ababa Plan recommended thata hundred per cent school enrolment rate shouldbe reached by 1980. Some countries experiencedifficulty in reaching that target, which alreadyseems to be within reach of others. As for other,less fortunate ones, they must regard it as a remotegoal which obliges them to adopt approximate solu-tions and temporary measures. Since it is impos-sible, with such limited resources, to ensure totalenrolment, it would appear necessary to considerother ways of getting as close to it as possible.

11. Another objective, which is linked to thefirst, is that of strengthening national unity.Spreading the knowledge of one common languagecan act as a powerful factor to this end, by enabl-ing the greater number of citizens to communicatewith each other, thus developing a better awarenessand understanding of their common destiny. Simi-larly the expansion of primary education, throughreducing the number of illiterates, will assist to-wards bringing the gap which often separates the ed-ucated minority from illiterate masses.

12. A third objective is that of socio-culturalintegration. It is a matter of importance that pri-mary schooling, and indeed the entire educationalsystem, should help the young to take root in theirenvironment by drawing inspiration from the worldaround them as well as from the cultural traditionswhich are the heritage of the countries to which theybelong.

18. Lastly, primary education must be viewedin the perspective of economic and social develop-ment. It must also prepare children for their fu-ture rôle of producers rather thanconsumers, andin so far as Africa is still an essentially agricul-tural continent, help towards the exploitation ofits agricultural resources. In particular, it mustplay a vital part in the fight against hunger, andalso against disease. The primary school mustnot only impart knowledge for the sake of acquisi-tion, but must also teach children to exist morefully and to introduce changes. It must not onlytransmit values, but train children to modify theenvironment in which they live and to use that en-vironment as a springboard to the world outside.

14. The foregoing calls for some comment.In the first place, it was long thought that in at-taining the general goals of primary education -namely to impart basic knowledge and to preparechildren for continuing education - the objectivesof social integration and contribution to economicgrowth were automatically achieved. Unfortunately,it is becoming increasingly obvious that this is notthe case, and that only under certain conditionscan these objectives-be reached. Needless to say,the particular objectives of primary education inthe several countries must be defined specificallyin accordance with the situation in each, withinthis framework of objectives common to all coun-tries.

II. Content and orientation ofprimary education

15. A reform of the content and orientationof primary education appears imperative in viewof the new objectives assigned to it.

16. The aim of that reform should be the re-placement of a merely theoretical education forthe minority by an education for the masses whichshould be such as to contribute towards the train-ing of producers, particularly agricultural pro-ducers, citizens and adults well integrated in theirsocial and cultural environment.

17. In this respect it is particularly import-ant that education should not, by uprooting andalienating the child, help to strengthen the trendtowards an exodus from the villages, which can-not be justified by the number of jobs in the towns,as well as a disintegration of the social structures.Of course, any education, constituting as it doesan environment of its own and a factor of change,leads to some alienation from the family and vil-lage; but the risk should be reduced as far as pos-sible by ensuring that the content of the educationis based on social and cultural realities, developsin the child attitudes befitting his responsibilitiesas a citizen and producer, and provides him withthe knowledge he needs to contribute to develop-ment.

18. The first aim of education should be tohelp the child to appreciate the intrinsic importance


of his physical, social, and cultural environment.It is that appreciation which carries within itselfthe seeds of advancement, change and progress.Consequently, every effort should be made to adaptthe school to environment in order to include es-sential elements of his economic and social-cult-ural environment. Schools that are too far fromthe village and frequent changes of school hardlyseem desirable. But before the physical uproot-ing, there is sometimes a psychological uprooting,particularly if the school environment is too dif-ferent from that of the family or village and if thechild is torn between two different behaviouralandvalue patterns.

19. The content and orientation of the educa-tion should be such as to minimize the risk of up-rooting the child, and here psychological, socio-logical and ethno-sociological studies would seemnecessary.

20. Moreover. education must not be over-crowded with too many subjects and its contentmust be fixed also by choosing subjects likely tobe useful in productive activities. Although it can-not be strictly agricultural or vocational, the con-tent of primary education should have an agricul-tural and craft bias and should provide the firstelements of a multipurpose training.

25. However, in revising the content of pri-mary education to take account of the actual cir-cumstances and needs of the rural environment,care must be taken not to create a rural educa-tion differing entirely in its content from urbaneducation. There must be only one education,with the same basic objectives everywhere, andit must make possible the utilization of all humanresources in town and country alike. It would benot only unjust but also dangerous, socially, poli-tically and even economically, to split Africancountries in two by creating two parallel schools,alien to one another, which would restrict the re-cruitment of the elite to the towns. Primary ed-

21. The primary school must inculcate in thechildren a respect for work, particularly agricul-tural work, and a taste for the manual work, onwhich it must start them. The child must learn towork with his hands as well as with his brain. Here,too, the school and village attitudes must not be toofar apart.

22. Special problems are involved in the choiceof the language of instruction and the teaching oflanguages other than the mother tongue. Learningin a language other than the mother tongue makesit, of course, more difficult to master the varioussubjects. It is an uprooting factor since languageis not only a vehicle for knowledge but also an ele-ment of culture. Yet there might be other consid-erations, e. g. the strengthening of national unityor the need for spreading a nationallanguage whichmay militate against the exclusive use of the motherlanguage at this stage. There may be cases, there-fore, when the mother language may have to be sup-plemented by other languages as media of instruc-tion.

23. When the language of instruction in theprimary school is neither the mother tongue nora national language, and when a second languageof instruction is used in addition to the nationallanguage, the best age for starting the instructionmust be determined. It is also important to im-prove the methods of teaching that language, e. g.by introducing the latest methods of teaching for-eign languages and making use of audio-visual aids.

24. Primary education must include civic andethical training to make the child aware of his du-ties as an individual citizen and as a producer withinthe national community.

ucation, whether urban or rural, must dispensethe same basic knowledge and values. But sincethe African environment is predominantly rural,the adaptation of primary education to the environ-ment seems to imply a rural orientation.

III. Output of primary education

26. The fact that the short-term primaryenrolment targets set at Addis Ababa have notbeen reached by the continent as a whole, andhave only been attained by a few countries, is duepartly to financial reasons but mainly to educationalones : the output of the primary education systemsis generally unsatisfactory, even in those countrieswhich are nearing the target of universal primaryschool enrolment. For a six-year primary course,the wastage rate for the whole continent is 68%. Asa result, unit costs are much too high and thismakes it impossible to use to the best advantagethe funds allotted to primary education.

27. The causes of the wastage - repetitionand drop-outs - are many and vary from countryto country and area to area. Wastage among boysdiffers from that among girls. It is impossible toenumerate here, let alone study, all the causes ofsuch wastage, some of which are socio-economic -customs, attitudes towards school, seasonal oc-cupations, nomadism, the structure of the family,health conditions, and so on, while others arestrictly educational.

28. There would seem to be three main edu-cational causes: the general unsuitability of theeducation provided, the often grossly overcrowdedclasses, and the inadequate general and professionaltraining of the teachers - these two latter factorsfrequently being combined.

29. A precise definition of the concept ofwastage, and studies of the different aspects ofthe phenomenon as well as of proposed remedies,would seem to be needed. The Commission noteswith satisfaction in this respect that the problemis to be studied at the next session of the Interna-tional Conference on Public Education.

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IV. The training and upgrading of teachers

30. Preparing teachers for the rôle devolvingupon them in a primary education redirected to-wards new objectives is obviously of decisive im-portance. A teacher who has no proper conceptionof his task can act as an uprooting force on the child.One way of mitigating this risk is to recruit theteachers assigned to the rural areas in those sameareas.

31. To begin with, the inadequately trainedteachers must be used to best advantage and a con-tinuous upgrading (in-service training) system in-troduced for those teachers who, despite the pro-gressive raising of the level of recruitment, willnecessarily be entering service without full post-secondary training for some years to come.

32. Such upgrading can be achieved by organ-izing retraining, vacation and correspondencecourses, by opening pedagogical and audio-visualaid centres and by creating mobile teams of ad-visers.

33. As regards the training of primary schoolteachers, the problem is one of creating a new typeof teacher who is integrated in the community inwhich he lives, is imbued with the new objectivesof a renovated education, is accustomed to usingactive teaching methods and is aware of his rôleas an agent of development.

34. The training given at the teacher-trainingcolleges must therefore be revised in line with thenew objectives of primary education, and in parti-cular rural-oriented teacher-training schools mustbe established with the help of Unesco and the UNDP(Special Fund).

35. A similar effort to reform the training ofinspectors and educational advisers should also bemade.

V. Structures

36. A new conception of primary education inmany cases calls for a renewal of its structures.It would often seem possible and sometimes neces-sary to change the pattern of that education, its dura-tion, and the starting age of the pupils, in order toadapt it to its objectives and the available resources.The solutions will vary from country to country.

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37. However, and particularly in the case ofa short primary education, it is often necessary toorganize post-primary education with a vocationalor agricultural bias or some form of apprentice-ship or training for primary school-leavers inorder to keep the young from unemployment, socialnon-integration and juvenile delinquency. More-over, whenever a short primary course is organized,provisionmust be made for the necessary meansof transfer to enable, whenever necessary, themore gifted pupils to continue their education.

38. School education must be supplementedby a whole series of measures for adult education.In the first place, the parents themselves are of-ten partly responsible for the uprooting of childrenin so far as they encourage them to take up employ-ment in the town or start work too early, and makethem regard working on the land as a punishment.An effort to educate parents in such a way as tomake them understand the rôle of schooling in re-lation to the community is an essential componentof adult education. It must also promote adult li-teracy with a view to creating a society in whichpeople can read and write and which will preventthe young from relapsing into illiteracy. By train-ing co-operators to staff co-operatives which willaccommodate school-leavers, by developing therural community, thus improving living conditionsin the country-side, by education and agriculturalproductivity, adult education will effect the trans-formation of environment essential to the socio-economic integration of the young, and in particu-lar their integration into the rural environment.

39. The reform of primary education istherefore not only part of a general developmentof education, in which it is associated with post-primary, agricultural, and technical education,with adult education and literacy, rural commun-ity development and teacher training, but also ofgeneral economic and social development, andrural development in particular. No reform ofprimary education will be fully effective and inparticular keep the young people on the land, un-less it is accompanied by a whole series of mea-sures for improving living conditions in the coun-try-side, making agriculture more profitable andgiving it greater prestige. In all this the educa-tionists must act in conjunction with the plannersand with those responsible for development.


RECOMMENDATIONS

40. Commission I recommends that the Conference adopt the following resolutions:

The Conference invites the African governments:

1. to ensure that the primary education systems of the African countries, in ways varying fromcountry to country,

(a) achieve as soon as possible the 100% school enrolment at primary level which was sched-uled for 1980 in the Addis Ababa Plan and which is in conformity with the right to educa-tion, the desire for education shown by the peoples of Africa and the democratizationwilled by the governments;

(b) contribute to the strengthening of national unity;( c ) bring about the social and cultural integration of children in the community;

(d) act as factors of change and of economic and social development;

2. to that end, to reform the content and orientation of primary education with a view to ensuringthat:

(a) the risk of the child being uprooted is reduced to the minimum;(b) the aim of the primary school is not only learning but preparation for life as well;( c ) the primary school inculcates in the child a respect and taste for manual work;(d) the requisite attention is given to the possibility of using the national languages as lan-

guages of instruction and to determining the optimum age and the most effective methodsfor teaching the first language of wide communication;

(e) primary education, in both rural and urban areas provides all the children with the samebasic knowledge and offers them the same chances of continuing their education;

3. to improve the output of the primary education systems, in particular by reducing the enrol-ment wastage rates;

4. to provide for the continuous in-service training of the teachers;

5. to create rural-oriented primary teacher training institutions;

6. to reform the structures of primary education and post-primary education in accordance withthe new objectives assigned to primary education;

7. to introduce adult education measures and the different educational activities which are neededto supplement the expansion and reform of primary education as part of rural and, more gene-rally, social and economic development;

8. to make the necessary provisions for integrating primary school-leavers in society;

9. to bring the school closer to the community and the community closer to the school:

10. to improve rural living conditions and to raise the prestige of the farmer, in order to preventthe school from accelerating the trend towards a rural exodus;

11. to encourage greater co-ordination, between the work of educational planners and of those respon-sible for economic and social development;

12. to convene, in consultation with ILO, Unesco, FAO, ECA, and OAU, National Commissions tostudy the means of introducing into the production circuit, and particularly into the rural sec-tor, pupils coming out of primary education and not going on to secondary education. TheseCommission should examine the problems involved in the post-primary education and trainingwhich those concerned should be given and in finding employment for them later on.

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*IIThe Conference invites the African governments to call upon Unesco:

1. to assist in carrying out pilot projects for rural primary schooling;

2. to ensure the exchange and dissemination of information concerning such projects, and con-cerning the numerous experiments carried out by the African governments in this domain;

3. to define more precisely the concept of enrolment wastage, and undertake studies of the vari-ous causes of this phenomenon, as well as of measures for remedying the situation;

4. to continue and to intensify with the help of the United Nations Development Programme(Special Fund), its assistance towards the establishment of rural-oriented teacher-trainingschools.

Item 8. 2

RESEARCH IN THE INCREASED UTILIZATIONOF AVAILABLE TEACHERS THROUGH THEUSE OF IMPROVED TEACHING AIDS ANDMATERIALS, PARTICULARLY IN THE LIGHTOF THE NEED FOR EXPANSION IN SECOND-ARY EDUCATION AND IN TEACHER TRAIN-ING FACILITIES

41. The extremely rapid expansion of gene-ral education, and particularly of secondary ed-ucation in Africa, under the Addis Ababa Plan,has raised, and is still raising, problems connec-ted with the fact that such development has not beenaccompanied in all countries by a correspondinggrowth in the number of teachers. This meansthat the African governments are obliged to makemore intensive and rational use of available teach-ers and at the same time to resort to teaching aidsand educational technology with a view to improv-ing the quality of teaching. Many African govern-ments have, in fact, been forced to engage teach-ers who frequently have insufficient qualifications,or none at all. The question arises as to how faraids and educational technology could compensatefor these insufficient qualifications.

