The purpose of this research is to build upon the use of survey data to generate a proper analysis of literacy rates in West Africa by specifying, estimating and validating an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model. In Nonso Obikili’s 2015 article, “The Impact of the Slave Trade on Literacy in West Africa: Evidence from the Colonial Era,” he uses a unique equation to determine the relationship between slave export intensity and standard literacy rates. The focus is on West Africa, consisting of fifteen different countries: Benin; Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Cabo Verde; Chad; Côte d’Ivoire; Guinea; the Gambia; Ghana; Guinea-Bissau; Liberia; Mali; Mauritania; Niger; Nigeria; Senegal; Sierra Leone; and Togo. Although, Obikili (2015) focuses on two countries, Ghana and Nigeria. With similar ethnic groups and levels of slave intensity, he found that West Africa has the lowest education rates in the world and a history of colonization.
Therefore, historical data provides a better understanding of the slow development of literacy over time. I will achieve this through the following objectives.
This work will build upon previous research by Nonso Obikili (2015) and will incorporate recent census datasets as well as current advances towards in colonization and modern literacy rates.
This literature review focuses on different factors that separate West Africa from the rest of the world, including Obikili’s explanations of societal shifts after colonization and the overall importance of education itself. West Africa has the lowest education rates in the world (Roser 1). Millions of men, women and children do not have access to free, equitable and quality schooling, which negatively affects their literacy, the ability to read and write in a particular language. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, literacy is much more than just reading and writing. It is a “means of identification, understanding, interpretation, creation, communication, in an increasingly digital, text-mediated, information rich and fast-changing world” (UNESCO 1). Literacy can be measured by household surveys, standardized tests or a national census. The collection and use of this data is vital to the understanding of human development. The combination of high illiteracy rates, low school attendance and inadequate teacher availability has negatively impacted the region’s social development.
To ensure proper development, education must be prioritized. Therefore, it is important to question why West Africa struggles to support its schooling in comparison to the rest of the world. With a history of colonization, West Africa experienced strong shifts in society and is still recovering. Today, colonizing nations such as Great Britain or France are among the highest education rates in the world. Their economy coupled with their history of academic prestige modernizes practices of education. In contrast, modern-day West Africa is still recovering from colonization and struggling to properly developing its complex social systems (UNESCO 2014). As the region attempts to support its educational systems, it continues to fall much further behind its developed counterparts.
Education has the power to further human development. Amartya Sen, an economist and philosopher, defines human development as the “emergence of a complex system that provides citizens with the capabilities to live out their lives to the fullest” (Sen 3). Sen firmly believes that societal strength is determined by practices of social freedoms, including education. With the highest illiteracy rates in the world, West African nations lack proper academic opportunities, affecting modern issues of self-governance and global understanding. This development can not only improve individual lives, it can also change the overall function of a nation for generations to come. With accurate data collection and proper analysis of education rates, student enrollment rates can drastically increase and progress literacy rates. This improvement will create job opportunities, increase governmental participation, improve personal health and the region’s overall socioeconomic status eventually changing the world’s view of West Africa.
Education is powerful. This issue is closely related to the Fourth Sustainable Development Goal created by the United Nations, which “ensures inclusive and equitable quality education and promise lifelong learning opportunities for all” (United Nations 2019). While it is extremely difficult to ensure equity for all people, developing nations must be engaged in a progressive effort to make this goal a reality. It is integral to the proper function and development of all people. The fourth goal mentions that “all learners acquire the knowledge or skills needed to promote sustainable development, including… promotion of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity” (United Nations 1). The understanding and overall comparison of this region to the rest of the world will inform others on the impact of education. Therefore, a functional society will develop from a viable educational system.
During the transatlantic slave trades from the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, millions of people in West and Central Africa were violently stolen from their homes (Obikili 3). “Out of 28 million people, about 9.8% of the region’s population was exported in Africa. This does not include the slaves who died during capture, the long trek to the coast, or the journey across the Atlantic” (Obikili 3). Throughout the sixteenth century, colonizers captured innocent people, influenced and invaded Africa’s lands by implementing new ideologies and values. Among colonizers, missionaries entered in an attempt to spread their religion through education and social practices. Typically, regions located near the coasts of West Africa were influenced the most and recieved “extreme slave intensity” in comparison those inland (Obikili 4).
