Africa
118million
out of about 423 million children and young people of school age were out of school.
28%About 28 in every 100
Educational research for Africa.
Rethinking
education.
Mastery-based learning. Wider access. Simpler school management.
01 — Why we do this
How to read these figures
The opening panel compares UNESCO’s 118 million out-of-school estimate for Africa in 2023 with the UIS February 2025 release of official school-age population: 225,967,856 at primary age, 106,976,080 at lower-secondary age, and 89,663,944 at upper-secondary age. We sum those populations to 422,607,880 (about 423 million) and calculate 118 million ÷ 422,607,880 ≈ 27.9%, rounded to 28%. The total and percentage are our calculations. School-age ranges follow each country’s official entrance ages and education-level durations.
Nigeria’s estimate uses the UIS February 2026 release for 2023, with primary, lower-secondary, and upper-secondary school-age populations of 37,299,284, 16,948,764, and 15,462,886 and modelled out-of-school rates of 24%, 25.2%, and 37.8%. We multiply each population by its matching rate and sum the results: about 19.1 million out of 69.7 million, or 27.4%, displayed as about 27%. The total and percentage are our calculations from rounded modelled rates. Both opening estimates cover primary through upper secondary school age in 2023, but Africa uses the 2025 source release and Nigeria uses the updated 2026 release; they should not be used to calculate Nigeria’s share of the continental total.
The charts use different reporting years, labelled beside each source. The regional figures use African Union subregions and the most recent available observations in UNICEF’s 2000–2024 reporting window. They are not a comparison of change over time.
“Enrolled” is calculated as 100% minus the out-of-school rate. For primary-age children this includes pre-primary, primary, or secondary education; for lower-secondary age it includes primary or secondary; for upper-secondary age it includes primary, secondary, or higher education. These figures describe enrolment, not school proximity, attendance, completion, or mastery.
The population chart rebases a projected 37% increase to an index of 100 in 2025 and 137 in 2050. It shows population pressure rather than a forecast of student enrolment.
That is why Novamentis works on three things: mastery, wider access, and simpler school management.
See our objectives02 — Our objectives
Our three
objectives.
Improve learning, widen access, and make schools easier to manage.
Mastery-based learning
Progress through
understanding.
Our goal is to build tools that help learners understand the material, get feedback, and progress when they can explain and apply it.
Explore the ideaA learning example
Build the foundation.
One half is the same as two quarters. Working with equal-sized parts makes fractions easier to understand.
½=²⁄₄
Wider access
Education beyond
the classroom.
We aim to research unconventional pathways that reach people beyond traditional classrooms and reduce barriers of location, cost, and circumstance.
Pathways we're interested in
01Community learning
Local spaces, shared resources, and mentors that connect learning to the people and places around us.
02Everyday technology
Exploring how familiar devices, offline resources, and low-bandwidth experiences can carry useful learning further.
03Flexible participation
Learning opportunities that fit around work, family responsibilities, and different starting points.
Stronger schools
Make schools
easier to manage.
We aim to provide accessible, easy-to-use tools that simplify administration, support informed decisions, and help schools grow while maintaining educational quality.
Where simpler tools can help
01
Everyday administration
Reduce repetitive work around attendance, records, and routine reporting.
02
Clearer decisions
Make important school information easier to understand and act on.
03
Sustainable growth
Help schools serve more learners with manageable systems and workflows.
03 — What our objectives address
1 / 3Mastery-based learning
Progress without understanding.
A class can finish a lesson while some learners are still struggling with it. Those gaps follow them into the next topic. Repeating facts or passing an exam does not always show that a learner can explain an idea or use it to solve a problem.
Our responseWe aim to develop tools that check understanding, identify what needs more work, and provide practice and feedback before a learner moves on. The focus is on what the learner can explain and apply, with useful information for their teacher.
Intended resultLearners build the understanding they need for the next step.
These are our research and development objectives.
How research guides our work04 — How we think
Research that
informs practice.
Novamentis is an educational research organization. Our goal is to use research to guide tools for learners, educators, and schools across Africa.
What does meaningful mastery look like?
A learner can explain an idea, use it in a new situation, and recognize where their understanding needs work. Our tools should help make that progress visible.
How can learning travel further?
We want to investigate approaches that work with real constraints: local languages, connectivity, available resources, and people's everyday responsibilities.
What helps schools grow well?
Useful tools should reduce administrative effort and give educators a clearer view of what needs attention, while keeping learning at the centre.
The research behind our objectives
These sources inform our work on learning, access, teacher capacity, and school management. The figures in chapter 01 link directly to their data sources.
05 — Looking forward