I. A more intensive utilization of availableteachers

42. There is a need at national and regionallevel for research into the best possible utiliza-tion of teachers.

43. Statistical data show that foreign teacherrequirements, particularly for secondary and highereducation, have continued to increase since the Ad-dis Ababa Conference.

44. When coming to grips with the problemof utilizing teachers, it is immediately seen to beclosely linked to the training of national teacherscapable of replacing the foreign ones. Only bytraining such teachers will it be possible in thelong run to settle the problems arising from the

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teacher shortage and make the educational systemsof African countries independent of externalfactors.

45. A considerable amount has been donesince the Addis Ababa Conference in almost allthe African countries in the matter of trainingsecondary teachers, ‘mainly through the founding,with the assistance of Unesco and the United Na-tions Development Programme, of secondaryteacher training institutions. It is important thatthis form of aid continue and that other training in-stitutions be opened, particularly for primary andsenior secondary school teachers.

46. As a general rule, the most highly quali-fied teachers should be assigned to the primaryteacher training colleges, programmes and insti-tutions concerned with upgrading them.

47. One possible way of making good, at anyrate in part, the shortage of teachers would be toorganize the upgrading of national primary teach-ers through residential courses. correspondencecourses, etc. which would enable them to reachthe level of professional competence required forteaching in secondary schools.

48. This has led to the conclusion that whennecessary, permanent centres or institutionsshould be created for the in-service training andupgrading of teachers.

49. With a view to encouraging primary andsecondary teachers to add to their qualifications,every upgrading course should provide the possi-bility of achieving a higher degree of professionalqualifications and therefore of earning a highersalary.

56. To overcome the teacher shortage, somegovernments have introduced a national civic ser-vice, under which system all students who havecompleted their higher studies are obliged to teachfor a certain period of time.

51. Other governments make use of foreignvolunteers. This has a number of drawbacks, inparticular the need for a period of adaptation tothe country, which reduces theeffectiveness of analready all too short stay in Africa. Other govern-ments have decided to give up using volunteers,


for various reasons and notably in order to obligethemselves to train their own teachers.

52. In primary education, it is possible tomake a more rational utilization of teachers byusing the multiple-class teaching scheme or one-teacher schools which can be organized, for in-stance in sparsely populated areas. The teach-ers, however, require special training. It mightalso be possible in these areas to recruit first-year pupils in primary education only every twoor three years, so that children of much the sameage will be taught together.

53. In secondary education, it may be pos-sible in certain cases to make a more intensiveuse of available teachers by organizing coursesby subjects and not by classes.

54. In higher education, there should pre-sumably be a more rational utilization of teach-ers, as the present teacher-students ratio is toolow. On the other hand, it maybe considered thatteachers in higher education, in many cases withno more than three or four hours teaching perweek, are a luxury for the African educationalsystems.

55. The efficiency of science teachers, whoare in any case too few in number is often dimin-ished through lack of laboratory technicians toprepare their work and look after the scientificequipment. The creation of laboratory techniciantraining centres would seem to be an importantand urgent task.

56. One possible way of making a more inten-sive use of qualified teachers might be to introducea system of double duty, if necessary with anincrease in salary, or even with two salaries, butthis might lead to a serious falling-off in the qual-ity of teaching. In any event, any additional ser-vices should entail extra pay for teachers. Theappointment of teachers to difficult posts, or toparticularly under-privileged areas, may alsojustify payment of allowances.

57. Furthermore, it is clear from an exami-nation of the prerequisites for optimum utilizationof teachers that the problem of persuading them toremain in their profession is proving very serious.This suggests that salaries might be increased,since teachers in certain countries belong to thelowest paid category of civil servants with similarqualifications.

58. The status of teachers, the relations be-tween their professional associations and the govern-ments, and the participation of teachers in deci-sions affecting them, are so many factors making fora more efficient utilization.

59. Lastly, the utilization of school buildings,which are often left unoccupied during the longschool holidays, is closely linked to the utilizationof teachers. Building schools, particuarly for sec-ondary education, would seem to be one of the fieldsin which the governments are waiting for more con-siderable international aid.

II. Use of teaching aids and educationaltechnology

60. In our age, with its extraordinary devel-opment of skills and technology, recourse to thelatest educational methods (closed-circuit televi-sion, for example) is an important aspect of teach-er training and in-service training.

61. It should nevertheless be emphasized,however, that aids and educational technology canmake teaching more efficient, but can never replacethe teachers.

62. In any event, it is important for teachersto be trained to make effective use of audio-visualmedia.

63. The use of television at primary andsecondary levels, and in teacher training andin-service training would appear to be an undoubtedmeans of speeding up school enrolment, offsettingthe inadaptation of education to its tasks, decreas-ing wastage and compensating for the insufficientqualifications of teachers.

64. Educational technology must, however,be used with discernment and only by educators,as it may prove to be a one-way form of teachingwhich fails to arouse an adequate response frompupils and students.

65. The use of educational technology is oftenmade difficult by problems of equipment maintenance.In the case of teaching machines, there is the pro-blem of preparing programmes.

66. It is generally noted that the use of educa-tional technology, however desirable that may be,often requires a heavy initial investment which isbeyond the possibilities of the African governments.In this field so important for the development ofeducation in Africa, aid from the developed coun-tries and from the international organizationswould seem to be essential.

67. Besides the frequently complex and costlyaids, it would appear to be absolutely necessarytomake use of rudimentary aids contrived by theteachers themselves.

68. Following the same line of thought, itwould seem necessary for the national industrialor craft concerns to produce aids in the Africancountries themselves.

69. The importance of turning out books,particularly the textbooks which are among themost important aids to teaching, was emphasized.It is desirable in this regard for a higher propor-tion of the textbooks in use to be produced in Africa.

70. Teachers’ associations, grouped bybranch of study, can be of appreciable assistancein producing teaching aids (notes for teachers,for example).

71. It is important to follow experiments inthe use of educational technology with close atten-tion and to study its effect on the efficiency of theeducational systems. Here again, there must beresearch, and the results must be disseminated.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

72. Commission I recommends to the Conference that it adopt the following resolutions:

IThe Conference invites the African governments:

1. to undertake research on the rational utilization of secondary school teachers and teachingstaff in general;

2. to make a more thorough study of teacher-pupil ratios at the different levels of general educa-tion, taking account of the possibility of resorting to educational technology;

3. to engage as soon as possible in the training of laboratory assistants with a view to a more ef-fective utilization of science teachers in the various disciplines;

4. to proceed with research on the local production of teaching aids and their efficiency, and withthe training of technicians for the maintenance of aids and of electronic equipment;

5. to improve the circumstances of teachers in order to make their profession more attractiveso as to avoid their exodus to other callings;

6. to pursue experiments in both pre-service and in-service teacher training in order to achievethe best output possible, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

IIThe Conference invites Unesco, upon request of the African governments concerned:

1. to continue to assist governments in the establishment and financing of teacher-training insti-tutions;

2. to help governments to set up institutions for the training and functioning of laboratory tech-nicians;

3. to supply aid in the form of qualified staff able to undertake research on the utilization of ed-ucational technology for remedying the shortage of teachers or their lack of adequate qualifi-cations;

4. to assist in the preparation of programmes, adapted to the needs of Africa, to be used byeducational technology;

5. to help these countries to procure and to produce these teaching aids which are too costlyfor the African governments to purchase

6. to ensure the dissemination of information and studies on methods of utilizing educationaltechnology.

Item 8.3

PROVISION OF FACILITIES,LABORATORIES, EQUIPMENT,TEACHER TRAINING AND THEIRJOINT AND ECONOMIC USE

73. A review of the educational facilitiessince the Addis Ababa Conference shows that, inorder to improve the quality of science teaching‘n African States, it is imperative that scienceequipment be obtained cheaply and in sufficient

quantity to meet the needs of expanding primaryand secondary schools. To encourage scienceteaching at all levels, the present delays in thedelivery of science equipment purchased fromoverseas must be overcome without further delay.The local production of science teaching apparatusfrom available local material should be encouragedby all States.

74. It is also important that available educa-tional facilities at all levels be put to maximumuseso that States might be able to attain the targets intheir educational policy at reduced costs.

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75. The problem of the provision of facilitiesand their joint and economical use should be re-viewed under four main heads:(a) The provision of laboratory equipment and

the possibility of manufacturing them locally;(b) The joint and economical use of available ed-

ucational facilities and services:( c ) Inter-African co-operation in the field of ed-

ucation and training: and(d) Establishment of an Educational Revolving

Fund for Africa.

(a) Provision of school equipment

76. Some countries have established work-shops for the production of science equipment forsecondary and primary schools using local mate-rials. These workshops also train teachers in theproduction, repair and maintenance of teaching ap-paratus. However, some types of equipment stillhave to be imported. Feasibility studies are beingplanned by the ECA and Unesco in order to deter-mine the possibilities of local production of schoolequipment in Africa. These studies should be gi-ven full attention and be carried out expeditiouslyby the international organizations concerned.

77. It would also be advantageous to standard-ize and produce laboratory equipment and otherschool materials locally, in the interest of economy.

78. Similarly, textbooks and other materialscould be produced locally. National and RegionalProduction Centres should be set up with the as-sistance of Unesco and other international organ-izations for this purpose.

(b) Joint and economical use ofeducational facilities

79. In view of the high cost of providing ed-ucational facilities, it is regrettable that thereare cases where laboratories and classrooms arenot fully used. In this connexion joint use of lab-oratories, workshops, and playing fields by sev-eral schools or by in-service training programmescould be considered wherever possible. In othercases, school buildings could be expanded. This

applies to libraries as well. Implementation ofthe necessary arrangements should be given atten-tion by the various countries.

80. To meet those cases where adequate useis not made of qualified and specialist teachers,the educational authorities concerned should takethe necessary steps to remedythe situation. Whereinadequate utilization of specialist teachers is dueto the lack of equipment, the necessary provisionsshould be made.

(c) Inter-African co-operation

81. It is urgent and necessary that inter-African co-operation be intensified and made morefruitful through the setting up of regionalinstitutesfor research and training, with the assistance ofinterested international organizations, establish-ing regular relations with universities and with re-gional centres for higher education and betweenregional organs responsible for co-operation andco-ordination at the university level, such as theAssociation of African Universities, CAMES, andsimilar organizations in English-speaking Africa.

82. Documentation centres for the dissemina-tion of information in the educational field and forthe promotion of African culture could also be jointlyestablished by Member States. Such co-operationshould be possible in fields such as educationalresearch and television, radio broadcasting, cur-ricula reform and textbook writing.

(d) Educational Revolving Fund

83. The suggestion of the OAU that an Edu-cational Revolving Fund should be established un-der the aegis of the OAU and the ADB in associa-tion with Unesco, to provide low-interest loansfor important educational projects in Africa wasnoted. It was considered, however, that becauseof the importance of this project, the OAU, ADBand Unesco as well as other interested organiza-tions should study the proposal further and makeconcrete recommendations to the Assembly ofHeads of State and Government of the OAU.

RECOMMENDATIONS

84. The Commission recommends that the Conference should adopt the following resolution:

The Conference,

1. Requests Unesco and ECA and other interested organizations, in liaison with universitiesand specialized institutions of learning and research in Africa, to initiate feasibility stud-ies on the possibilities of manufacturing laboratory equipment and other teaching aids lo-cally with a view to setting up national and regional production centres;

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2. Requests Unesco and other organizations, in liaison with universities and specialized in-stitutions of learning and research in Africa, to set up a machinery to study the standard-ization of school teaching equipment at all levels in order to facilitate their mass produc-tion and distribution at economical costs;

3. Invites Member States to make optimum use of educational facilities through careful plan-ning the national level;

4. Invites Member States to encourage inter-African co-operation with respect to the exchangeof students and teachers so as to promote better inter-African understanding and overcomethe present language difficulties, and to this end to encourage the teaching of both Englishand French in all secondary schools and universities

5. Requests Unesco and OAU to set up National Commissions to study the problem of harmon-izing history and geography curricula in the secondary schools of English-speaking andFrench-speaking African States. Those Commissions, wherever necessary should suggestchanges to improve the knowledge of African history, cultures, and economic and socialproblems;

6. Requests the OAU and the ADB, with the co-operation of Unesco, to conduct detailed stud-ies of the proposed establishment of an Educational Revolving Fund including its financing,paying special attention to the possibilities of external financing, and present their studiesto the meeting of the Assembly of African Heads of State and Government.

36


ANNEX II

REPORT OF COMMISSION II

Commission II held eight meetings, from 16 to 20July 1968, to consider items 8.4, 8.5, 8.6 and8.7 of the agenda and to adopt its report.The Commission elected the following as its of-ficers:ChairmanH. E. Mr. C. H. Thornicroft (Zambia)Vice-ChairmenMr. C. Traore (Mali)Dr. Augustus A. Caine (Liberia)

RapporteurH. E. Dr. F. N. Agblemagnon (Togo)

Item 8.4

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF TRAININGAND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS ORCENTRES OF EXCELLENCE IN AFRICA

General introduction

The Commission was informed that the Organiza-tion of African Unity had decided to establish train-ing and research institutions or centres of excel-lence in Africa. That decision followed a carefullook at the present and future needs of MemberStates for the highest qualified personnel speciallyin scientific and technical professions. The fieldsinitially chosen were eight and these are:(i) Geology, geophysics and mineralogy:(ii) Climatology and meteorology;(iii) Hydrology; (1)(iv) Human medicine, (preventive and social med-

icine) and pharmacology (African medicinalplants) ;

(v) Food science and technology:(vi) Veterinary medicine; (2)(vii) Applied science and engineering (previously

physics and mathematics including electronicsand research in solar energy) ;

(viii)Marine science and technology (previouslyoceanography, marine biology and fisheries).

As presently conceived the proposed centresof excellence would provide post-graduate trainingand research services at the highest level possibleand within the context of the needs of Member States.The claim to the word “Excellence” stems fromthe fact that it is anticipated that these centreswill have the best qualified staff available in Africaand that they will provide the most advanced train-ing and undertake the most advanced research inAfrica. Consequently it is anticipated that theywill be provided with the best available equipmentfor training and research purposes and they willemploy the best known methods in these fields.The qualifications of the scholars coming out ofthe centres will be recognized throughout Africa.Until such a time as a common language is estab-lished in Africa, provision would be made to en-rol in the same institutions English and French-speaking scholars and the necessary facilities beprovided to enable instructions and research to becarried out in both languages using common facil-ities.

