Education climbs to third place on Africans’ list of priorities as governments get mixed marks on performance, new Afrobarometer Pan-Africa Profile reveals

Education ranks third among the most important problems that Africans think require urgent government attention, up from sixth place in 2021/2023, the latest Afrobarometer (www.Afrobarometer.org) Pan-Africa Profile (https://apo-opa.co/49WCrRO) reveals.

The new report, based on 50,961 interviews conducted during Afrobarometer’s Round 10 surveys across 38 African countries in 2024/2025, shows that only half of citizens are satisfied with their government’s performance on education.

While younger citizens have more education than their elders, educational attainment varies widely by country and reflects persistent disadvantages among women, the poor, and rural residents.

Few respondents say that families still prioritise boys’ education over girls’, but nearly three in 10 report that schoolgirls often face discrimination, harassment, and requests for sexual favours from their teachers.

Analysis of the data also shows that Africans value the right to education for school-age mothers: Overwhelming majorities say that girls who become pregnant or have children should be allowed to continue their education.

Key findings

• On average across 38 countries, education places third on Africans’ list of most important problems that their governments should address, up from sixth place in 2021/2023 (Figure 1).
  • Education is tied with the increasing cost of living, infrastructure/roads, and water supply, trailing only health and unemployment.
• Only half (49%) of respondents think their government is performing “fairly well” or “very well” on education, while the other half (49%) give their leaders poor marks (Figure 2).
  • Assessments are overwhelmingly favourable in some countries, led by Zambia (84%) and Tanzania (81%). By contrast, fewer than one in three citizens think their government is doing a good job on education in Angola (29%), Chad (28%), Nigeria (24%), and Congo-Brazzaville (22%).
• Nearly two in 10 adults (18%) have post-secondary education, while a similar proportion (16%) report having no formal schooling. The largest share (39%) claim secondary school as their highest level of education, while 26% have primary schooling (Figure 3).
  • Demographic groups differ in educational attainment, reflecting disadvantages among women, the poor, and rural residents. Younger Africans have more education than their elders.
• Only 13% of respondents say girls are “often” or “always” prevented from attending school because their families prioritise boys’ education, though this figure ranges up to 27% in Malawi and 28% in Cameroon (Figure 4).
• Almost three in 10 citizens (27%) say that schoolgirls are “often” or “always” discriminated against, harassed, or harangued for sexual favours by teachers.
  • But there is huge variation by country: Seven in 10 Gabonese (71%) and more than half (55%) of Cameroonians report that girl students frequently experience such treatment, while fewer than one in 10 say the same in Madagascar (9%) and Mauritius (2%) (Figure 5).
• Citizens overwhelmingly (81%) endorse allowing girls who become pregnant or have children to continue their education, including 43% who “strongly agree” with the idea (Figure 6).

Afrobarometer surveys

Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life. Ten survey rounds in up to 45 countries have been completed since 1999. Round 10 surveys (2024/2025) cover 38 countries.

Afrobarometer’s national partners conduct face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice with samples of 1,200-2,400 adults that yield country-level results with margins of error of +/-3 to +/-2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afrobarometer.

For more information, please contact:
Asafika Mpako
Afrobarometer communications coordinator for Southern Africa
Email: ampako@afrobarometer.org
Telephone: +2783 979 8299

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