Education policy formation in Africa : a comparative study of five countries

While there have been substantial changes since independence, uneven growth and inappropriate structures have left most countries in need of significant educational reform. This study, the first in a planned series of desk studies aiming to create a foundation for dialogue with African policymakers, sets the stage by describing and analyzing approaches currently being used to formulate education policy in African countries. The report includes five case studies, reflecting developments until late 1992 in Botswana, Tanzania, Uganda, Mali, and Senegal, and two overview chapters that discuss common characteristics of the education policy formation process in Anglophone and Francophone Africa; each of the overview chapters summarizes lessons learned from the case studies and the experience of the authors, and discusses some of the implications of these lessons for improving policy formation. The five cases show that the colonial experience is still a powerful determinant of the role of the government in education, the nature of the educational system, and the ways in which citizens are allowed access to the policy-making process. There is a clear pattern of policy making that characterizes Anglophone countries and a different and somewhat less systematic pattern for Francophone countries. Subsequent research will address the need for specific donor and government strategies for strengthening national capabilities to formulate and implement new education policies.