The discussions of the Commission were basedon the following main aspects:1. the purpose of centres of excellence;2. the choice of the fields for the centres of

excellence;3. problems to be faced in creating them; and4. programme of action in the establishment of

initial ones.It was agreed that until the reports of the con-

sultants were received it would be better to leavefor the time being any discussions concerning thecost of establishing the proposed centres of ex-cellence and the sites where they would be locatedin Africa. Taking now the above four items onwhich the discussions were based, these are re-ported on below one by one.

(1) Hydrology should now be replaced by WaterResources Planning and Development.

(2) Veterinary science will be substituted as thetitle for this.

37


1. The purpose of centres of excellence

The purposes of establishing the proposedcentres of excellence in Africa are mainly three,i . e .(i) the training of highly skilled personnel;(ii) the solution of problems that require the ap-

plication of science and technology in the im-plementation of economic and social develop-ment plans;

(iii) the acquisition of new knowledge in the fieldsconcerned.Turning to the question of training highly skil-

led personnel it was mentioned at the meeting thatsuch personnel, who would be trained under localenvironment, would assist in filling existing postsand in manning the present services in places suchas universities, colleges, research institutions andthe productive and the service sectors of economiesof Member States. Such persons would also assistin and undertake the planning and execution of pro-grammes which could lead to an accelerated devel-opment of the Member States. As for solving pro-blems that hinder or obstruct economic and socialdevelopment the scholars who would come out ofthe centres of excellence that are to be establishedwould themselves be required to solve through re-search, the problems that may have been met eitherin the industrial exploitation of natural resourcesor other sectors of the economies of Member States.It is anticipated that such research directed assolving problems would be undertaken at the highestlevel and with the best equipment and under thebest methods possible. It was observed in the dis-cussion of the Commission that while great em-phasis would be given to applied research whichwould be directed as solving known problems, ef-forts will also be made to promote fundamental orbasic research with a view to increasing the volumeof new knowledge that is being made continuouslyavailable to the States in Africa. The establish-ment of centres of excellence would provde insti-tutions to which highly qualified African scientistsand engineers would be attracted. Many such spe-cialists at present remain abroad in the developedcountries for lack of any opportunity to use theirknowledge in their own countries. The creation ofthe centres of excellence would reduce this “braindrain”.

2. Choice of disciplines

The Commission learnt that in choosing thefields that had been initially selected the OAU wasguided among other things by the need to produceprofessional men of high calibre to occupy existingand planned posts in the public and private sectorsof the economies of all Member States. It was al-so considered necessary to provide the requiredskills for the exploitation of the natural resourceswithin Member States.

38

Several delegates pointed out that, whileaccepting the urgent need to provide highlytrainedpersonnel in applied scientific fields, it was ne-cessary not to forget the social sciences. It wasalso pointed out that the social sciences are be-coming increasingly important in ensuringthat cer-tain needs of man are not ignored and that thetraining institutions produce citizens who can use-fully contribute to the development of their environ-ment. It was also pointed out that it would be ne-cessary to provide for advanced training in puresciences which would nourish the training provid-ed at centres of excellence in applied scientificfields.

Several delegations also mentioned the needto provide within proposed centres of excellence,training and research facilities in the applicationof nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. TheCommission was informed that the list of thefields in which centres of excellence are to be es-tablished which the OAU had initially agreed uponwas not meant to be exhaustive, and that, as andwhen necessary, additional disciplines such asagriculture could be added to it. The Commissiontook note of this point.

3. Problems to be faced in creating them

When examining the problems to be faced inthe establishment of the proposed centres of ex-cellence the Commission observed that there weresome difficult aspects that would require to besolved or overcome if the centres are to serve thepurpose for which they would be set up and if theyare to provide the Member States with maximumbenefits. Several such problems were touchedupon by various delegates. One of these was theproblem of scarcity of personnel of a high calibrewho would be expected to staff the proposed centresof excellence. Some delegates pointed out that ifsuch personnel of high calibre were to be attractedfrom the national services, this might lead to theslowing down of the pace of development of theMember State concerned. It was also pointed outthat due to this scarcity and although it was unde-sirable, it appeared that in the initial stages ex-patriate personnel may have to be used to serveat the proposed centres of excellence. In suchcases it was pointed out that such experts shouldbe employed on short contracts with local counter-parts to understudy them and eventually take overfrom them. In this connexion also it was men-tioned that an increasing number of fellowshipswill be necessary to enable African scholars toacquire the required level or degree of trainingand on undertaking research so as to be able toserve at the proposed centres of excellence. Itwas also emphasized that these centres of excel-lence should not only undertake the highest train-ing possible, but also that at an appropriate time,they should train or at least assist in the training


of middle-grade personnel in the scientific disci-plines concerned. Concern was expressed thatthe Commission had not been permitted to go intothe financing and location of these centres which,it was considered, was an essential element of theCommission’s deliberations.

A number of problems were raised which aremainly political in nature. Some delegates expres-sed the fear that in the event of differences arisingbetween some Member States, one of which maybe playing host to a given centre, it would be ne-cessary to ensure that the vacancies available tothe State which may be at variance with the hostState should be guaranteed. It was also pointedout that the centres, including the students, thestaff members and their work should also be in-sulated from differences of this kind. Anotherproblem of a political nature that was raised inthe Commission was that due care should be takento avoid the proposed centres being located only inthe African States that are comparatively developedwhile ignoring those which are less developed.This could lead to a slower development in the lat-ter countries while those that are comparativelybetter off will continue to be more developed. TheCommission felt that political problems of this kindmust be taken into account and suitable solutionsfound before the proposed centres of excellence areestablished.

Another problem that could arise is that of em-ployment opportunities for the scholars comingfrom the proposed centres of excellence. It wasindicated that since some of them would alreadybe employed in existing industries, universitiesor research institutions or other productive sec-tors of the economies of Member States, such per-sons would merely return to their posts at the endof their period at the centres. In any case, scholarsfrom such centres would easily find employment atexisting and planned universities and colleges andin advanced research institutions. Also as theMember States industrialize and become generallymore developed, employment opportunities willarise from time to time for such personnel of thehigh calibre expected. These were among the pro-blems that were mentioned during the discussionsin the Commissions on the subject.

4. Programme of action in theestablishment of initial centres

It was pointed out that it would be necessaryfor OAU to establish as soon as possible, adequatemachinery under which the whole programme ofestablishing and developing the required centresof excellence would be continuously reviewed andassessed. Some delegates also pointed out that inview of the size of Africa and also in view of thelanguage problem it may be necessary to establishmore than one centre of excellence in any one sci-entific discipline. Some delegates pointed out that

the OAU should be requested to study the experienceof international organizations such as Unesco andindividual countries in the running of Similarcentres. Lessons learnt by these sources in es-tablishing centres of excellence would prove fruit-ful in Africa as a precautionary measure in avoid-ing mistakes. Several delegates also requestedthat the problem of establishing centres of excel-lence in Africa should take into account the factthat it would be necessary to provide adequatestaff and facilities to cater for the needs of allparticipating states. It would be disastrous if anyparticular Member State was informed that its re-quest for services could not be met for lack ofstaff or facilities. Some delegates also requestedthat it would be necessary to establish machineryfor executing results of research that maybe forth-coming from some of the centres. It was furtheremphasized that for the centres of excellence tooperate effectively and successfully, it was ne-cessary to ensure that there were adequate insti-tutions, services and activities which would as-sist in identifying problems that required advancedtreatment at the proposed centres of excellence.

Finally some delegates requested that in ex-ecuting the programme of establishing centres ofexcellence in Africa, we should proceed cautiouslyso as to avoid disastrous results. It may be ne-cessary to start one or two centres for purposesof obtaining experience before embarking on therest of the programme.

General

Several delegates commented on the criteriathat could be used in selecting the sites at whichthe centres will be located. One of these wouldbe the natural resources potential of the area. Itwas pointed out that the right scientific environ-ment and certain volume of activities were neces-sary to support each of the centres at the places atwhich they will be located. It was also indicatedthat because of the need to reduce the costs ofestablishing centres of excellence, it may be ne-cessary to develop them from existing universi-ties, It was generally accepted that in carryingout the programme of establishing centres of ex-cellence in Africa, it will be necessary for theOAU to co-operate very closely with the UnitedNations family of organizations and also withother friendly outside sources of funds and infor-mation. It was also agreed that it was necessaryto continue tapping all sources of expertise knownon this subject both from Africa and outside inorder to ensure early and effective implementationof the OAU decision, This is particularly neces-sary when it is realized that the proposed centresof excellence are part of the infrastructure whichMember States hope to build and from which theywill obtain the necessary skilled personnel for,and solutions to problems arising from, their ef-forts to develop as quickly as possible.

39


RECOMMENDATIONS

The Commission, having discussed the decision of the Organization of African Unity to establishcentres of excellence in Africa, recommends that the Conference should adopt the following res-olutions:

1. The Conference congratulates the OAU on having proposed the establishment of centres ofexcellence in Africa;

2. The Conference recommends to the OAU:

(a)

(b)

( c )

(d)

(e)

(f)

Item 8.5

that the initial fields of study mentioned in OAU resolution CM/116(IX) should includethe basic sciences, documentation, teaching and research in the social sciences, andsuch other disciplines as it may deem appropriate;

that it should undertake at all stages the necessary preliminary consultations and seekadvice from Member States and international organizations in implementing the decisionto establish centres of excellence in Africa;

that in formulating their plans for the individual centres, the proposed teams of consul-tants should take into account, among other aspects, existing facilities and natural re-sources potentialwithin Member States in the disciplines concerned, and also the experi-ence in these fields by international organizations and individual States, so as to avoidmistakes that had been made and to gain from successes that had been achieved;

that in executing that programme, it should provide adequately for problems, economic,social and political, which may arise from the presence of those centres of excellencein Africa;

that it should establish a permanent Committee to review continuously the execution of theprogramme concerning the centres of excellence and to co-ordinate their activities andpromote their expansion:

that it continue to co-operate closely and effectively with the United Nations family oforganizations, and individual non-African States which are in a position to assist, inany way, the early and effective establishment of the proposed centres of excellence.

(a) SCIENCE TEACHING AT THESECONDARY LEVEL

1. The purposes of second level sciencecourses. Secondary school courses can usuallybe divided into two stases. the first of three tofive years duration and the second of four to two yearsduration depending on the country. At the end ofthe first stage a number of pupils (the majorityin some cases) leave school, the remainder stay-ing on to prepare for third level courses at uni-versities and technological institutions.

2. The purpose of teaching basic sciencesat the second level is to produce understandingof the environment in which we live. The appli-cations of science should illuminate this type ofteaching. In upper secondary school, scienceand the scientific approach should be taught as a

prerequisite to those who will go on to specializein pure and applied science at third levelcourses.School courses should not only train in observa-tion, analysis and synthesis but cultivate inventive-ness and develop the aptitudes of the pupils.

3. The enrolment of students in sciencecourses. Science is a basic necessity for all ed-ucated people if the scientific and technologicalpotential of Africa is to be adequately exploited.All students in the first cycle of secondary educa-tion should receive instruction in mathematicsand general sciences. In the second cycle spe-cialization must operate, although some hold theview that science teaching should be compulsoryeven at this stage, whatever the ultimate destina-tion of the school leavers.

4. Curricula and structure of courses. Al-though there can be no consensus of opinion on syl-labuses, certain factors should be present. Theachievements should be revealed to the pupils;

40


observation and deduction should be practised: astudy of local environment conditions is needed;desirable areas of scientific development in Afri-ca should be discussed; the growing points of mo-dern science should be indicated. The objectivefor curriculum construction is to ensure that thepopulation becomes scientifically minded andaware of the place of science in society.

5. The Unesco Pilot Sciences Schemes arenow able to report on the curricula they have de-veloped, their successes and failures, and modi-fications proposed. Within countries, sciencecurriculum centres have been set up, and use isbeing made of subject panels and similar bodies.More endeavours of this type are needed.

6. The essential methodology of scienceteaching is to get the pupils to face a situationin physics or chemistry, say, as a practisingphysicist or chemist would: to examine the situ-ation, hypothesize, and deduce. This so-calledrediscovery method is known to be a most stimu-lating method of instruction. It leads to projectwork, to applied science and technological experi-ments. It needs apparatus of all kinds which canbe simple and cheap, made locally or in the schoolitself. Above all, it needs good and enthusiasticteachers.

7. Instrumentation centres capable of pro-ducing simple laboratory apparatus in African coun-tries is now becoming a necessity. Programmedinstruction, audio-visual aids, and especially thetelevision and radio can upgrade science teachingin all schools. One good teacher on televisionnotonly instructs children but also, incidentally,teaches adults.

8. There is a need for new techniques for as-sessment of aptitude, and the testing of scientificknowledge. Some of these exist and should be in-troduced.

9. Provision of science teachers in secondaryschools. The most critical factor in science teach-ing is the presence of well-qualified teachers. AllAfrica reports shortages, some on an alarmingscale. The production of teachers is still far toolow to meet the needs. School leavers who com-plete the full secondary courses and are thus eligi-ble for third level courses in higher colleges shouldbe encouraged to enter school teaching in science:encouraged by publicity, propaganda, national meritawards for scientists and science teachers, and anobvious recognition by governments of the import-,ance of science. Recruits will be drawn to the pro-fession only if adequate salaries are paid. Theidea of preferential salaries can be discounted,yet a fully qualified science teacher should be gi-ven a salary approximately equal to that of otherprofessionals with equal qualifications. A corol-lary to higher pay should be more work, not less.

10. Bonding of graduates as a national ser-vice should be encouraged, so that after complet-ing the third level they have to teach for a specifiedperiod at least. Nevertheless, the ideal teacher

is one who wants to teach, and pupils must seetheir teachers enjoying their work in well-equippedschools, and communicating in an exciting way, ifthey are to follow in their footsteps.

