Accra, Ghana — Millions of children sit in classrooms across Africa but leave unable to read a simple sentence or solve basic math problems.
Despite years of progress in increasing access to education, Africa is facing a serious learning crisis. It’s estimated that nine out of ten children cannot read or understand a simple sentence by age 10. The situation is even worse in areas affected by conflict. The crisis extends beyond education, posing serious economic risks since better learning outcomes lead to higher national growth and productivity. Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, founder of Human Capital Africa (HCA) and former Nigerian Minister of Education, sees this gap as both an educational failure and an economic challenge.
“The most urgent gap is the one between schooling and learning,” Ezekwesili said. “Across Africa, children are attending school but not learning… That is not just an education problem; it is an economic one.”
Dr. Ezekwesili said that weak data systems and limited accountability compound the crisis, and too many education systems are “flying blind” – without reliable learning data, governments cannot improve what they cannot measure. Even where evidence exists, it often fails to inform decision-making. Human Capital Africa, therefore, aims to bridge the gap between evidence and action, ensuring that political commitments translate into measurable improvements in learning outcomes.
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She said that foundational learning requires political will, accountability, and strategic alliances among governments, businesses, and philanthropies. “It begins with political leadership,” she said. “Leaders must treat foundational learning as an economic and moral priority, not just a social program.” She argued that governments must embed learning goals in national plans and budgets transparently for results.
“Philanthropy and business are not substitutes for government,” said Dr. Ezekwesili. “They are catalysts, able to take bold risks, invest in innovation, and bring proximity to communities.”
Through HCA, Dr. Ezekwesili and partners have launched several coalitions to strengthen collaboration across sectors, including the African Philanthropy Coalition for Foundational Learning and the African CEOs Coalition for Foundational Learning. These initiatives complement the work already being done by the Africa Foundational Learning Ministerial Coalition that HCA and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) have convened over the past few years.
“These coalitions represent a ‘new phase of African ownership’, where proximity, accountability, and sustained investment drive reform,” she said. “When philanthropy, business, and government align behind a shared accountability framework, scaling impact becomes possible.”
Despite gains in enrollment, millions of African children still leave school without basic skills.
According to Dr. Ezekwesili, this is the result of systemic weaknesses – poor teacher support, fragmented governance, inefficient spending, and a lack of accountability.
To achieve quality and equity, systems must pivot.
“Too often, education budgets prioritize access and infrastructure over learning outcomes. To achieve both quality and equity, we must redesign education systems to make learning – not mere attendance – the goal. At Human Capital Africa, we advocate for reforms grounded in evidence, transparency, and collaboration, because systems only improve when they are held accountable for learning,” she said.
Promising pilot programs have demonstrated effective approaches to improving literacy and numeracy. But too often, these successes remain local rather than national.
“The difference lies in political ownership and institutionalization,” said Dr. Ezekwesili. “A pilot becomes a reform when governments claim it, fund it, measure it, and embed it in national policy. Our task is to help bridge that transition to move from what works somewhere to what works at scale. Successful reforms are simple, measurable, and politically owned. When a president or minister declares, ‘Foundational learning is my legacy metric,’ the entire system begins to align.”
In regions affected by violence, such as Nigeria’s Northeast, conflict has devastated education systems. Dr. Ezekwesili played a crucial role in launching and maintaining the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. This global movement arose after Boko Haram abducted over 270 schoolgirls from Chibok, Nigeria, in April 2014. As one of the co-founders, she used her voice and influence to seek accountability and action from the Nigerian government and the international community. The campaign is still active in demanding justice and the safe return of all the girls.
Dr. Ezekwesili said that rebuilding trust is the first step to recovery.
Conflict destroys not only infrastructure but also trust – parents withdraw children, teachers flee, and years of learning are lost. “In such contexts, restoring trust is the first step: safe learning spaces, psychosocial support, and flexible, community-based education are essential,” she said. “We must rebuild teacher capacity and use data to identify where learning loss is deepest.”
Dr. Ezekwesili said that education should be viewed as an essential part of peacebuilding. She said that foundational learning provides displaced children with a sense of normalcy and hope. She added that investing in education in crisis settings is both a humanitarian and developmental priority.
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Despite challenges, several African countries are showing that improvement is possible.
Dr. Ezekwesili said Kenya’s Tusome program, which successfully scaled early-grade reading through structured teacher support and real-time data. Rwanda has integrated learning measurement into its national system, while Sierra Leone is developing a data-driven delivery model focused on outcomes.
“These examples show that evidence plus leadership equals results,” she said. “The challenge now is replication, taking what works and embedding it in policy and budgets.”
Through HCA, Dr. Ezekwesili continues to support this agenda by connecting evidence to political will and by aligning partners around what truly matters: that every African child learns to read, count, and thrive by age 10.
She said that sustaining progress requires shifting focus from short-term projects to long-term systems. This, she explained, involves instituting annual learning assessments, publishing results transparently, and creating incentives for teachers and policymakers that are tied to actual learning gains.
“Accountability must become institutional, not optional,” she said.