During the colonial period, countries like Nigeria and Ghana did not exist. West Africa consisted of various regional ethnic groups that were affected by the slave trade at different levels of slave intensity. Obikili defines this as “ethnic fractionalism,” explaining the power of ethnic groups on the growth and development of individuals (Obikili 2). Each group has different values based on their culture and income levels. For example, in Botswana, “schooling was concieved as a burden on the family because of both the new expenditures associated with schooling and the loss of the child’s contribution to household production and income” (Obikili 13). Many communities were educated by the agricultural process, ultimately allowing them to provide for their families.
West Africa is the most populated region in the entire continent (Nonnenmaker 8). With a total of 386 million people, described as the fastest growing population in the world at a “2-4% annual growth rate” (Nonnenmaker 9). The increasing population density makes the region much more vulnerable to the dangers of overpopulation, which include the scarcity of resources, such as water, food and shelter. As tensions continue to increase, the region struggles to properly support its citizens, making human development much more difficult. Among communities throughout West Africa, millions do not have access to a proper education. Each country differs in school attendance, educational opportunities and literacy rates. According to UNESCO’s research on Migration and Education in West Africa, “with the exception of Ghana and Cabo Verde, more than half of adolescents are not enrolled in secondary schools” (Nonnenmaker 33). What causes this gap? Data collected by Obikili explains the impact the slave trade and cultural values had on “social capital” changes related to the value and practice of education on the current population in West Africa.
Various datasets define literacy differently. In the Demographic Health Surveys, they assumed that “respondents who had attended higher than secondary education to be literate. All other respondents, shown a typed sentence to read aloud were considered literate if they would read all or part of the sentence” (84). In contrast, the UNESCO Census defines literacy as a much broader term. They describe it as literacy is “beyond reading and writing. It is a means of identification, understanding, interpretation, creation, communication, in an increasingly digital, text-mediated, information rich and fast-changing world” (UNESCO 1). Literacy can be measured by household surveys that are used to analyze reading and writing abilities in any particular langauge. Obikili’s work specifically measures literacy rates in Nigeria and Ghana using UNESCO’s definition of literacy. To prevent bias and ensure validation, Obikili decided to measure two different categories of literacy rates: standard and extended. Standard literacy rates specifically focus on the English language, while extended rates include Arabic as well. The extension of these rates increases internal validation in Obikili’s reseach in Ghana and Nigeria.
Obikili uses a scatter plot comparing all fifteen countries in West Africa, explaining the correlation between slave intensity and literacy rates per country. His findings represent a negative relationship that is further explained throughout his paper. It also uses a least squares regression model to determine the correlation between literacy and slave intensity.
- Slave intensity = slave exports / earliest population of ethnic groups reported
The slave exportation was defined as data collected from historical documents found from the transatlantic slave trades. These data were taken from census datasets collected in Africa during the early 18th and 19th centuries.
- Slave intensity = slave exports / land era occupied
Obikili applies numerous factors of the data collected to back up his findings. Using this method, he discovered that during the colonial era, there was a negative correlation between intensity with standard and extended literacy rates. In Table 2, he found -5.35 correlation between slave export and standard literacy rates. This correlation is common throughout all of his research. This table also calculates other factors, including the fraction of those employed in agriculture, christian missionaries and the fraction of females within the region. In his third analysis, he added new factorials emphasizing the region’s distance from the coast, historic population density and malaria ecology. The datasets mentioned differentiate in detail, but all three findings have a strong negative correlation with slave intensity and literacy. What does this say about literacy and colonization? They must have a relationship.
Obikili also focuses on extended literacy rates. These rates are much higher than the standard rates, explaining that literacy is does not just include the english language. This western perspective of education has impacted past research studies but Obikili makes an effort to change this narrative. For example, in northern districts, Islamic education was a significant aspect of education. Therefore, they had much higher extended literacy rates than in the southern Nigeria.