11. A partial answer to a shortage of teach-ers is to concentrate secondary schools into largerunits, thus economizing on resources. The use oftelevision and radio aids should be investigatedasanother way of economizing on teachers.

12. Buildings and equipment for secondaryschools. Buildings need not be grandiose, butshould be simple and give adequate shelter. Quiteessential are adequate maintenance workshops andartisans, a point often overlooked. Standardiza-tion of school building and furniture is necessary.Building design should be flexible to allow forchange in usage. Apparatus should be obtainedwith spare parts at the very date of purchase.

13. There is a need for adequate supplies ofbiological material, laboratory apparatus, build-ing kits, and so on. Much of this can be producedlocally or perhaps in regional instrumentationcentres, which could also repair apparatus. WhenUnesco or a similar body supplies equipment, itshould also provide a laboratory technician whowould train a counterpart.

14. It was noted that secondary school build-ings can be used twice in one day, thus immediatelydoubling the capacity of the school.

15. Financing of capital and recurrent costs.This is a task for governments and local authori-ties, and is already a high fraction of the nationalincomes. Thus in setting up curricula, planningbuildings, buying equipment, deciding on the num-ber of children in various types of school, etc.,great care must be taken to see that the needs ofthe country and citizens are being met, and do notfollow an idealistic or unrealistic plan.

16. In legislating for secondary education, itis not enough to plan schools here, there, andeverywhere, if they cannot be staffed, equippedand maintained. The production of science andtechnical teachers is now first priority. Foreignrecruitment alleviates the situation but such re-cruitment cannot supply the demand. Hence re-sources should be switched from other parts ofthe educational system to institutions producingteachers, and especially science and technicalteachers. It may well be that some bursaries forthird level courses should carry with them an ob-ligation to teach for some years (alternatively, topay back the cost of the education).

17. International aid is of course vital inAfrica at the moment but it is essential to get themost out of this money. Can African countriesget together and channel this aid into operationsuseful to more than one State?

18. Employment of secondary school leavers.People who leave secondary schools comprise:(a) drop-outs who do not reach the end of the first

cycle;

41


(b) pupils completing the first cycle and going onto vocational and technical training or into di-rect employment;

( c ) pupils completing the second cycle and usuallyin Africa going on to higher institutions.19. The second and third groups as yet have

few problems of employment and even those in thefirst find useful employment especially if they havetaken some science and are useful to industry aspotential craftsmen.

20. It is possible that in due course therewill be some unemployment of the second group, ashas already happened with primary school leavers,and a careful record must be kept by authoritiesto try and obviate this.

21. If secondary schools are diversified, asin Tanzania for example, so that many have a tech-nical bias, then school leavers facing unemploy-ment are in a better position to create their own

employment, such as a repair service for agricul-tural implements and so on. There is a lot to besaid for all secondary schools having a technicaland practical bias in the first cycle, for one objectis to train citizens who can earn their living.Hence science should be taught in a concrete ra-ther than an abstract way, with meaningful prac-tical work (not watching experiments). Now theteacher is of prime importance for, if not properlytrained himself, he cannot teach science as indi-cated here. Rather he reaches for a book, themore so if over-worked in an ill-equipped school.All science teachers should perhaps be taughtpartially through applied science rather than purescience. There are very few technical teachertraining colleges in Middle Africa. This is tragic,for all countries were aware of this problemsomeyears ago.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Commission, noting that the provision of science and technical teachers in secondary schoolshas fallen far short of demand, and that the shortage of teachers is partially due to the variety ofmore remunerative posts available to graduates with scientific qualifications, recommends thatthe Conference adopt the following resolutions:

I

The Conference invites African governments:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

TO use all possible means of information, publicity and national awards for science and techni-cal graduates in order to influence graduates to take up teaching;

TO ensure that salaries and promotional opportunities for fully qualified science teachers arecomparable with those expected by other equally qualified professional cadres in public ser-vices;

To ensure that all students in the first cycle of second level education receive adequate instruc-tion in mathematics and general science. Particular emphasis should be given to fostering ob-servation and deduction, the study of environment and the application of science to everydaytechnology. All schools should have a practical bias in the junior forms;

To make full use of existing television and radio facilities and mass communication media forteaching both children and adults;

To maximize the use of existing personnel, school buildings and other such facilities;

To take full advantage of such regional projects as the Unesco Pilot Schemes in Science Teach-ing;

To aim at giving all science teachers in secondary schools some knowledge of applied scienceand technology as well as of the disciplines of pure science;

To ensure through legal provisions that teachers in higher education have the opportunity oftaking part in the elaboration, revision and adaption of secondary school curricula;

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II

The Conference invites African governments to appeal to regional andinternational organizations:

1. To help to promote through aid programmes the activities described above;

2. To help to set up a network of instrumentation centres for the design, manufacture, repairand maintenance of scientific apparatus and equipment.

Item 8.5

(b) SCIENCE EDUCATION AT THETHIRD LEVEL

1. The purpose of this type of education is totrain high-level staff for research, production,administration and teaching who will be agents ofdevelopment and innovators; and also to traintheirsenior technicians who will act as their assistants.

2. Enrolments. The objectives of the Tana-rarive Conference (60% of all students in the sci-entific branches) and the Lagos Conference (whichfixed as the target for 1980: 200 university scienceteachers and research workers per million inhabi-tants) are by no means attained( 1). The presenttrend is rather the other way. Science teachingat secondary level is insufficiently developed, forin some countries non-scientific professions seemto be more lucrative. The universities must beassociated with the reform of secondary educationand more accurate forecasts of skilled manpowerrequirements must be established for each sectorof activity.

3. The status and emoluments of the teach-ing staff must be changed to make the professionmore attractive. The setting up of specializedstudy centres should make it possible to train moreteachers and to provide training better related tothe needs.

4. Curriculum. The fundamental sciencesshould be taught in Africa in such a way that everystudent through interdisciplinarytraining - a sourceof creative thinking - can grasp their scope. Toohasty specialization should not be contemplated.Moreover, science students should continue to re-ceive a general education. Account should be takenof the fact that it is becoming increasingly import-ant to study the basic sciences, because they make,the development of the other scientific disciplinespossible.

5. Courses with applied sciences could beregrouped either according to the technical fieldswhich they command or according to the funda-mental sciences on which they are based.

6. The environmental sciences are gainingin importance wherever the environment shouldbe modified to meet the needs of a growing popu-lation, and the teaching of such sciences shouldbe adapted closely to local conditions.

7. Students should be initiated in scientificresearch from the outset of higher education, forit is a formative factor and “teaches how tolearn”.The research should be closely linked to local de-velopment needs. In that way the results could beput to use and would become known.

8. Exchanges of information on traininglevels should make it possible to establish normsfacilitating the recognition of equivalences of de-grees and diplomas and the better utilization of thestudents on a regional basis.

9. Methodology. Modern educationalmethodsshould replace the traditional university teachingand open the way to innovation, experimentationand creativeness. Practical training must be gi-ven both inside the institutions (laboratories) andoutside (factories, work sites, etc.). This canbe done only with the co-operation of the economicsectors concerned. Applied research institutions,design offices and pilot production units could serveas links between industry and the universities andother institutions of higher education.

10. Students’ scientific and technical extra-curricula activities are rewarding because moti-vated and should be encouraged and systematized,Continuous checking of the knowledge acquiredshould avoid costly failures at the end of the schoolyear.

11. Buildings and equipment. The teachersshould participate in the preparation of buildingplans to ensure that the school buildings are func-tional. Quality of equipment should take priorityover luxury of premises.

12. Costs. Scientific education, though eco-nomically viable, continues to be very expensiveand every effort must be made to avoid failures andto ensure the full-time utilization of teachers andlaboratories. The teacher/student and student/laboratory ratios must be so calculated as to guar-antee maximum efficiency and returns.

13. Legislation. This must be such as to en-sure the participation of the higher education insti-tutions in economic development, and consequently,the participation of the economy in the functioningand development of higher education.

(1) The Tanzanian delegation expressed somereservations concerning these methods ofplanning on a regional scale.

43


14. International and regional co-operation.Direct aid, fellowship, and student and teacherexchange programmes should be developed. Ex-ternal aid can be put to better use by planning ed-ucation and setting up co-ordinating bodies.

15. Employment of graduates. The employ-ment of graduates is facilitated by educationalplanning and the creation of placement services.The “degree”, however, is only a starting point,and certainty of employment and the level of re-muneration will depend primarily upon the indivi-dual merit and efforts of the graduates.

16. Among the particular problems involvedin the training of engineers and technicians, men-tion should be made of the following:(a)

(b)

The objectives: Technical staff of this cate-gory must be utilizable immediately and mustbe able to participate in the on-site trainingof the labour force for which they are respon-sible. They must be able to cope with techi-cal changes which they themselves will oftenhave initiated. They must be aware of thefact that their technical advice may have im-portant political, social and economic reper-cussions.Implications for the curricula: Practicaltraining must be developed. The basic sci-ences curricula must be strengthened if changeis to be brought about. Applied researchmustform an integral part of the training of engi-neers and technicians, for they, too, must

“learn to learn”. Finally, their basic trainingmust be a multipurpose one - to enable themto cope with problems of different kinds andmagnitude - and must include an introductionto economic and social problems.

(c) Life-long education: It is possible to establishcurricula that can be covered in normal time,despite the apparently contradictory needs whichthey must satisfy, provided that the basic train-ing is recognized as only a first educationalstage in which the students are trained for fur-ther studies later on.

(d) The structures: The introduction of researchand the strengthening of the basic science cur-ricula argue in favour of integrating all thehigher training establishments in the universi-ties. Such integration will make it easier tosolve the problem of the equivalences of dip-lomas, as well as inter-African co-operation.In addition, the ties between higher educationand the economic sectors concerned must bedeveloped considerably and institutionalized.

(e) The needs: The analysis includedas an annexto paragraph 83 of document UNESCO-OAU/CESTA/4 shows that by the end of the next20 years Middle Africa will need at least 200engineers per million inhabitants and NorthAfrica nearly 800. Over the same period,both areas will require four to five techniciansto be trained for each engineer.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Commission II recommends that the Conference recalls the Lagos and Tananarive Conferences andadopts the following resolutions:

I


1.

2.

3.

4.

To establish manpower boards to fix enrolment targets in higher technical institutions anduniversities bearing in mind the recommendation of the Lagos Conference ( 1964) that within20 years from now 200 science teachers and research workers per million inhabitants aretrained, and that 10 to 15 engineers per million inhabitants are trained each year in MiddleAfrica, more than twice that proportion in North Africa, and, in each area, at least four timesmore technicians:

To strengthenall institutes of higher education with a view to bringing them into universitystructures on a national or regional scale as this would facilitate the co-ordination of higherscientific and technical education and inter-African co-operation in this field;

To provide, as far as possible, buildings, and equipment for high level institutions which paydue regard to functional needs;

To provide incentives to prevent the “brain drain” and ensure an adequate supply of trainedpersonnel in such critical fields as university and secondary school teaching, research, in-dustrial and agricultural development;

44


5. To plan the development of high level manpower on the basis of needs so as to avoid wastage;

6. To collaborate on a regional basis in developing specialized fields of study in universities orhigher technical institutions.

II

The Conference invites institutions of higher education

1. To ensure that curriculum content in the field of science and technology pays due regard to acomprehensive approach before proceeding to the specialized fields;

2. To maintain contact with government, industrial, and economic interests so as to define moreaccurately goals for both training and research;

3. To improve the methodology of teaching, and in particular to accord considerable importanceto integrated practical training.

III

The Conference invites Unesco:

1. To assist Member States in fulfilling these tasks;

2. To include in the agenda of the next regional conference on the application of science andtechnology to development in Africa, a specific study of problems concerning higher scienceeducation and the training of engineers and technicians.

Item 8.6

PREREQUISITES IN GENERAL EDUCATIONFOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICALEDUCATION

1. Some training in science and technique isnecessary at all levels in our present society.Children’s minds must be progressively preparedto receive that training as soon as they come intocontact with the world of education. All pupilsshould be introduced to scientific and technicalsubjects but this must be coupled with generaland artistic culture. Education must producemen and citizens and not mere cogs of the socialmachine.

2. The prerequisites in general educationfor scientific and technical training can be classi-fied as follows:

Health and physical education

3. Efficient and healthy bodies served by ac-tive sense organs are basic requirements to allhuman endeavours and more particularly in tech-nical and vocational fields. This therefore setsone of the objectives for generaleducation. Child-ren can also be specially prepared for the physi-cal aspect of their future trade in order to increasetheir safety and efficiency,

Language and communication

4. Language and communication would needto be both easy and adequate. An early startshould be made to adapt vernacular languages foruse in science and technology. The creation ofspecialized linguistic centres may be necessaryfor this purpose. In view of the fact that most ofthe existing scientific and technical books are inEnglish and French, special efforts should bemade to teach these two languages. This impliesexpanding the production of materials and text-books in the country concerned.

5. Language teaching can easily be embodiedin primary and secondary schools in simplifiedscientific literature. Audio-visual aids and edu-cational toys used in language teaching can be ef-fective in stimulating interest in that field. Theytrain and sharpen the sense organs and the powerof observation at the same time. In secondaryschools, a large variety of simple scientific andtechnical books or magazines can greatly help toincrease the necessary vocabulary.

Mathematics and measurements

6. Mathematics are essential for all formsof scientific and technical training and for the eval-uation of one’s productivity. The progress in thatfield compels to renew the teaching methods andmodernize the curriculum content.

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7. Primary schoolchildren should be able toappreciate the significance of: enumerations,quantities and measurement units for lengths, areasand volumes. In secondary schools, a necessaryreconstitution of the mathematics syllabus shoulddevelop the use of graphic representation, prac-tical devices for quick calculations, based on mo-dern mathematics.

Basic and environmental sciences

8. Any technical activity rests on the princi-ples of basic sciences: physics, chemistry, bio-logy and geology. In Africa, a special effort mustbe made to increase and tighten the mutual rela-tions between those sciences and technology. Inprimary schools, adopting the environmental ap-proach which encourages curiosity, observation,questioning, experimentation and explanation willbe the most useful form of introducing the basicsciences. This should be extended to the juniorsecondary schools while the basic sciences areprogressively introduced. That approach shouldemphasize scientific attitudes and problem solvingas key elements. Thus the primary and secondaryschoolchildren will know about the earth and thesoil, plants and animals, water and other liquids,air and simple gases and a few basic facts aboutcosmography. This will help to bridge the exist-ing gap between science teaching and practicallife.The teaching of hygiene and nutrition forms partof the same approach.

