Towards a knowledge based economy : the relevance of curricula in Africa?

Abstract

The emphasis of education policies in Africa on primary and secondary and tertiary education has recently been critized, the main reason being that although enrollment rates have increased, economic growth rates have hardly been affected. In fact, this has been the reason why many people believe that shift in emphasis to higher level of education should take place. In this paper we argue that it may be wrong to shift already scarce resources to one sector. Providing universal primary and secondary education is moral and ethical responsibility that must be taken seriously. It would therefore be wrong to deprive Africa's citizens of this basic human right notwithstanding the increase in enrollment rates, which are still dismally low. Rather, we emphasize here that the low impact of increased enrollment rates in education on growth may rather be the result of inappropriate education curricula in such that labor market requirements are not sufficiently met. Hence, more emphasis in these levels should be on science education and technology (SET) as this is vital in increasingly knowledge-based economies.