Education as they say is the process of receiving enlightenment, especially in an institution. Education was brought to Africa by the European missionaries when they arrived in Africa. During the period of colonization, it was extended to almost every country in Africa. Education and schools in Africa have changed significantly after some time. Since the time it was first introduced to Africa, it has been a significant part of the history of the continent. This article portrays the issues, innovation, history, and other information about education in Africa beyond colonialism.

History and past status of Education in Africa

The beginning of the colonial period in the nineteenth century denoted the start of the end for traditional African education. European forces, teachers, and pilgrims all came prepared and ready to change existing traditions to address their own issues and aspirations. Colonial powers, for example, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and France colonized the continent without placing in an arrangement of education. Since the essential focal point of colonization did not expand to require jobs of a higher skill set or more labor, therefore intensive labor that required little skill was high in demand. Due to such conditions, there was little interest to teach or prepare the colonized populaces. Besides, colonial forces were reluctant to offer training to those they colonized except if it profited them.

Between the 1950s and 1990s, African countries finally regained their independence. With this recovered freedom, they began to rebuild their traditional forms of education. What had inevitably evolved, however, was a hybrid of the two models. With the collaboration of donor agencies and Western demand, pushes for the development of African education and the building of human capital dominated the global conversation. Policymakers prioritized secondary and tertiary education before also setting their sights on universal primary education around 1980. This set the precedent for educational planning. Although children and adults may learn from their families and community, a sense of individuality has also developed that today both drives ingenuity and creates separation between formal and cultural education. As from the paragraph above, one can see that the start of education in Africa was a hectic one. When western education (formal) started, schools were built and missionaries brought teachers along to help with teaching. It wasn’t the best but it was a solid beginning.

The current status of education in Africa after colonization

When African nations took back control of their affairs from their colonial masters they have the opportunity to develop themselves and build up everything they needed. As indicated by UNESCO by and by, just 57% of African kids are enrolled in elementary schools, the least enrollment rate of any region reviewed. The report additionally highlighted gender inequality: in practically all nations, enrollment of young men far outperformed that of young ladies. Be that as it may, in certain nations, education is generally strong. In Zimbabwe, literacy has reached 92%.

Steps, for example, the abolition of school fees, investments in teaching infrastructures such as schools and assets, and school dinners from the World Food Program helped drive enrollment up by millions. However, regardless of the huge advancement of numerous nations, the world missed the mark concerning meeting its objective of Universal Primary Education (UPE). In sub-Saharan Africa starting in 2013, just about 79% of elementary young kids were in school. 59 million children of elementary school age were out of school, and enrollment of young girls kept on lingering behind that of young men. The cause of the inequality in gender in education is because of females being prohibited from school for being pregnant. It can be seen that the status of education beyond colonization in Africa is not in the best form and the following are the major factors behind this.

• Language barriers
  Due to the diverse nature of languages in Africa, it has made it difficult for teachers and students to communicate efficiently. Firstly, children will need to grasp the understanding of their official national language (mostly French and English), before they try to take on other aspects of education. So in the case whereby the elementary kid student does only speaks his native language and the teacher only understands English, the teaching atmosphere is more or less just a confusion hub.
• Some bad cultural practices
  It's no fluke that some cultural practices in Africa hinder the development of education. One that stands out is child marriage. In this case, parents sell off their female children who are sometimes just 12 years old to marry adults who are old enough to be their fathers. This limits the education of the African girl-child as when they’re pregnant they’re barred from attending school, which is another bad cultural practice.
• Conflicts and wars
  According to UNESCO, this is the major cause of the decline or stagnant status of education in Africa. Due to wars and conflicts funds are directed towards the military and weaponry rather than on education. So imagine the diversion of public funds from an already under-funded sector towards wars that will eventually lead to the destruction of educational facilities and cause children to flee to other countries and camp.

One can see that education in Africa is not the best but it's on a good path, with proper funds allocated to the sector, the motivation of more people to take up teaching and initiatives from foreign bodies and NGO’s education in Africa beyond the ages of colonization will become successful.