Applied science and technology

9. A considerable amount of technology canbe introduced into primary schools through educa-tional toys which develop creativity and resourceful-ness. Drawing, modelling, designing, innovating,dismantling and rebuilding will help the child under-stand the function and the principle of the surround-ing objects and make the synthesis of their commoncharacteristics. The child will thus be led to un-derstand and appreciate the new discoveries at anearly level. He will realize through personal ex-perimentation that complicated things are madewith simple parts. This will develop his sense ofanalysis and synthesis, and help develop his abilityto visualize things in three dimensions.

10. We can see that technologymust be distin-guished from basic sciences whose aims and methodsare of a different nature and also from usual handi-crafts such as metal work, woodwork, glass andplastics, which are focused on a different type ofskill and creativity. These three kinds of educa-tional activities will prove complementary.

11. In secondary schools, applied scienceand technology may be of a terminal or prevoca-tional nature. Beside those mentioned above, they

46

may include practical agriculture and poultry farm-ing, cookery and housecraft, building trades, soap-making, automobile mechanics, electric circuits,sign-writing and lettering, letter press printing.All these require adequately qualified teachers,necessary equipment and the understanding andcollaboration of parents.

Artistic and aesthetic training

12. Every effort should be made to cultivatea sense of aesthetic and artistic appreciation, asense of harmony in colours and shapes and devel-op three-dimensional visualization. Drawing andsketching, colour work in pastels, water colourand oil painting, modelling can greatly help in thatfield.

Social sciences

13. The engineer, technician and craftsmanmust know the other members of the society inwhich they live. They must appreciate. their mu-tual interdependence and the division of labour thatimplies. At school, social sciences should empha-size the interdisciplinary approach towards prep-aration for life in an integrated society. The childmust be led from his egocentric self to social or-ganization and responsibility from family to man-kind.

Preparation for the next higher level ofeducation in science and technology

14. The division of the whole schooling andtraining system into isolated units should be avoidedand each level must directly prepare the child forthe next higher one. In this regard universitiesshould play an active role in the development andexecution of curricula at all levels.

15. The children leaving primary schoolshould be prepared by the prerequisites describedabove before any forms of vocational training.Secondary schoolchildren must be prepared foremployment, or for higher technical or scientificstudies. The basic elements of physics, chemistry,biology, mathematics and earth sciences as wellas the prevocational exposure to technical activi-ties through technology, handicrafts and appliedsciences will give them that possibility.

16. Some delegates expressed the opinionthat without a parallel education of the parents,all those endeavours to create a scientific spiritmay be useless. Other delegates expressed theopinion that intellectual independence is necessaryto achieve such a fundamental change.


RECOMMENDATIONS

Commission II recommends that the Conference adopt the following resolutions:

I


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

To ensure, through appropriate arrangements, that the physical development of pupils is ac-corded an important place in school programmes;

To give prominence in the curricula to the practical teaching of the monther tongue and thelanguages widely used nationally and internationally;

To accord, in all sections at the various levels of education, an adequate place to training inmathematics, science and technology;

To develop the study of environment to the maximum both in primary education and in juniorsecondary education as well:

To introduce the teaching of technology more particularly into the first cycle of secondary ed-ucation in order to enable young pupils to improve their understanding of the surrounding tech-nical world;

To accord a place to civic education and to the social sciences with a view to the pupil’s inte-gration not only in professional life but also in national and international life;

To ensure that prevocational education is accompanied by a humanistic and artistic educationthat will bring out the full potential of the pupil:

To revise teaching methods in all disciplines along experimental and practical lines, so thatschool and modern life may be fused in one attractive whole;

To equip the specialized training sections (languages, technology and science) of teacher-training institutes with the most modern material and to provide the necessary infrastructureand staff to maintain and repair that material;

II

The Conference invites African governments to appeal toregional and international organizations:

To provide aid to projects designed to achieve the aims set out above.

Item 8.7

PROBLEMS OF VOCATIONAL ANDTECHNICAL EDUCATION AT THESECONDARY LEVEL

1. The Commission discussed this topic interms of educational, economic and political andsocial factors. A summary view of the problemsand of measures needed to deal with them is asfollows :Educational problems

2. The provision of an adequate number ofproperly qualified teachers is vital to the success

of technical and vocational education schemes.Enthusiastic and competent teaching staff mayovercome certain deficiencies in buildings orequipment but they will only be attracted to theservice by the payment of salaries comparablewith those they can earn in industry. A technicalteacher should have adequate technical qualifica-tions, extensive industrial experience and teachertraining. Such individuals are in short supplytheworld over. Where industries exist the quickestway to train teachers is by recruiting them fromindustry and offering teacher-training bursaries;but, with the current shortage of qualified techni-cal personnel and the salary scales prevailing in

47


the teaching service, this is not yet possible.Technical teacher training schemes must there-fore be initiated for secondary school leavers andshould include higher technical studies, industrialtraining and teacher training. The use of modernaudio-visual aids, radio and television, programmedlearning, etc. should be encouraged to assist inovercoming the shortage of teachers.

3. The purpose of the vocational and techni-cal schools must be clearly established before thecurriculum content can be determined. The cur-riculum should take into account the national back-ground and traditions and the natural resources,local technical practices and economic objectivesof the country. Owing to the rapid advancementof science and technology, training in a specifiedtechnical vocation may be rapidly outdated unlessit has a sound scientific basis which makes thetrainee adaptable to new developments. At thesecondary level, the curriculum content shouldpreserve a balance between general education,science and practical training. It should be con-sidered as pre-craft or pre-technician trainingand should allow students to advance to highereducation or on-the-job training in accordancewith their aptitudes and abilities.

4. Wherever possible, practical trainingshould be carried out in industry and sandwichprogrammes developed for the training of techni-cians and craftsmen. Close collaboration mustbe developed between technical and vocational in-stitutions and industry. If industry cannot offerfacilities for in-plant training, the educational in-stitutions, with their practical training facilities,must set up industrial-type workshops. Alterna-tively, special production or training centres maybe set up as satellites to the educational establish-ment.

5. To overcome the prejudice existing insome countries against technical vocations, a com-prehensive careers guidance service should be setup in the schools. The identification of pupils’ ab-ilities can be facilitated by properly validated apti-tude tests. Mass media should be used to public-ize careers in the technical field.

6. There is a tendency for students to pursuestudies for the sake of the certificates or diplomasawarded at the end of the course rather than withan eye to subsequent employment. Many employershowever realize that such certificates are only ofvalue in short-listing applicants for posts, and aremore concerned with the individual’s ability to un-dertake a job of work. Some examining authori-ties attach great importance to the assessment oflaboratory and workshop exercises undertaken bythe candidates during their course. Others includea practical test in the final examinations. Researchis required into the effectiveness of various typesof examinations and tests in assessing the student’sability. Comparative studies of the systems andpractices in technical and vocational education

throughout the world should be analysed to deter-mine the best forms for the developing countriesof Africa.

Economic problems

7. The provision of technical and vocationaleducation facilities must be geared to the economicdevelopment plan of the country. In this regard,the manpower needs in different fields and at dif-ferent levels should be estimated as accuratelyas possible to avoid shortage in one area and sur-pluses in others. The training of craftsmen andtechnicians must not lag behind that of engineers.The output from technical training programmesmust meet the requirements of industry and em-ployers.

8. Technical and vocational education is in-evitably expensive because of the laboratory andworkshop facilities required. However, the ne-cessary funds will have to be found if agricultureand the processing of primary products is to beexpanded, transport and communications develop-ed, buildings and construction work undertakenand the foundation for industrial development laid.Sharing of the costs by commercial and industrialorganizations should be encouraged to relieve thefinancial burden on the government, and to en-courage them to participate in the training pro-gramme.

Political and social problems

9. In some developing communities there isinadequate response to scientific and technicalchange. The need for change should be acceptedby the political leadership, and all the instrumentsof mass media used to stimulate the people to ac-cept scientific and technological institutions andinnovations.

10. Proportionately, there has been dimini-shing enrolment in vocational and technical insti-tutions. Despite the targets set at the Addis AbabaConference for an increased emphasis on voca-tional and technical education in comparison withgeneral secondary education, the proportions ac-tually fell in the five years 1960-1965. This situ-ation calls for political decisions to increase theprestige of technical and vocational institutions,while at the same time it must be demonstratedthat new methods in such fields as agriculture,building and health are more effective. Pilot pro-grammes can stimulate interest and change in ruralcommunities. The adult community has to be con-vinced of the need for the application of scienceand technology, through mass media, adult literacyprojects and pilot schemes with a view to ensuringa positive response to innovations introduced topupils at school. Large investment projects suchas road construction, power supply schemes, irri-gation schemes etc., should be used as opportuni-ties for the promotion of new techniques.

48


11. Legislation may be necessary to ensurethe collaboration of industry, commerce and far-mers in technical and vocational training pro-grammes and to ensure the employment of the out-put from such schemes.

12. The magnitude of the task facing Africancountries in the field of technical and vocationaleducation calls for regional and international co-operation and assistance in such fields as teachertraining, curriculum development, research andsurveys, provision of equipment, planning of build-ings including laboratories and workshops, etc.

13. It is important to ensure the participa-tion of qualified scientific snd technical person-nel in decision-making. Scientists and engineersshould be associated with the drawing up of plansfor economic development and in government policydecisions and not simply called in to implementdecisions after they have been taken by administra-tors. It is important to do away with the impres-sion that engineers and technicians cannot makegood administrators. Personnel responsible forplanning, design and execution of development pro-jects ought to have a status and salary no less thansenior administrators.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Commission II recommends that the Conference adopt the following resolutions:

I


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

To create among the peoples the motivation which prepares the way for setting up and develop-ing of the basic structures that are necessary for introducing scientific and technical innova-tions;

To grant real priority to scientific education and technical training, particularly in agricul-ture, and to reverse the present trend of falling proportions of students going to technicalandvocational schools in some African countries;

To take steps to obtain the participation of scientists, engineers and other specialists in na-tional planning and to revise any policies which tend to exclude scientists and engineers fromaccess to top policy-making positions in government administration;

To ensure that ministries whose activities are primarily concerned with the application ofscience and technology are staffed at policy-making level by administrators with professionalqualifications in the appropriate field;

To plan the development of technical education in close agreement with economic developmentplans and in collaboration with the economic sectors concerned; to set up the appropriate co-ordinating agencies; to adopt adequate legislation to facilitate training and to ensure thattrained personnel will find employment;

To make certain that technical training institutions are equipped in such a way as to give stu-dents satisfactory and adequate practical training;

To encourage those responsible for technical and vocational education to integrate as far aspossible general culture, particularly in its national and African forms, with scientific andtechnical culture; and to develop scientific and technological studies in such a way as to makeincreasing use of the African context and environment.

II

The Conference invites African governments to appeal toregional and international organizations:

1. To aid the African countries to implement the above objectives;

49


2. To help create and develop in Africa immediately, as a matter of first priority, a networkof technical teacher training colleges or departments, as has been done in the case of teach-ers in general education;

3. To undertake thorough studies in comparative education on the subject of technical educationand to ensure the dissemination of the relevant information.

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ANNEX III

ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE SOLEMN OPENING SESSION

1. ADDRESS BY H.E. THE HON. DANIEL ARAP MOI, VICE-PRESIDENTOF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA

Mr. Chairman,Your Worship the Mayor,Ladies and Gentlemen,

His Excellency the President of the Republic ofKenya has asked me to come and read to you hisspeech. He would have liked personally to havebeen amongst you today, but because of anotherimportant engagement which was unavoidable, hewas not able to make it. I am very pleased tohave the opportunity of launching this importantconference - the third assembly, within sevenyears, of education ministers from independentAfrican States is a great occasion. In arrangingthese conferences, the initiative was assumed byUnesco. This has proved to be a practical andfruitful undertaking. So many African countrieshave gained their independence: in these sevenyears that today this assembly is more represen-tative and therefore more effective than ever be-fore. Sponsorship of this present conference hasbeen shared between the OAU and Unesco, andthis further underlines the emergence and import-ance of Africa within the world community.

You will be discussing the rôle of educationin development and all aspects of scientific andtechnical training designed to enable Africancountries to take their place in modern society.No subject could be more fundamental to the as-pirations and future needs of all our people. Iextend my most cordial welcome to you all; thegovernment and people of Kenya share with methe hope that you will find opportunities beforereturning to your homes to see something of ourwild life and mountains and beaches. Any suchtravels will enable you to move among hospitableand hardworking people, and we are confidentthatyour efforts in this assembly will fulfil the trustplaced in you by the governments and the nationswhich you represent.

The first of these conferences was held inEthiopia in 1961, followed by a meeting in theIvory Coast in 1964. I am proud that this yearthe Republic of Kenya is your host country. Themodern city of Nairobi with all its facilities isfrequently selected as a venue for internationalmeetings. It is a particular pleasure for us whenwe can offer these facilities to our African bro-thers and in this case we are serving the cause ofthe true freedom of Africa. We can only be com-plete when illiteracy is banished and our peopleare equipped with academic and scientific establish-ments. At Addis Ababa in 1961, the conferencediscussed priorities and costs as applied to educa-tional needs in developing African States. It wasconcluded then that education was not just a socialservice but a gainful economic investment: it wasfurther stated that for purposes of economic pro-gress, the development of human resources was achallenge at least as urgent as the exploitation ofnatural resources. Those were fundamental find-ings upon which some educational targets werebased. In the Republic of Kenya most encouragingadvances have been made, in tune with both thespirit and letter of such early work. Since inde-pendence our primary school enrolment has in-creased by one-third. We have four times as manysecondary school pupils as there were in 1963, andabout seven per cent of our whole national incomeis allocated to the education system. This systemnow extends from nursery school right through touniversity level and no doubt before your depar-ture, you will wish to visit institutions under all thevarious headings. Great strides have also beenmade in the teacher training both in general andscientific subjects. In the task of expanding edu-cation in developing States, finance is often a limit-ing factor, but it is also true that the output ofmore and more qualified teachers is vital to keepall projects moving.

