How to Capitalize on Africa’s Youth Dividend Through Education
Today, we are living in the “African Century” where one in four people in the world will be African by 2050. The continent also hosts some of the world’s fastest-growing economies in 2023-2024. These two facts alone allude to the great potential that hopefully will be unleashed in Africa. Yet, this nirvana may remain elusive if future generations do not receive a quality education, as enshrined by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal #4. What is widely touted as Africa’s youth dividend could tragically turn into the opposite if education systems around the continent do not imbue students with critical skills needed in the 21st century.
There is a tangible thirst for education visible in Kenya, where I have lived for the past decade. However, 300,000 primary school graduates, who sat their exams in 2023, were recently unable to transfer to public secondary schools because of a lack of funding. It is unfathomable how this delay will affect the dreams and aspirations of future change-makers. Moreover, around 75 per cent of high school students obtained a ‘C’ grade or worse in their exit exam in the 2023/2024 cycle. These students are sadly a product of a dismal education system that is barring them from entering the tertiary system and ill-preparing them for life.
So much human potential is currently not being unleashed and without properly educated graduates, companies will face a difficult time building knowledge-based economies that will thrive in this technology-driven century. With Africa now boasting an estimated seven unicorns, i.e., privately held tech start-ups exceeding a worth of $1 billion, it is easy to succumb to the belief that a technological revolution will lift millions out of poverty and leapfrog economic development.
However, unicorns, or other successful start-ups, will not solve Kenya’s youth unemployment rate which stands at 65 per cent for 15-34-year-olds, according to the Federation of Kenya Employers. Clearly, not every high school graduate needs to progress to university to then work in Kenya’s technology ecosystem nicknamed ‘Silicon Savannah’.
In fact, my experience in Kenya tells me the opposite: what is needed is an inclusive and broad-based economy that relies on educated, driven and creative secondary school-educated individuals. This point is best exemplified by an inspirational young man I know, who is an electrical engineering graduate from the Kaiboi Technical Training Institute based in Kericho County. He is brimming with an unquenchable zeal for innovation and acquiring new knowledge. Even though he was unable to find an ecosystem supportive of bringing his innovations to the marketplace, he now has full-time employment as an electrician and hopefully, his entrepreneurial quest will be realized one day.
To capitalize on Africa’s youth bulge and have economies benefit from the youth dividend, there needs to be an educational ecosystem that includes both high-quality public education, with a focus on producing graduates with marketable job skills, and non-traditional learning mechanisms utilizing education technology. This hybrid approach will enable students to be inquisitive, and creative, obtain relevant job skills, and thus enable them to transform their future
Written by Noah Miller
Noah Miller is a highly experienced communications advisor with a track record of providing strategic communications expertise and assisting with capacity-building strategies. In 2015, he founded Sochin Limited, a Nairobi-based advisory firm that works with individuals and organizations who need to solve complex challenges in communications and reputation management. In 2021, Sochin Limited was named the “Best Analytical Technology Communications Consultancy – East Africa” and “Best Crisis Management Advisory Firm – Kenya” by MEA Markets. He is also a co-founder and director of the Sochin Research Institute, an independent think tank.
