Education ministers from various African and World Bank meets in Ethiopia

African Education ministers and World Bank meets in Ethiopia

Education ministers from Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan and Tanzania are meeting in Addis Ababa, with experts from Brazil, China, India and Korea to discuss how to produce market-relevant skills in Africa.

Opening the meeting, Ethiopia's Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen expressed hope for strong and practical recommendations to strengthen the collaboration between partner countries and Africa, to enhance the contributions of technical and higher education institutions in the economic development of the latter.

"Africa is rising. To realize this exciting prospect, the continent needs to invest in skills and higher education, especially science and technology," said Mr. Ritva Reinikka, the Director for Human Development in Africa at the World Bank.

"Higher education needs to be much more responsive to the needs of the private sector and I think that a partnership with emerging countries is a step in the right direction."

According to the World Bank, scarcity of market-relevant skills was one of Africa's greatest challenges of the time.

The purpose of the regional meeting is to strengthen collaboration between sub-Saharan Africa and partners from Asia and Latin America in Technical and Vocational Education and higher education in applied science, engineering and technology.

"The Indian private education sector would be willing to participate in this partnership provided that there is a conducive regulatory environment that makes investment in education a financially viable proposition," said Mr. Shobha Ghosh, the Senior Director, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce.

The three-day meeting, under the theme; "Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology in Africa", organized by the World Bank and the Government of Ethiopia, ends Wednesday..

At the end of the meeting, the delegations are expected to present proposals on skilled labour in priority sectors of their development as well as suggestions for expanding the collaboration with these new partners.