Inadequate funding is hampering access to quality education

A pupil at Kibera primary school teaching her fellow classmates during a previous teacher's strike.[File,Standard]

Education is the most powerful tool for socioeconomic transformation, and that is why nations which have made great strides in economic advancement have superior education systems.

To attain these standards of education, it has taken heavy funding. Huge amounts of resources have gone into financing the learning processes.

Developed nations have directed enormous amounts of money to fund physical infrastructure, learning resource centres and teacher training to improve the quality of training. This has paid off as the nation’s excel in science and technological innovations. 

Governments should commit to allocating ample resources towards educational programmes. This is more so in the developing countries where education is still a pipe dream widening the gap between developed and less developed nations. 

The Covid-19 pandemic created a crisis of monumental proportions. With the dilemma of maintaining social distancing, learning institutions are unable to handle large populations of students and millions of students were forced to stay out of school. Learning institutions in technologically advanced countries have resorted to online learning as an alternative for classroom delivery. 

As the rest of the world embraces online learning, Africa is unprepared to tap opportunities presented by the digital dispensation. We are witnessing the widening digital divide between the developed world and Africa. 

It is quite gratifying that the UK Premier Boris Johnson and Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta co-hosted the global education summit to address challenges posed to the sector in the wake of the raging pandemic. 

At the close of the summit, global leaders pledged to increase funding to education sector. In particular Africa will be given needed resources to boost access and improve quality of learning.