NAIROBI -- African countries, with the help of international community, have invested heavily in the development of education, as more and more people in the continent realize that education is the key to economic growth and poverty reduction.

A report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) showed that primary-school enrollment had gone up sharply in sub-Saharan Africa with nearly 20 million new students going to school this year.

Kenya, for example, after canceling tuition fee in 2003, saw its primary-school enrollment increase by 1 million students. The same measure has made Ghana's primary-school enrollment rise 14 percent. In Niger, the primary-school enrollment went up 61 percent between 1998 and 2003.

In May this year, Nigeria announced a 10-year plan on its educational development program at all levels. Also in Nigeria, parents and guardians who fail to take a child of school age to school under the Universal Basic Education scheme stand the risk of being sanctioned.

African governments, though often ridden with fiscal deficiency, are quite generous on the budget for education. In some central African countries, lectures in universities can be paid 600 thousand to 700 thousand African francs (about 1,200 U.S. dollars to 1,400 dollars) each month, while salary for professors can reach 1 million francs (about 2,000 dollars) a month.

The Gabonese government has always attached great importance to the training of teachers. Besides regular training program, the government selects excellent teachers each year to further study abroad, providing them with stipend.

In the Republic of Congo, the government employs foreign teachers to teach in the country and sends almost 1,000 students to study abroad each year.

Vocational education has just been unfolding in Africa. There are six middle-level vocational schools in the west African country of Togo, providing courses which involve hotel service, business, architecture, and etc. The graduates from these schools are favored by employers.

In recent years, African Development Bank has extended credit or loans to African countries like Burkina Faso, Tanzania, and Mali to help them develop vocational education.

COOPERATION WITH CHINA

African countries have also strengthened cooperation with other parts of the world in the educational sector.

According to China's Ministry of Education, more than 50 African countries have established educational cooperation with China.

Cen Jianjun, deputy director of the ministry's international cooperation office, said at a news briefing on the upcoming China-Africa Cooperation Forum that efforts put into Sino-African educational exchanges and cooperation in recent years had paid off.

Under the Beijing Declaration signed at the Sino-African Education Minister Forum held in Beijing last November, China has committed running training programs for 1,000 African government officials, school heads and teachers over a period of three years.

China provides about 1,200 government scholarships to African students every year. By the end of 2005, a total of 18,919 scholarships had been granted to students from 50 African countries.

Also several Confucius Institutes, the nonprofit school specializing in Chinese language education and cultural communication, have been set up in some African countries.

So far, through nearly 60 assistance programs, China has helped 25 African countries to develop neglected disciplines and train science and technological talents.

China has also dispatched 530 professional teachers to 35 African countries to assist them in developing higher and middle school education, according to the Chinese education ministry.