On Monday, June 30, ADEA’s Executive Secretary, Albert Nsengiyumva, joined other panelists to reflect on the linkage between the African education systems and the continent’s ability to build a workforce and skills base for the continent’s economy. At the GRIPS Forum, hosted by Japan’s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Albert spotlighted the urgent need for education reforms in Africa to harness the continent’s demographic dividend and ensure a coherent alignment between education and training and industry and workplace skill requirements.

In his keynote presentation themed “Human Capacity Development and Transition to Work in Africa,” which he co-presented with Ms. Atsuko Toda, Senior Director at the Mastercard Foundation, Albert stressed the critical importance of aligning education with employment, entrepreneurship, and sustainability as he unpacked the key challenges, including 100 million out-of-school children, a 15 million teacher shortage, and widespread misalignment between education systems and labor market needs. Persistent gender disparities and infrastructural deficits further compound the crisis.

Yet, he identified notable progress, including a 15% rise in education completion rates across all levels, expansion of various learning programs and structured pedagogy initiatives that are improving foundational skills in Africa. He also shared growing political commitment to address learning poverty in Africa, especially through the operationalization of the Africa Foundational Learning Ministerial Coalition, the 2024 FLEX commitment, the establishment of several initiatives to build the capacity of teachers—including the Africa Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) and Leaders in Teaching (LIT) initiative—and ensure alignment between education curriculum and the world of work.

Albert thus set an education agenda for continental policymakers and called on stakeholders to join efforts with ADEA and partners to build a coherent, integrated education system; scale teacher training and entrepreneurial skills initiatives; reform TVET and short-cycle programs for labor-market relevance; and invest in digital literacy, especially artificial intelligence, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

He invited participants to the upcoming ADEA 2025 Triennale in Accra, focused on “Strengthening the Resilience of Africa’s Educational Systems.” The forum concluded with a unified call for lifelong learning, data-driven policy, and strengthened partnerships to ensure Africa’s youth are equipped for the future.