Abstract
UNESCO’s latest data show that sub-Saharan Africa has about 98 million children and youths who are out of school, out of the estimated 244 million out-of-school population globally (UNESCO, 2022: 3–4). This alarming out-of-school rate in Africa reiterates the need to address the challenge of inclusive and equitable basic education across the continent to attain the 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs). In effect, there has been an increase in calls for African leaders and all stakeholders to increase investments in education, particularly to ensure free and compulsory primary education. There are also calls for an all-inclusive ratification and implementation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which gives description of rights and spells out the main principles for the status of the children.
Scholars have continued to provide insightful works on the challenge of inclusive and right to education and how the continent can address these existing challenges to access to primary education (Akingbehin, 2021; Bennell, 2021). Onuora-Oguno’s treatise ‘Development and the Right to Education in Africa’ is one of the latest books that engages with this debate in depth in the context of Nigeria and across Africa in general and gets to the issue from a lens that highlights the roles of governments in advancing access to basic education. The book critically engages with the question of why the twin deficit of access to basic education and learning remains significant in majority of African countries. The book ‘Development and the Right to Education in Africa’ by Onuora-Oguno dissects the very crucial role education plays in securing development. The author eclectically explores the state of access to education in Africa and reorients our understanding of jurisprudence in the context of the right to basic education in Nigeria, South Africa and other African countries and draws insight from Indian Jurisprudence.
Onuora-Oguno maps out the synergy between education and development and adds to the theoretical debate on the quest to enhance the realization of the right to basic education. The author makes a compelling case for states to make the basic learning needs of the citizenry a right and not just an obligation. This book identifies that the three organs of government—the executive, legislature and judiciary—are the mechanisms that are needed to enable the state to meet its responsibility to basic education.
The author devotes considerable time to analyse the place of special and inclusive education by spelling out the legal and policy regime of inclusive education in Nigeria, the position of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other global and regional human rights instruments in place on inclusive or special education. The author’s account is an adept exploration of divergent thoughts on the need for Nigeria and other African states to move beyond from simply provision of special or inclusive education, to embracing good program design, curriculum and quality education for the well-being and development of every child.
African countries have often been misrepresented as lacking civilization. The obdurate anthropological conception of Africa has continued to give rise to refutation by African intellectuals and Africanists. Adding to available bodies of knowledge that refute these colonial and unjust misrepresentations, Onuora-Oguna deconstructs the myth of educational backwardness by discussing Africa’s philosophical affability and the indigenous form of training and learning before colonialism. The author disproves the notion that African educational systems were deficient before colonial conquest and provides a rolling-in analysis of the strengths of African Ubuntu educational system with emphasis on the enlivening African concept of education that will stimulate development.
Although there are divergent policy frameworks and approaches on access to basic education for all, Onuora-Oguna juxtaposes ‘human rights’ and ‘human capital’ approaches. Onuora-Oguna provides a detailed examination of the basic building blocks and the pros and cons of ‘human capital’ and ‘human rights’ frameworks to education. The author points out with convincing arguments that it is plausible for Africa to opt for the human right approach.
A noteworthy spotlight put forth by Onuora-Oguna is the considerable deal of analytical and empirical knowledge that guides the provision of basic education. Onuora-Oguna contends that although access to education is fully entrenched as a right in countries such as South Africa and India, it is nothing more than the fundamental principle of state objective in Nigeria. The author aptly documents the import of multi-stakeholder partnerships in Nigeria and other African countries to safeguard access to education by entrenching right to education along with other socio-economic rights in the constitution. Onuora-Oguna provides insight on the great role of the judiciary in South Africa and India in advancing jurisprudence on education.
Being a legal luminary, the author further delves into how all the stakeholders can leverage on the handful of ratified human right treaties that African states are party to. Onuora-Oguna’s nuanced assay provides wealth of information on the significance of bringing to bear the jurisprudence of African Union human right guilds in advancing the course of the right to education in Africa. Onuora-Oguna’s puts forward the ever-growing relevance of a viable institution and the community. The writer puts in writing the need for coaction of the traditional institution and involvement of the local communities, civil society and the indigenous people. The author also lends his voice on the boon of having a vibrant Human Right Commission in Africa to advance the realization of human rights and stress the need for firm synergy between the judicial and non-judicial establishment.
The book adds significant depth of scholarship to the study of basic education in Africa. However, the work relies mainly on desk research, thus lacking empirical input from the field. Enough attention is not also given to the imperatives of public–private partnership for inclusive education. The author may consider exploring broader issues within the SDG 4 remit in future research. However, the book is worth reading as it has the potential to spur future research. Despite these, the book is beautifully crafted, provides a critical review on the state of education in Africa, intertwined link between education and development and the importance of litigating the right to education in Africa.