Sub-Saharan Africa has the fastest growing child population in the world. Yet, the current education system is at capacity, and the demand will increase with nearly 750 million children expected to be of school age by 2060. This rapid increase in cohorts of children and young people presents a significant fiscal pressure on governments in terms of service delivery needs, early childhood development interventions, and sustained investment in accessible and quality education for all, especially girls.
The World Bank is the largest external financier of education in the developing world. Through financing and technical assistance, we support governments’ efforts in education, benefitting children from birth to adulthood. We help countries share and apply innovative solutions to education challenges, focusing on systemic reforms across the education cycle to skill, reskill and upskill the workforce for lifelong learning.
We have set a goal to end Learning Poverty, defined as the share of children who are not able to read and understand a short story of ageappropriate material. We are committed to invest in human capital, improve the quality of and access to education and skilling, and thereby promote greater equity and economic growth. Foundational skills like literacy, numeracy, and socioemotional skills are the building blocks for all other learning. From early childhood to tertiary education and beyond – we help children and youth acquire the skills they need to thrive in school, the labor market and throughout their lives.
