440
FACING FORWARD: SCHOOLING FOR LEARNING IN AFRICA
• Eliminate high-stakes primary school leaving examinations that impede access to lower-secondary schools.
• Leverage and effectively regulate the private sector for provision of additional lower-secondary schools.
Policies to Improve Girls’ Participation in Lower-Secondary Education • Provide lower-secondary educational opportunities within rural communities, so that parents can ensure that the school is safe and secure, and minimize reliance on boarding schools.9 • Equip schools with separate sanitary facilities for girls. • Improve formal and nonformal education for girls to strengthen their literacy, numeracy, and life skills; offer safe spaces where girls can express themselves with appropriate mentors; and improve girls’ access to job opportunities. • As possible, offset the direct and indirect costs of schooling with targeted cash transfers to households with lower-secondary-age girls.
Policies to Improve Teacher Management and Support • Ensure that prospective teachers receive an initial preparation that equips • • • •
them with adequate knowledge and skills for their work in school. Make teachers’ mastery of their work a key goal of continuing professional development. Ensure that teachers are present in class and teaching, with appropriate supervision and guidance. Provide all teachers with minimally adequate classroom conditions to do their work. Strengthen systems for managing teacher recruitment, deployment, and development.
Policies to Strengthen Key Budget Processes • Spend incremental resources to improve learning by (a) focusing on instructional materials and related teacher training; (b) hiring teachers with expertise in early literacy, secondary science, and secondary mathematics; and (c) employing substitute teachers to cover authorized teacher absences. • Reduce disparities in standards of provision to ensure minimum conditions for learning in all schools, targeting poor regions.