51


Of course as education is expanded in volume,other considerations must be kept in mind. Wemust strive towards improved teaching techniquesand for high quality in the latest visual and techni-cal aids. Yet another point is that our educationsystem must be relevant to the needs and circum-stances of developing African States. There ismuch more to education policy than just the carry-ing out of some social obligation. The whole pur-pose and the products of education must be gearedto nation building. Each of the independent Statesin Africa, has problems in the field which arebasically similar but which differ in degree. Itis inescapable that systems of education should bebuilt up on national lines, but great benefit canaccrue from any pooling of resources or ideas. Itwould be wrong to carry isolation to extremes andonly some injection of international feeling or de-sign can further the concepts we all share of Afri-can unity and the family feeling of mankind. Eachnational system of education in Africa may andcould vitally contribute to co-operation within theOAU, and we should actively promote rather thanoverlook the endeavours of such bodies as Unescoto recognize and provide for the common needs ofall humanity. This conference is itself a signifi-cant landmark on the road to all such purposesand in the field of pan-African ideals. We havebeen fully engaged in Kenya with curriculum changesto bring about more diversity. We have been care-ful in this regard to discard subjects or approachesthat are not of universal value. But in the colonialera the content of education with history and geo-graphy, as just two examples, was not always tunedto African thinking and needs. The object here hasbeen to enrich the education system by making eachsubject matter more relevant and more real, andtopical. At the same time we have introducedmore practical courses to prepare young peoplemore effectively for their future careers on theland or in commerce. School systems may

sometimes be regarded as a kind of factory produc-tion line, just turning out students crammed with akind of basic learning that society feels they ought tohave. Our aim has been more meaningful: to mouldyoung men and women into responsible citizens,ready and eager to play their part in nation build-ing and determined that our hard-won independ-ence must never be lost or betrayed.

Education can also be the umbrella underwhich the traditional culture of Africa is studiedand preserved. Interest in music and dancing andfolklore, songs and stories, may and could be cul-tivated among the children of Africa from an earlyage, and as hands are more nimble and minds moreimaginative, painting, carving and pottery can beencouraged. The culture of Africa is somethingthat all our countries share. We have much stillto discover about our respective traditions, apartfrom all modern development planning. To boththese ends exchanges of students and staff at schoolsare important and worthwhile.

At Abidjan in 1964 the conference recommend-ed that OAU and Unesco should co-operate in meet-ing the great challenge of education and scientificadvancement in Africa. At the same time, it wassuggested that each of the African countries shouldset up educational planning groups to watch con-stantly over the purposes and the structures andthe content of education. Much has been done inKenya, as in other Member States, to adopt suchideas. This Conference will proceed to discussa ten-year report on Unesco in Africa and the fu-ture establishment by Unesco of offices for edu-cation, science and culture within this continent.Your views and findings will be awaited with thegreatest interest. You will be anxious now to getto grips with your important work. I thereforewish you all success in your deliberations, andenjoyment while you are the guests of the KenyaGovernment. Thank you.

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2. ADDRESS BY MR. RENE MAHEU, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNESCO

Mr. Vice-President of the Republic,Mr. Chairman,Honourable Ministers,Your Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour for me, and a real pleasure,to be here with you at this Conference of AfricanMinisters on Education and Scientific and Techni-cal Training in Relation to Development, organizedjointly by Unesco and the Organization of AfricanUnity, in co-operation with the United Nations Eco-nomic Commission for Africa. I was unable to takepart in the opening phase of your work, but I haveinformed myself of the deliberations of your twoCommissions and I have been impressed by the in-sight of their discussions and the value of theirconclusions. I think they paved the way remarkablywell for the recommendations you may adopt inthis final stage of plenary sessions.

For a conference of this kind, in which notonly the Ministers of Education but also those re-sponsible for economic and scientific developmentare taking part, no place more fitting could havebeen found than this city of Nairobi, capital of acountry so evidently determined on renewal andprogress.

For the generous hospitality of the Governmentof Kenya, I am sure I echo the thoughts of all pres-ent in expressing our gratitude to you, Mr. Vice-President, and through you to His Excellency MzeeJomo Kenyatta, President of the Republic, in whomI respectfully salute one of the heroes and of the wiseof free Africa. I also wish to thank Dr. Kiano,Minister of Education, who has done so much toensure the success of this meeting.

Assembled here with Mr. Joshua Buliro, rep-resentative of the Secretary-General of the Organ-ization of African Unity and Dr. Ademola Banjo,of the United Nations Economic Commission forAfrica, who represents the Secretary-General ofthe United Nations, there are some 160 delegatesfrom 36 African States, observers from 10 non-African States, members of Unesco and from theHoly See, representatives of 10 organizations ofthe United Nations and observers from 5 inter-governmental organizations and from 17 interna-tional non-governmental organizations having con-sultative relations with Unesco. Their presencehere reflects the number and strength of the friendson which Africa can confidently count. To all Iaddress the cordial greetings of the Organization.

Your Conference, Ladies and Gentlemen, isone in a series of regional meetings called byUnesco which have been so many milestones inthe development of education in Africa - AddisAbaba in 1961, Paris and Tananarive in 1962,Abidjan and Lagos in 1964. But this Conferencehas its own special features which - apart from

being the fruit of a partnership, now officially es-tablished, I am very happy to say, between theOrganization of African Unity and Unesco - derivemainly from its purpose. In accordance with thedecision of the General Conference at its fourteenthsession, this purpose is tore-examine the objectivesand methods of educational planning in the light ofeconomic growth in the African countries since1958.

Now, although a number of African countrieseven then had made some notable progress in ed-ucation, sometimes with the aid of Unesco, itmust be said that it was above all after 1960, asmost of the African countries became independent,that the movement developed which led to a gene-ral advance in education throughout the continent.And since the most recent statistical data we haveat present are for 1965-1966, the retrospectiveexamination YOU make will coincide almost exac-tly with the evaluation of the results obtained bythe five-year indicative plan adopted in 1961 at theAddis Ababa Conference.

Without prejudice to your own conclusions, Ishould like to tell you of the grounds for satisfac-tion, but also for concern - for we are here to befrank and realistic - to which, in my view, an ob-jective analysis of these results can lead.

Let me start with the grounds for satisfaction.First, it can be seen that the development of

education is now regarded, in Africa, as in therest of the world, not merely as the expansion ofeducation systems, but as a comprehensive effortto mobilize all the human resources, with the helpof school and out-of-school education through bothgeneral education and scientific and technicaltraining. The ideal of justice underlying the im-plementation of the right to education thus coin-cides with the imperatives of development.

In this regard, it will not be the least contri-bution of the First Development Decade launchedin 1960 by the United Nations to have made it pos-sible, with the recognition of the value of educa-tion as a productive investment to bring graduallyinto prominence the idea of making the most ofhuman resources. Not only is this a factor asnecessary to development as the utilization of na-tural resources but to the development processas a whole, it is now recognized as a most, if notthe most decisive factor. It cannot be over-emphasized and repeated too often that man isthe major source of development and its uniquepurpose. As I said a fortnight ago to the Economicand Social Council in Geneva, on these essentialtruths must rest the strategy of the Second Devel-opment Decade, which is to start in 1971.

In this regard it is gratifying to learn thatthe United Nations General Assembly proposesto proclaim 1970 International Education Year.I have no doubt that the Unesco General Conference,

53


which is to advise the General Assembly on thispoint, will warmly urge it to do so. For this In-ternational Year would provide an occasion to en-courage reflection and mobilize the energies ofMember States, nationally and internationally, infavour of education, and would thus pave the waymost appropriately for the launching, the follow-ing year, of the Second Development Decade.

Education, therefore, is no longer regardedonly as the preparation of the individual for thefullest possible development of his or her own cap-acities, but also as the training of the young gene-rations in terms of the needs and potentialities ofthe community for its development. Educationalplanning is thus situated at the meeting-place ofethics and economics and implies the constant con-fronting and integration of both. This explains whyeducational planning which, perhaps too much in-fluenced at first by econometrics, was originallyintended mainly as a means of determining thequantitative aims of training, is now being increas-ingly regarded as the qualitative analysis of thevarious factors, economic and other, on which theexpansion and the improvement of education depend.

Educational planning, pursuant to the recom-mendations of the Addis Ababa Conference, hasgained full acceptance in Africa. This is not theeffect of a passing infatuation with a new idea, butresults from the clear recognition that educationalplanning meets the need to bring educational sys-tems up to maximum efficiency, while at the sametime ensuring the balanced development of the in-dividual. The governments of many African coun-tries, often with the help of Unesco experts, haveset up appropriate planning services and the fore-casts for education have been integrated, as eco-nomic plans were worked out, in the projectionsand the objectives of development in general. Withthis purpose in view your governments have takensteps to ensure the training of African specialists,either in Africa itself, as at the regional centre atDakar, or outside Africa, as at the InternationalInstitute for Educational Planning at Paris.

Secondly, since the Addis Ababa Conferencethere has been a general and substantial increasein school enrolments which reflects the Africanpeoples’ thirst for knowledge, and the will of theirgovernments to provide universal access to educa-tion. Even if the progress made has still not sat-isfied the need, this is quite obviously the begin-ning of an irreversible process. That surely is agreat achievement, of which you can justly be proud.The nineteen-sixties will go down in African his-tory as the years when education made its greatadvance; so true is it that enlightenment alwaysgoes hand in hand with freedom.

With regard to the numbers of students, onenotes that in higher education they now exceed bya wide margin the minimum targets fixed by theTananarive Conference, while the percentage ofstudents enrolled in African institutions comparedwith those who hold scholarships to study outside

54

Africa is steadily increasing. It is also appro-priate to point out that at all levels of educationthe figures for the enrolment of girls and women,long held back by considerations and factors whollyforeign to education, show a greater rise than dothose for total enrolment, thus ensuring firmfoundations for the emancipation of the Africanwoman and her contribution to social progress.

Similarly, the quality of the training of Afri-can teachers has improved remarkably. In manycountries, primary education is now entirely, oralmost entirely, staffed by African teachers. Insecondary education, the number of African teach-ers trained in the 25 higher teacher training schoolsset up by governments with the aid of Unesco andthe United Nations Special Fund is over a thousandyearly. This figure is expected to increase in 1971to over 4, 500. These are eloquent figures, whichassume their full significance when it is recalledthat, in 1960, there were extremely few institu-tions, if any, for higher teacher training in tropi-cal Africa. Further, the double process of Afri-canization of the educational administration staffsand of the curricula, with which Unesco has beenactively associated, has been undertaken or devel-oped with increased energy.

These are unprecedented efforts and remark-able results, for which all friends of Africa re-joice with you and warmly congratulate you. Butthat, however, cannot blind us to the difficultieswhich have stood in the way of giving full effect tothe Addis Ababa Plan. Knowing your wisdom andcourage, I do not doubt that you will agree withme in rejecting all vain complacency; and so nowI come to the grounds of concern.

First, it must be recognized that theincreasein enrolments in primary and secondary schoolsfalls short of the targets set.

In 1965, the number of children enrolled inprimary schools was 1, 100, 000 short of the tar-get. Instead of the 5% increase recommended,the first-year primary intake rose by only 1. 77%per annum. Annual wastage was 21% instead ofonly 10% as foreseen: this means a rate of 68%as against an expected 41% for a six-year primarycourse. Taking the population growth into accountthere is thus an alarming increase in absoluteterms of the number of illiterates. If the presentsituation continues, it can be calculated that thechildren born in 1954 will produce a new contin-gent of more than 3, 800, 000 adult illiterates in1969. In other words, unless strong measuresare taken to reverse the trend, the primary schoolis going to lose the battle against illiteracy.

In secondary education, the number of pupilsfalls short of the targets by 387, 000. This is be-cause primary school enrolment did not reach theplanned target, and also because the percentageof primary school pupils who were to go on tosecondary was not reached. Moreover, contraryto the Addis Ababa recommendations, the ratioenrolments in technical and vocational to those in


general education has not altered in favour of thefirst: quite the contrary.

In higher education, although the enrolmentincrease is, as I indicated, on the average abovethe target, the percentage of science and techno-logy students, instead of rising from 41. 6% to43. 3%, fell to 36. 2% between 1961 and 1965. Andthe percentage of science students who go into ag-ronomy is often less than 10%, although the require-ments of African agriculture are immense and in-deed vital.

Thus the targets set at Addis Ababa for thefirst five-year phase have been only partially at-tained and it is to be feared that the cumulative ef-fect of the delays incurred may make the imple-

” 1

mentation of the second phase more difficult. Doesthis mean that the targets were too ambitious andthat they should be revised? That is an importantmatter for you to weigh. But, whatever conclu-sions you may reach in this respect, the fact standsbeyond any doubt that these targets have had thebeneficient effect of stimulating educational expan-sion in Africa on a scale never before attained, oreven envisaged.

The main point, however, is to endeavour tounderstand the nature and causes of the difficultiesthat obstructed the attainment of the targets ofAddis Ababa. Some of these difficulties are of asocio-economic and financial character, othersare inherent in the education systems themselves,

Above all, the economic growth rate did notrise as fast as expected, as shown in the excellentreport prepared by the Economic Commission forAfrica. In particular, it was found that not enoughaccount had been taken of the disturbances causedin the economies of the African countries by the in-stability of basic commodity prices.

It must also be noted that, however, generousthe contributions of countries friendly to Africa andhowever active the assistance of the internationalorganizations may have been, the volume of out-side aid during the period under consideration wasmuch less than had been hoped.

Now, from the trends visible in the present in-ternational situation, it would seem unfortunatelyimprudent to bank on any marked rise in the finan-cial help that Africa could get from outside in thecoming years. If these trends persist, Africangovernments will have to be prepared to redoubletheir own efforts.