Using census data, southern districts also showed strong negative correlations of education that have been impacted by colonization itself. As further analysis, the Demographic Heath Survey provides an explanation of modern literacy rates in each country. Obikili’s data also explains how the transatlantic slave trades impact on literacy was not gender-specific. Obikili uses information from the Nigerian literacy Survey conducted in 2010. This survey measures the literacy rates among men in women throughout Nigeria. He found a strong negative correlation between slave exports and literacy rates for both genders. Out of 37 ethnic groups studied, the effect of slave intensity for men was significantly higher than women. Nonso Obikili’s findings have been supported by recent literature. In 2018, NDHS conducted numerous surveys throughout Nigeria. NDHS “interviewed 41,821 women ages 15-49 and 13,311 men age 15-59. The majority of women and men surveyed were under the age of 30” (NDHS 83). Based on the data collected, men are more educated than women. In Figure 3.1, “about 35% of women have not recieved an education in comparison to 22% of men.” As the levels of education increase, women tend to fall behind their male counterparts.
I found this research to be extremely fascinating. West Africa represents the human development process through the desire for social equality and prosperity. The transatlanic slave trade has defined this region in the past and has created modern misconceptions about West Africa’s progression. Although, the post-colonial period does show that there must be a negative correlation between slave intenisty and education rates. The region’s history of colonization is a perfect example of what makes this region so unique. It is a mixture of cultures, values, and practices, a combination of privilege and poverty with a mixture of ethnic groups. My studies have been extremely rewarding thus far, allowing me to change the narrative of what it means to be literate and step away from western perspective of education. Literacy does not determine a regions success, yet it is extremely important in supporting society.
Obikili’s research suggests that there is no perfect explanation for West Africa’s low education rates. His studies show a negative correlation, yet in modern times, there must be a permanent affect that cannot be pinpointed to one specific event or issue. Does the history of colonization truely explain why West Africa struggles to support its complex social systems? This gap is extremely important because it posits that there is a relationship between education and slavery. But what does this relationship exactly tell us? Education is complex and influenced by numerous factors including agriculture, population density, gender, culture, literacy and identity. It is important that data scientists create analyses that think about the strength of academics among individuals, despite where they live, who they are, or how much they have.
[1] Roser, Max, and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina. “Global Education.” Our World in Data, 31 Aug. 2016, ourworldindata.org/global-education.
[2] Obikili, Nonso. “The Impact of the Slave Trade on Literacy in West Africa: Evidence from the Colonial Era.” Journal of African Economies, vol. 25, no. 1, 2016, pp. 1–27.
[3] “World Inequality Database on Education.” World Inequality Database on Education, UNESCO Institute of Statistics, www.education-inequalities.org/.
[4] “New Methodology Shows That 258 Million Children, Adolescents and Youth Are Out of School.” Education in Africa , Http://Uis.unesco.org/En/Topic/Education-Africa, 13 Sept. 2019.
[5] Sen, Amartya, 1933-. Development As Freedom. New York :Anchor Books, 2000.
[6] “Literacy.” UNESCO, UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 19 Mar. 2018, en.unesco.org/themes/literacy.
[7] National Population Commission - NPC and ICF. 2019. Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2018 - Final Report. Abuja, Nigeria: NPC and ICF. Available at http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR359/FR359.pdf.
[8] Nonnenmacher Sophie, and Akemi Yonemura. “Migration and Education in West Africa.” Migration and Education in West Africa , 2018, pp. 30–36. UNESCO Digital Library, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000266062?posInSet=4&queryId=6974a54f-dc41-47cc-9602-b068749a0231.
[9] Labé, Olivier, and Omeneya Fahmy. “UIS Education Surveys: An Update.” UIS Education Workshop for Anglophone Africa Windhoek (Namibia), 19th July 2016, 19 July 2016, pp. 1–23. UNESCO, http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/rws_windhoek2016_3._uis_update-on-2014-2016uis-ed-surveys.pdf.
[10] “All Children in School by 2015: Global Initiative on out-of-School Children Regional Report .” Regional Report: West and Central Africa , Mar. 2014, pp. 1–55., https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000228081/PDF/228081eng.pdf.multi.