DAKAR, Senegal –- By Hilaire Hounkpodoté, Coordinator of CONFEMEN’s Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems (PASEC) (https://Pasec.CONFEMEN.org/)
In a class of 20 pupils at the end of primary school, 15 have not acquired minimum proficiency in mathematics. By the end of lower secondary school, only seven in 20 reach the expected level in reading, and fewer than five in mathematics. A child can therefore spend nine or ten years in school without developing adequate reading and numeracy skills. This is the reality revealed by PASEC2024.
Yet the assessment also brings encouraging news. Among the eleven countries whose results can be compared with those of 2019, five have made substantial gains in reading in the early primary years, and none has regressed. Some countries are staying on course, showing that poor learning outcomes are not inevitable.
By the end of primary school, however, the picture is reversed: no country has improved, and seven have regressed. While the assessment did not track the same children over time, this contrast raises a fundamental question: how can we sustain the gains achieved in the early years of schooling and ensure that every child benefits from them through lower secondary education?
Africa has made considerable efforts to bring more children into school. For these pupils, access is no longer the issue: they are already in the classroom. Yet they have not mastered even the most basic skills. In the early primary years, only 37% of pupils reach Level 4, which corresponds to the international benchmark for reading proficiency; nearly one child in four cannot recognise a single familiar word, and more than four in ten fall short of the expected level in numeracy.
Without early support, these gaps undermine subsequent learning. Nor do they close on their own. At lower secondary level, 29% of pupils still fall below the reading standard expected at the end of primary school; in mathematics, the figure is 42%. The break happens during primary school, not in lower secondary.
Two subjects, two distinct challenges
Reading and mathematics require different responses. In mathematics, average pupil performance is declining almost everywhere. Addressing this calls for comprehensive reform encompassing curricula, teacher training and the time allocated to the subject.
In reading, disparities between pupils are particularly pronounced and are linked above all to the language spoken at home: children who speak the language of instruction at home score 56 points higher in reading. The choice of language in which children learn to read is therefore no secondary consideration. It lies at the heart of educational equity.
Learning conditions remain deeply unequal
National averages obscure a crucial reality: within a single country, the gap between the highest-performing 10% of pupils and the lowest-performing 10% exceeds the gap between countries. Equity therefore means directing resources to the schools that need them most, in rural and disadvantaged communities, rather than allocating the same resources everywhere.
The material conditions for learning also matter. In the early primary years, seven in ten pupils have access to a reading textbook in class, but only one in two can take it home. Here, the issue is not textbook provision but an inventory management rule that could be changed as early as the next school year. At lower secondary level, six in ten pupils have access to a reading textbook and barely more than five in ten to a mathematics textbook, while more than half are taught in classes of over forty pupils.
Support teachers rather than blame them
For the second time, PASEC assessed primary school teachers’ skills, this time across sixteen countries. The findings are troubling: just 21% reach Level 3, the highest level on the mathematics proficiency scale, confirming the difficulties identified in PASEC2019. Gaps in teachers’ grasp of mathematical content are mirrored in their pupils’ learning.
These findings should not lead to blaming teachers, but to examining how they are recruited and the conditions in which they work. One in six teachers has received no initial training; one in four has had no continuing professional development in the past two years; nearly one in five is paid irregularly; and almost half rely on another occupation to make ends meet. Teachers facing the greatest insecurity are concentrated in rural schools, where needs are most acute.
We cannot expect teachers to equip children with skills they have not been trained to teach, under conditions that undermine their work. Giving pupils the tools they need to learn and investing in teachers’ training and ongoing support are two essential parts of the same effort.
Data to decide, commitments to act
Publishing an assessment report does not, in itself, improve learning. Its value lies in the decisions it informs. PASEC2024 gives governments the evidence they need to understand the challenges they face and target their efforts more effectively. Three commitments should now guide their action.
First, make foundational learning a measurable budget priority. Governments must allocate clearly identifiable resources to reading, mathematics, teacher support and assistance for struggling pupils, prioritising the most disadvantaged schools. A simple indicator can help guide this effort: how much each education system spends for every pupil who achieves minimum proficiency. Countries with similar levels of spending achieve very different results. The question is therefore not simply how much is spent, but what that spending delivers.
Second, identify learning difficulties early and act promptly. Regular assessments, starting in the early primary years and at entry to lower secondary school, should identify learning needs, inform targeted remedial support and track pupils’ progress. Such support should not be an exceptional response introduced only once pupils have fallen far behind. It must be part of everyday school practice.
Third, make public commitments and account for progress. Every country should set and publish numerical national targets for reading and mathematics, tracking the proportion of pupils who reach minimum proficiency rather than relying on a national average that conceals disparities. Beyond the budgets announced and the reforms introduced, what must count is their tangible impact on learning.
The release of the PASEC2024 results must open a time for decisions. What will each country set out to correct? What resources will it mobilise, and how will it account for progress? The goal is not better rankings, but to give every child the means to learn and to progress through school in good conditions.
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