Unhappily, although some seem to have a cer-tain budgetary margin for this purpose, many arealready devoting 4% or 5% of their nationalincometo education, and 20% or even 33% of their publicexpenditure and thus have already arrived or soonwill have arrived, at the limit of their capacity.It is a fact that in the countries least favoured eco-nomically, which very often are those where ini-tial enrolment rates were lowest, an increased fi-nancial effort, though large in percentage, willproduce only a meagre budgetary sum. It musttherefore be recognized that, in these countries

at least, it will be extremely difficult, without aconsiderable increase of external help, to reachin 1980 the enrolment targets set at Addis Ababa.

Thereupon, it seems to me, certain conclu-sions must be drawn and here are some which Ishould like to submit, Ladies and Gentlemen, foryour consideration.

First, it seems to me desirable that eachAfrican government should interpret the guidelinesand general objectives indicated in the Addis Aba-ba Outline Plan in the light of its own individualposition. It had been thought at the time of the1964 Abidjan Conference that this reassessmentcould be carried out by groups of countries, clas-sified according to their social and economic si-tuation and their educational systems. However,a more particularized approach now seems calledfor: each country should redefine its own priori-ties within the framework suggested by the gene-ral outline recommendations,-on the understand-ing that those priorities could subsequently be ad-justed during the successive phases of implemen-tation.

However, the shortfall in primary enrolmentin the majority of African countries turns out tobe so great that priority during the second phaseshould doubtless be given to primary education,which is an indispensable basis for the progressof any nation and an essential sector for the effec-tive application of the right to education. Such anadjustment of priorities, which would in no wayimply questioning the vital importance of second-ary and higher education, would make it possible,in the long-term, to build up balanced educationalsystems after successive adjustments.

Another lesson which can, I think, be drawnfrom experience is that the qualitative improve-ment of systems of education, far from runningcounter to their quantitative expansion, is a ne-cessary pre-condition for such expansion, sinceit allows maximum utilization of available re-sources. There are a number of directions inwhich the efforts already made to achieve thisqualitative improvement can be pursued. Educa-tional planning, for instance, can become evenmore rigorous. In this connexion, African govern-ments will be able to benefit from the conclusionsof the International Conference on EducationalPlanning which is to be held in Paris next month.In the same way, progress can be made in the uti-lization of teaching staff, whose professional ef-ficiency could be increased by a wider use of newteaching methods and techniques, such as audio-visual methods and programmed instruction, andby the improvement of laboratory equipment. Fi-nally, the reform of the systems of promotionandselection, and a revision of curricula, should makeit possible to remedy the serious wastage ratewhich, by causing an abnormal increase in unitcosts, has the effect of seriously reducing thepossibilities of enrolment. I consider that thisphenomenon of wastage, which affects, in varying


degrees, the majority of African countries, con-stitutes the main obstacle to genuine educationalprogress.

It would, however, give an inadequate ideaof the efforts required if I were to do no morethan enumerate the administrative or pedagogicalmeasures that need to be taken. In certain Afri-can countries, universalization of access to edu-cation appears possible only if entirely new form-ulas are substituted for the traditional solutions,which are often too costly and unsuitable. In thisrespect the work of your governments cannot beconsidered outside the context of the general trans-formation of education which is everywhere provingnecessary and the factors of which are changingunder our eyes with extraordinary rapidity.

Even more than the inadequacy of resources -which is particularly serious in Africa but whichexists in all the developing regions and indeed invarying degrees in all countries - the root causeof this world educational crisis, with its occasion-ally dramatic manifestations, is doubtless the factthat the content and structures of education are ill-adapted to the requirements of development on theone hand and to the human aspirations of the indi-vidual on the other. While educational planning,as I have already said, was originally conceivedabove all as a means of establishing quantitativetraining targets to meet development needs it didnot, perhaps, take sufficiently into account theindividual’s desire for the harmonious integrationof his personality in a society in which his apti-tudes and gifts can thrive and to whose develop-ment he can make a useful contribution. Thefeeling of frustration and the attitude of refusalrevealed by the revolt which is at present shakingthe ranks of youth in most parts of the world iscertainly due, in no small measure, to a realiza-tion of the gap that exists between the training re-ceived and the opportunities, real or desired, forsocial integration. This is a major consideration,to which those in charge of educational planningshould, in my opinion, pay greater heed in future.

Contrary to what we hear all too often fromthe holders of a malthusian view of education, itis not the generalized access to a constantly risingstandard of education which is responsible forfailure to adapt, or lack of employment among theyoung. Inadequate education or a faulty organiza-tion of society - most often both - are the causesof this lack of adaptation and unemployment whichare already manifesting themselves in Africa asin other parts of the world. The time has cometherefore for those in charge of African educationto address themselves to the problem of the realuse which education has for the pupil or studentconsidered as an individual, as a producing agentand as a citizen. For this it is not enough to de-velop and improve school and vocational guidance -a measure which is undoubtedly necessary but un-likely to be of primary efficacy. The essentialpoint is to give education, at all levels, a content

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better adapted to the needs of society and to theabilities and aspirations of the individual.

The problem is to provide the greatest pos-sible number with equal opportunities for accessto education and to ensure that this education pre-pares for life, which does not consist only in in-tegrating oneself into a society passively accepted,but above all in taking a useful part in the devel-opment and improvement of that society, as wellas of oneself. Thus in Africa, a continent with alargely agricultural economy, primary educationmust to a far greater extent train pupils in ruraldevelopment while also giving them the means,through life-long education, of continuing to studyand to realize their full potential as individuals.

The need to develop scientific and technicaleducation derives from the same preoccupations.It is not only a matter of training enough researchscientists and technicians for development require-ments, although this is absolutely necessary, butabove all, of giving pupils as a whole an education -I might say a culture - imbued with that scientificspirit without which they will not be in a positionto understand the world they will have to live inand, subsequently, .influence.

This means strengthening, improving andeven rethinking scientific education at the second-ary level, so as not only to give secondary schoolpupils the training which they need to specializein a given branch, but also to enable primaryschool pupils to receive a more thorough intro-duction to the scientific universe - an initiationwhich really should start in the primary school.Here again the problem is less one of educationalstructures and organization than of culture andultimate aims.

In this context, we can appreciate the fullsignificance of the part which can be played bythose scientific training and research institutionswhich in English go by the name of “centres ofexcellence” and which in French might be called“centres d’études avancés” - centres for advancedstudy. The Organization of African Unity and theUnited Nations Economic Commission for Africarightly see in them a means of training in Africaitself - that is, in the conditions which best allowadaptation, and consequently, more usefully thanby studies abroad - high grade personnel for thescientific development of Africa. Even more:such institutions are indispensable for implantingscientific culture in African soil by keeping Afri-can scientific talent within the continent.

I have given you, Ladies and Gentlemen, abrief summary of the main problems which youare invited to consider and the examination ofwhich will perhaps lead you to draw up a pro-gramme of action that will fix the guidelines forthe efforts of your governments during the nextfive years.

It will then remain for you to express yourviews on the contribution which Unesco can makein carrying out that programme. It will of course


be for the General Conference, the Organization’ssovereign body, to decide on any proposals submit-ted to it in this respect; but there is no need to saythat I for my part undertake to study with the greatestpossible care any suggestions you may wish to putforward.

On the basis of the activities (some are men-tioned in the documents submitted to you), whichUnesco has carried out during the period underconsideration with a view to contributing to the de-velopment of education in Africa, it already ap-pears necessary to intensify the efforts to promoteuniversal access to education - particularly forgirls and women - functional literacy, the train-ing of teachers, and the training of scientific staff,especially engineers and technicians.

Although the improvement of systems of ed-ucation still calls for prior study and research,the results of which will have to be widely dissem-inated, new possibilities of action are already tobe seen in the field of teacher training. For ex-ample, the national educational institutes in re-ceipt of assistance from the United Nations Devel-opment Programme could, in a second phase, com-plement the work of the higher teacher trainingschools by associating research - with increasedmeans - more closely with teacher training. Sim-ilarly, rural teacher training schools for primaryteachers could, with the help of the Special Fundand Unicef, train teachers who would provide anew type of primary education. Finally, new ed-ucation and research structures, such as the “cen-tres of excellence” I mentioned a moment ago,could be set up alongside the faculties of scienceand the engineering schools, to develop the scien-tific potential of Africa.

When you express your views on the usefulnessof each of the various activities which might thusbe undertaken, you may perhaps also wish to giveyour opinion on the advisability of linking such workto regional or sub-regional institutions. Allow me,without prejudice to your conclusions, to say thata great many experiments over a number of yearshave convinced me that such institutions can reallyplay their part only if considerable means are madeavailable to them and if they can rely on the servicesof an appropriate infrastructure of specialists atHeadquarters. This conviction has been confirmedby the conclusions of an assessment mission whichI instructed, at the end of last year, to make anon-the-spot investigation into the working and ef-ficiency of the numerous and varied regional institutesand centres set up and maintained by Unesco inAfrica. I greatly appreciated the honesty and rea-lism of their conclusions which will be most usefulto me in increasing the efficiency of these arrange-ments.

Ladies and Gentlemen,Because of the importance of the problemwith

which it will deal, and the authority which your highand responsible functions will confer on its recom-mendations, your Conference, gentlemen, will beof great significance for the future of educationin Africa. Although some of the difficulties whichI took the liberty of mentioning very franklyto youcall for increased vigilance, they in no way pre-clude reasonable hopes, and the noteworthy pro-gress achieved in past years is a guarantee of fi-nal success.

Without claiming a monopoly of co-operationwith African countries in education, and whilebeing fully aware of the modesty of its resourcesin relation to the immensity of the needs, Unescomore than ever wishes to give you its fullest sup-port in a concerted action conducted in collabora-tion with its sister agencies of the United Nationssystem, with the United Nations Economic Com-mission for Africa, with the Organization of Afri-can Unity and the Joint Afro-Malagasy Organization.In this context, Unesco is willing to assume fullythe conceptual rôle which is incumbent upon it inthis co-ordination in view of the central positionwhich education and science occupy in develop-ment. It stands ready to help your governments,if they so request, to blend into a coherent wholethe manifold forms of assistance which Africa al-ready receives, or may receive in the future,from such financing institutions as the United Na-tions Development Programme, Unicef, the WorldFood Program, the International Bank, the Afri-ca Development Bank or the Development Assist-ance Committee of the Organization for EconomicCo-operation and Development. Such are the re-newed assurances which I wanted to give you, to-gether with the expression of my most sincerepersonal attachment and devotion.

But, however valuable the assistance fromwhich they may benefit under international or bi-lateral co-operative programmes, the free coun-tries of Africa must rely chiefly upon themselvesin bringing to a successful completion the vast taskof expanding and improving education on whichgenuine development and independence are based.Above all it is essential that Africa should now re-think the purpose of the efforts it is making in thisrespect, and drawing so to speak a second breath,start anew on its progress towards ensuring thetriumph on its soil of the true kind of developmentin which economic efficiency, cultural values andhuman rights march hand in hand. This is mymost heartfelt desire, and my appeal to you.

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3. ADDRESS BY MR. S.D. BULIRO, ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL,REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY-GENEAL OF THE OAU

The General Information Note for this Conferencestates that the “weather in Nairobi in July is cool. . . ” among other things, and this, together withthe generous and friendly hospitality of the Presi-dent, the Government and the peoples of Kenya,provide what we consider to be the correct environ-ment within which to execute the important respon-sibilities falling on this Conference.

On behalf of the OAU, it is a pleasure YourExcellency, Mr. Vice-President, Mr. President,Excellencies, brothers and sisters, ladies andgentlemen, to welcome you to this Conference onEducation and Scientific and Technical Training inRelation to Development in Africa. As you areaware, the Conference itself followed a request ofmost African States calling for a joint effort be-tween Unesco and OAU in organizing it. I amhappy to report that Unesco and OAU have workedwell and harmoniously in the preparations of thisConference, and it is up to you to judge the resultsof that joint effort. Whatever the position, we allneed cool and incisive minds when discussing Afri-can educational problems, and a balanced, imagi-native but realistic approach, when proposing sol-utions to those problems. We are sure we arevoicing the hopes of the joint Unesco/OAU Secre-tariat when we say that we hope you will use thisConference not only for exchanging experiences inthe successes and failures in the national educa-tional services, but also in proposing solutionsthat you may have met individually and collectively.It is our hope that out of this Conference, futuredevelopment in education at all levels and in train-ing in all aspects will be forthcoming for the bene-fit of all Member States. Unesco and OAU havedone what they can to identify some of the problemsthat are currently met by some Member States andalso to propose not only solutions to some of theproblems, but also areas of future development.

We of the OAU welcomed whole-heartedly therequest that we should co-operate with Unesco inorganizing and preparing for this Conference.This co-operation started soon after the OAU wasfounded in 1963 and has been growing from strengthto strength every year. While this was happeningwe were negotiating an agreement between the twoorganizations which would institutionalize and in-tensify such co-operation through, among otherthings, joint effort and action. It is a pleasure toreport that early this month of July, that agree-ment was signed. In it, an attempt has been madeto indicate useful areas of co-operation and whatform of contacts and dealings between the organi-zations could take. It is the hope of the OAU thatwhile such a legal document is helpful in avoidingdifferences between the organizations concerned,it should in fact stimulate increasing co-operation,consultations and joint effort between such

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organizations. It is therefore our hope that nowthat this agreement between Unesco and OAU hasbeen signed, Africa as a whole, and in particular,the Member States of the OAU, will increasinglybenefit from close co-operation between the twoorganizations. You are aware that while the OAUhas wider terms of reference as given to it by itsCharter, Unesco is mainly concerned with educa-tional, scientific and cultural matters. The co-operation that is expected between the two organ-izations will therefore be necessarily restrictedto the terms of reference of Unesco.

Turning now to the agenda of this Conferencewhich includes educational matters, it is knownthat problems of education at alllevels withinOAU Member States are many, complex and press-ing. The provisional agenda before you, which isthe result of proposals from Unesco and OAU, at-tempts to highlight areas where individual or jointeffort can be contributed to the eventual solutionof some of those problems. It is our view that,without neglecting obvious areas of regional orcontinental effort, attention should be focused onthe state of affairs within individual States and onhow to solve problems met therein. As OAU Mem-ber States march towards closer and closer unity,it is only through the adequate development of ed-ucational services within the constituent parts,assisted where appropriate by regionaland contin-ental institutions, that some progress can beachieved by the whole continent.

