Background
 Nearly all countries in Sub Saharan Africa have implemented policies to ensure free universal primary education of acceptable quality. Rising primary enrolment and completion rates, as a result of these policies, have led to increased demand for access to post-primary education. Faced with the demand pressures, some countries are, in turn, declaring free universal secondary education. While the social and economic rationale for expanding learning opportunities beyond primary education is clear, the challenges of such reforms are daunting and the task of developing sustainable secondary education strategies is exceedingly complex. Issues of sustainable financing, quality and relevance of teaching and learning, curriculum & assessment, science & technology education, teacher training and management, equity & access, and creating secondary education systems that promote economic growth and competitiveness, and which produce graduates with skills demanded by the local labor markets, confront African countries as never before. As they seek to adequately address these issues, countries are looking to the Bank to share its knowledge and provide technical assistance and financing.
SEIA Program and Objectives
The Africa Human Development Department of the World Bank responded to the call for assistance with the Secondary Education in Africa (SEIA) initiative. Since its inception in 2003, SEIA has delivered eight thematic studies on issues pertinent to secondary education in Africa, a review of trends in secondary education in industrialized countries and three regional conferences (Kampala 2003, Dakar 2004 and Accra 2007) on secondary education and training. The findings and recommendations of these studies and conferences have been incorporated into the SEIA Synthesis Report. The document serves as a discussion paper, with the goal of promoting dialogue within and between African countries and the broader international donor community on the choices available for sustainable expansion of secondary education and training systems.
The objectives of the SEIA program are:
(a) Development and improvement of national strategies for secondary education and training (within the overall post-primary strategy of individual countries);
(b) Dissemination of the results and recommendations emanating from the SEIA Synthesis report and the eight thematic studies;
(c) Building partnerships for post-primary education between African countries and development partners and helping country task teams to expand and improve quality of post-primary education IDA portfolios.
SEIA Financing
Financing for the SEIA Initiative has been provided by the World Bank, International Donor Agencies and African countries. In particular, we gratefully acknowledge the contributions from the Norwegian and Irish Education Trust Funds.
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