Education ranks third among the most important problems that Africans think require urgent government attention, up from sixth place in 2021/2023, the latest Afrobarometer Pan Africa Profile reveals.
The new report, based on 50,961 interviews conducted during Afrobarometer’s Round 10 surveys across 38 African countries in 2024/2025, shows that only half of citizens are satisfied with their government’s performance on education.
While younger citizens have more education than their elders, educational attainment varies widely by country and reflects persistent disadvantages among women, the poor, and rural residents.
Few respondents say that families still prioritize boys’ education over girls’, but nearly three in 10 report that schoolgirls often face discrimination, harassment, and requests for sexual favours from their teachers.
On average across 38 countries, education places third on Africans’ list of most important problems that their governments should address, up from sixth place in 2021/2023. Education is tied with the increasing cost of living, infrastructure and roads, and water supply, trailing only health and unemployment.
Only half, or 49 per cent, of respondents think their government is performing fairly well or very well on education, while the other half give their leaders poor marks.
Assessments are overwhelmingly favourable in some countries, led by Zambia at 84 per cent and Tanzania at 81 per cent. By contrast, fewer than one in three citizens think their government is doing a good job on education in Angola at 29 per cent, Chad at 28 per cent, Nigeria at 24 per cent, and Congo Brazzaville at 22 per cent.
Nearly two in 10 adults, or 18 per cent, have post secondary education, while a similar proportion at 16 per cent report having no formal schooling. The largest share at 39 per cent claim secondary school as their highest level of education, while 26 per cent have primary schooling.
Demographic groups differ in educational attainment, reflecting disadvantages among women, the poor, and rural residents. Younger Africans have more education than their elders.
Only 13 per cent of respondents say girls are often or always prevented from attending school because their families prioritize boys’ education, though this figure ranges up to 27 per cent in Malawi and 28 per cent in Cameroon.
Almost three in 10 citizens, or 27 per cent, say that schoolgirls are often or always discriminated against, harassed, or harangued for sexual favours by teachers.
However, there is huge variation by country. Seven in 10 Gabonese at 71 per cent and more than half of Cameroonians at 55 per cent report that girl students frequently experience such treatment, while fewer than one in 10 say the same in Madagascar at 9 per cent and Mauritius at 2 per cent.
Citizens overwhelmingly, at 81 per cent, endorse allowing girls who become pregnant or have children to continue their education, including 43 per cent who strongly agree with the idea.
Analysis of the data also shows that Africans value the right to education for school age mothers. Overwhelming majorities say that girls who become pregnant or have children should be allowed to continue their education.
The report was released ahead of International Day of Education on January 24, 2026. According to UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) 2024 Global Education Monitoring Report, Africa is home to nearly 30 per cent of the world’s 244 million out of school children and youth aged 6 to 18.
Despite improvements, sub Saharan Africa continues to lag behind the rest of the world in access to schooling and the achievement of gender parity in education. Education is widely recognized as one of the most impactful pathways toward social progress and economic development.
Afrobarometer is a pan African, non partisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life. Ten survey rounds in up to 45 countries have been completed since 1999. Round 10 surveys in 2024/2025 cover 38 countries.
Afrobarometer’s national partners conduct face to face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice with samples of 1,200 to 2,400 adults that yield country level results with margins of error of plus or minus 3 to plus or minus 2 percentage points at a 95 per cent confidence level.
The Round 10 surveys started in January 2024 following the successful completion of Round 9 surveys in 39 African countries between late 2021 and mid 2023. The latest round introduced special focus topics including sexual and reproductive health, cost of living, migration and cross border trade, access to justice, gender, and youth issues, which complement Afrobarometer’s flagship topics of democracy, governance, and economic wellbeing.
Educational attainment varies widely across countries surveyed. Almost half of Guineans at 49 per cent and Malians at 52 per cent have no formal schooling, a condition that is almost unheard of in Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and Gabon, according to the survey findings.
Afrobarometer works closely with national statistics offices, and its survey samples are based on population projections using the most recent census data. A core commitment is to ensure gender balance, with a 50/50 selection of female and male respondents.