Taking now the individual educational sectors,and according to the data presented to you, it isfound that the expansion of primary school places,has far outstripped the available places in second-ary and vocational institutions. It has also beenobserved that, due to various factors, the qualityof that primary education has, in some cases, notbeen of the required standards. In view of these,and while carrying out desirable expansion, it maynot be out of place to examine how best the gainsso far at primary level can be consolidated andimproved upon. This Conference should addressitself, for example, to the problems of repeatersand drop-outs, which have been highlighted in oneof Unesco’s documents. Could the introduction ofa limited system of education at the primary level,provide that individual treatment that could bringout the best in every student and create continuinginterest - thus helping to eliminate these two pro-blems? Or could they be eliminated by the aboli-tion of class qualifying tests? Africa wants a sol-ution to these problems so as to remove the un-desirable wastage and illiteracy that they bring.

At the secondary educational level, the tar-gets set at the Addis Ababa Conference, have notbeen met. We are aware that two of the main ob-stacles to the expansion of secondary education are:


the shortage of funds and the shortage of qualifiedteachers. For the latter, the OAU secretariathadproposed in 1966, a two-prong attack aimed at bal-ancing the demand and supply of teachers. Thestarting point of the proposals was that the avail-able and fresh in-take of teachers were inadequate.While building adequate training facilities to meetthe demand for teachers, short-term policies shouldbe applied to provide untrained teachers on a tem-porary basis. The short-term policies could in-clude sandwich teacher-training courses and na-tional service for all school and university leaversin teaching. This would continue until the supplyfrom teacher-training institutions can supply reg-ularly the number of teachers required for the na-tional educational services. We consider that thistwo-prong attack on the shortage of teachers wouldeventually solve the problem, while allowing forthat expansion of educational services that we allare anxious to achieve within Member States.

The problem of shortage of funds is a morecomplex one. We think that it should be the sub-ject of discussion between Member States collec-tively and the African Development Bank to seewhether a permanent solution could be worked out.Meanwhile, this Conference on education will becalled upon to examine possibilities of establishingan Educational Revolving Fund. Indeed, this mat-ter has already been examined by one of your Com-missions. Let us start in a modest way, for ex-ample, by creating a fund, financed mainly fromAfrican sources, administered by the ADB andguaranteed by the OAU, to give loans for equip-ping science laboratories. Later on, and resourcespermitting, the sectors to which the Fund couldapply, could be expanded. Contributions into theFund could also come from outside. Let us showthe world what we can do to help ourselves by es-tablishing an Educational Revolving Fund, beforegoing to seek for aid from outside. The fundwouldhelp us to expand our educational services at sec-ondary level - a stage where we Africans are nowfeeling the brakes on our efforts to increase rapidlythe number of skilled personnel at the middle andhigher levels.

This Conference should therefore exert someof its efforts on examining and proposing alterna-tive ways of expanding our secondary educationalservices. In this connexion there is a proposal tothis Conference, calling for the sharing of expen-sive educational facilities and services, as a wayof increasing vacancies at secondary level, and asa way of ensuring the provision of a good and bal-anced education to students. This is not a newidea at all, as it has already been applied success-fully elsewhere. But we in Africa, who, due toscarcity of financial and intellectual resources,wish to maximize the benefits derived from theavailable facilities and services, should seriouslyconsider taking advantage of any rearrangementthat offers to our children more places at schoolsand better education.

Whatever is done, the quality of secondary ed-ucation must be the highest possible for entry intoinstitutions of higher learning and training. With-out this attribute, secondary schools might pro-duce students who cannot follow courses at suchinstitutions without extra teaching - circumstancesthat may slow down economic and social develop-ment through avoidable expenses and the wastageof time.

As for the undergraduate institutions whichprovide the first degrees either in the basic orprofessional academic levels, we feel that everyeffort must be exerted to stimulate action at na-tional and sub-regional level. Undergraduate in-stitutions which, as presently conceived, wouldundertake both the education and training of skilledpersonnel at the first degree level as well as par-ticipate in research in the disciplines concerned,have a very important rôle to play in providingskilled personnel and solutions to problems arisingin the economies of Member States. They alsoare vital stages in the activities and operationsof the centres of excellence which are referredto elsewhere below. The OAU is therefore veryconcerned that the existing undergraduate institu-tions should be expanded to increasingly undertakethe education and training of students as well asincreasingly participate in research. Such insti-tutions are not only expected to fulfil specific na-tional demands in pursuit of accelerated economicand social development of each nation, but alsothey are expected to be a source for, and to pro-vide a living national incentive to higher learningand training, and to advanced search for knowledge.

One would be permitted to elaborate even fur-ther on the rôle of universities and colleges at anational level.These places contain some of thebest local brains available and the latter shouldbe permitted not only to fulfil their rôle as staffmembers of academic institutions, but also toplay an increasing part in the extra-mural activi-ties within Member States. Their conduct andstatus within the national body politic are in them-selves incentives to younger students to learn andtrain to the highest levels possible. The researchthat is undertaken by the staff members as well asthe students at these institutions, is expected notonly to help in solving problems of economic andsocial development, but also in acquiring newknowledge that could assist in the raising of thestandards of living of citizens of the Member States.There are already within the OAU Member Statesover twenty-five universities and university col-leges, with more being planned. With this in mind,and noting that the targets set at the Addis Ababaand Tananarive Conferences in so far as higheracademic institutions are concerned have beenmet, one would definitely call for still faster ratesof increasing vacancies at existing institutions ofhigher learning and training as well as of estab-lishing new universities and colleges.

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At post-graduate level, the picture is slightlydifferent. There are only three or so universitieswhere post-graduate studies are given. The insti-tutions are very expensive to establish, and, thecandidates currently available in each State arefew in number. Otherwise all post-graduate studiesare taken outside Africa. The OAU reviewed thewhole field at post-graduate studies, and decidedthat the interests of Member States, in this con-nexion, would be served best by having centres ofexcellence established in Africa. We are veryglad this decision was taken when it was taken.The OAU brought this subject to this Conferencein order to obtain expert advice possible from theministers of, and officials from national educa-tional services, and, also, to expand co-operationon allsides. This Conference has already examinedat the Commission level, what recommendationsshould be made to the Assembly of Heads of Stateand Government which will facilitate the early im-plementation of that decision, to the maximum bene-fit to Member States. It is our hope that the veryimportant contributions which were made by dele-gates on this subject at the Commission level willbe confirmed by the plenary. On behalf of the OAU,we would like to make a solemn promise that ap-propriate consultation and co-operation with Mem-ber States will be undertaken at all stages in theprogramme to establish the proposed centres ofexcellence. In this connexion, whatever views, pro-posals and recommendations that this Conferencemakes, will be passed on to the Assembly of Heads ofState and Government which is due to be held thiscoming September in Algiers, Algeria. Views ofthe international organizations and of other sourceswill be sought and handled appropriately.

This Conference is also expected to deal withvocational and technical training. Mr. PresidentSir, I am aware that many valuable recommenda-tions have already been made in this field by oneof the Commissions which has completed its work.The plenary may wish to examine this with a viewto ensuring that there is an adequate supply of skillwith the required qualifications to man the avail-able and planned services which are prerequisite tothe provision of increasing standard of living to ourbrothers and sisters. These, Mr. President, aresome of the sectors of education and training whichthis Conference has to deal with and make appro-priate recommendations to Member States, toUnesco and to OAU.

The recommendations of this Conference shouldbe formulated always with two main points in mind,i. e. the circumstances prevailing in individual Mem-ber States and the need to provide increasing stan-dards of living to their citizens. The benefits toMember States deriving from educational services,can only be maximized if all the sectors of theireconomies play their rôle adequately. Educationis provided within developing States, for a specificpurpose, i. e. the development of intellectual re-sources for all the services and activities available

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and planned in a given State for the satisfactionof the needs of the masses. Therefore, theremust be job opportunities to which those being ed-ucated aspire to fill. Without many and variedjob opportunities, some of the products of a giveneducational system will either seek jobs elsewhere -thus creating a “brain drain” - or, they will jointhe discontented groups with possible grave re-percussions to the whole fabric of a nation. There-fore, improvement and expansion of educationalservices at all levels, should be undertaken con-currently with activities that create more job op-portunities in the economic, social and politicalspheres. To this end, the question of exploitingand developing national resources (e. g. minerals)and of encouraging increasing agricultural produc-tion and productivity, is receiving close attentionof the OAU. Africa is at present behind, but wehave the task and responsibility to bring it earlyto the forefront among developed nations.

At this stage, Mr. President Sir, I may beallowed to mention briefly the rôle of the OAUamong its Member States. It is now a commonlyknown fact that the OAU has been given a compre-hensive role by its Charter in the day-to-day ac-tivities and future plans of its Member States.Among other things, the OAU has been requestedto co-ordinate and intensify the activities of Mem-ber States in these fields. These fields includeeducational, scientific and cultural matters. Itis because of the similarity of objectives in thesethree fields that the first session of the Educationaland Cultural Commission of the OAU, which washeld in 1964, recommended, and it was acceptedby the Assembly of Heads of State and Government,that the former regional conference of Unescoshould be merged into this Commission. Sincethen, the Commission held another session in 1965and has not met up to now. The main reasonwhythe Educational and Cultural Commission has notmet was that due to the desire to reduce costs thatare borne by individual Member States, the OAUdecided to amalgamate several Commissions. Asa result of that amalgamation, the Educational andCultural Commission together with two others havebeen combined into the Educational, Scientific, Cul-tural and Health Commission. The next meetingof that Commission is planned to be held earlynext year and it is our hope that those presenthere and those who are not here will be able toattend that session.

May I also, Mr. President Sir, be allowedto comment briefly on what appears to be a mis-understanding of the rôle of the OAU within itsMember States. It appears that some people be-lieve that the OAU is mainly concerned with poli-tical matters. As I have already illustrated above,this is not true. The OAU has more than a politi-cal rôle in Africa. For those of you who may notknow, the OAU is already playing an increasingrôle in the agricultural field. Firstly there arethree scientific bureaux which were taken over from


the former Commission for Technical Co-operationin Africa which are still active in this field. Theseare the Inter-African Bureau for Animal Healthwhich assists in the development of livestock inAfrica, the Inter-African Soils Bureau which dealswith the development of soils and agronomy, andthe Inter-African Phyto-Sanitary Bureau which as-sists in the protection of plant health in Africa.These bureaux are active in their respective fieldswithin the agricultural activities of Member States.In 1967, the OAU decided to establish regionalstocks of food so as to prevent the occurrences offood shortages in Africa. On this subject is hingedthe entire programme of the OAU to assist in theincreasing production of food and cash crops as acontribution to raising the standards of living with-in Member States. The Food and Agriculture Or-ganization, the World Food Program and the Afri-can Development Bank have already been contactedin connexion with this programme, and efforts arenow being made to implement it in stages. In thefield of commerce, the OAU decided, among otherthings, to organize regularly an All-African TradeFair. At the kind invitation of the Government ofKenya, the first of such fairs is scheduled to beheld in this very city in 1970.

In the field of culture, the OAU decided tosponsor regularly an All-African Cultural Festi-val. Several preparatory meetings have been heldto discuss the details concerning the organizing,administering and staging of that festival. Anothermeeting of the Preparatory Committee of the fes-tival is due to be held in September in Algiers, inorder to consider financial matters and it will re-port to the Assembly of Heads of State and Govern-ment soon after it completes its work. The firstof such festivals will be held in Algiers, Algeria,in July 1969. Of course the political activities ofthe OAU are more publicized than activities of thekind that I have referred to above. But I hope thatthis small search, which covers as it does examplesof activities of the OAU in important sectors of ourday-to-day life would convince those who were notyet convinced that the OAU has an important rôleto play not only in political matters but also in eco-nomic and social matters. Should there be anydoubt on this matter Mr. President Sir, I wouldbe happy to elaborate on it during the plenary ifit is the wish of any delegation that this should bedone.

Before we finish, perhaps we may be allowedto say one or two things on the problem of the fu-ture Unesco “presence” in Africa. We alreadyhave several regional offices of Unesco in Africa,for which we are thankful. It is our hope that thisConference will examine the terms of reference,

past activities and results of these offices and seehow best their future could serve the needs of Afri-ca. The report of the Evaluation Committee onthese offices, centres and institutions, appearsto point to the need for a review of their terms ofreference and operations in order to maximizetheir usefulness to Member States. It is hopedthat even if this calls for co-operative action be-tween Unesco and other United Nations SpecializedAgencies, this Conference will not be afraid tosay so. Future development of new ones wouldfall into the pattern established for existing ones.On our part and with reference to the agreementof co-operation that we have signed with Unesco,we would like to assure Unesco that whatever roleour Member States may call upon us to playin ensuring that the activities of Unesco in Africabestow maximum benefit to Member States, weare prepared to obey and act accordingly. Wehave no doubts in our minds as to the effective-ness of such co-operation and as to the beneficialresults that Member States would reap from it.I would personally like to assure Mr. René Maheuthat having been constantly in contact with Unescosince 1964 when I started working for the OAU, ifthe co-operation, understanding and concern tohelp Africa continues to be the spirit in whichUnesco acts, then I for one do not envisage anyproblems in agreeing on how best Unesco andOAU should co-operate in order to give maxi-mum benefits to Member States. We should addthat in this connexion, one should not forget thefact that the Economic Commission for Africa,although being one of the organizations of theUnited Nations, can contribute usefully to the ac-tivities of Unesco and OAU in the educational, sci-entific and cultural fields.

We do not want to take any more of your timeas you have a lot of work to do to bring this Con-ference to a successful end. You have alreadystarted well in the work you have put into the twoCommissions. Let us hope that problems andneeds have been exposed and defined so that recom-mendations of the Conference may be based onreal issues. As you enter the final and perhapsthe most important lap to the end of this Confer-ence, may we be permitted to say the following.While we do not at present have enough resourcesin Africa to provide comprehensive and all-roundgood quality educational and training services atall levels, we would be failing in our duty if we donot lay down a firm and sound foundation for suchservices, or if we fail, through our recommenda-tions and actions, to contribute positively to theefforts of Member States of constantly increasingstandards of living in Africa.

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