By THE INDEPENDENT UG
ADDIS ABABA | Xinhua | The Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation at the African Union (AU), Mohammed Belhocine, highlighted a concerning issue during the AU Summit in Addis Ababa: almost 100 million children and youth aged 5 to 19 in Africa are not socially integrated due to being out of school.
Belhocine emphasized that these young individuals are susceptible to various threats, easily falling prey to manipulation by terrorist groups, drug dealers, and human traffickers. Many of them, he mentioned, end up involved in different crime networks or migrate within Africa or beyond the continent.
He underscored the imperative to provide support to these children and youth through vocational and technical training, equipping them with the necessary skills for self-employment.
Acknowledging a setback in delivering quality education, particularly at lower grades, the commissioner pointed out that nine out of 10 children in Sub-Saharan Africa cannot read and comprehend a simple text by the age of 10.
To address this, he called for a collective effort, noting that Africa requires approximately 90 billion U.S. dollars to achieve universal education coverage by 2030. Belhocine urged global support to bridge the funding gap and ensure the continent can fulfill its educational objectives.
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