Africans Say Education is Now a Top Priority — But Governments Are Failing
The report is based on 50,961 interviews conducted during Afrobarometer's Round 10 surveys across 38 African countries in 2024/2025, published on January 22, 2026. Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network providing reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life.
Education is Now Africa's 3rd Biggest PriorityEducation ranks third among the most important problems that Africans think require urgent government attention — up significantly from sixth place in 2021/2023. It now trails only unemployment and healthcare.
But Governments Are Getting Failing MarksWith regard to their government's performance on education, Africans are evenly divided — only half say they are satisfied.
Fewer than one in three citizens think their government is doing a good job on education in Angola (29%), Chad (28%), Nigeria (24%), and Congo-Brazzaville. By contrast, Tanzania scores among the highest with 81% satisfaction.
Educational Attainment — Wide Gaps Across CountriesOn average across 38 African countries, almost six in 10 adults have secondary (39%) or post-secondary (18%) education, while 26% have primary schooling and 16% have no formal education at all.
Some form of formal education is nearly universal in Mauritius (99%), Zimbabwe (98%), Gabon (98%), Seychelles (97%), and South Africa (97%). At the other end, one-third or more of citizens report no formal schooling in Chad (33%), Sierra Leone (37%), Senegal (38%), Mauritania (38%), the Gambia (43%), Guinea (49%), and Mali (52%).
Girls' Education — Progress but Serious Concerns RemainOnly 13% of respondents say girls are "often" or "always" prevented from attending school because their families prioritise boys' education — though this rises to 27% in Malawi and 28% in Cameroon.
Almost three in 10 citizens (27%) say that schoolgirls are "often" or "always" discriminated against, harassed, or subjected to requests for sexual favours by teachers. The variation is stark — seven in 10 Gabonese (71%) and more than half of Cameroonians (55%) report this frequently occurring, while fewer than one in 10 say the same in Madagascar (9%) and Mauritius (2%).
Citizens overwhelmingly (81%) endorse allowing girls who become pregnant or have children to continue their education, including 43% who "strongly agree" with the idea.
Funding — Governments Not Keeping PromisesFor more than a decade, African governments have pledged to allocate between 4–6% of GDP and 15–20% of public spending to education under the Incheon Declaration on Education 2030. These goals have been reaffirmed through the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 2026–2035) and the Nairobi Declaration on domestic financing for education, signed by 17 African heads of state.
Fifteen African governments allocate more resources to debt servicing than to education, leading to drastic cuts in teachers' salaries, shortages of teaching materials, and overcrowded classrooms. In some countries, a disproportionate share of the education budget goes to higher education — about 20% on average — while preschool receives only 2%.
Namibia stands out as one of the few countries allocating 23.4% of its 2025/2026 national budget to education — demonstrating that meeting these commitments is achievable.
Nigeria's Specific ScorecardNigeria ranks among the worst performers — only 24% of Nigerian citizens say their government is doing a good job on education, placing it near the bottom of the 38 countries surveyed.
Sources
1. Afrobarometer (Primary Report) https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad1116-half-of-africans-give-their-governments-failing-marks-on-education/
2. Afrobarometer Full PDF Report https://www.afrobarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AD1116-PAP4-Half-of-Africans-give-governments-failing-marks-on-education-Afrobarometer-21jan26.pdf
3. Ecofin Agency https://www.ecofinagency.com/news/1602-52954-education-rises-as-top-priority-in-africa-but-funding-falls-short-of-continental-targets
5. APO Group / Africa Newsroom https://www.africa-newsroom.com/press/education-climbs-to-third-place-on-africans-list-of-priorities-as-governments-get-mixed-marks-on-performance-new-afrobarometer-pan-africa-profile-reveals?lang=en
6. WILDAF-AO https://wildaf-ao.org/en/education-rises-as-top-priority-in-africa-but-funding-falls-short-of-continental-targets/