Eritrea has largely been offering free education from primary to secondary level, while Burundi, which also launched free primary education a year ago, is also making efforts to provide affordable secondary education.
Cumulatively, there is convergence of opinion that free or universal primary education is not useful if the learners cannot proceed to secondary level or other post-primary training institutions. Primary schooling largely prepares the learners for further education and training and ideally should not be a terminal point. At any rate, most learners leaving primary school are so young that they should not be left to the vagaries of nature. They are ill-prepared and immature to be employed and are also vulnerable as to be left without productive engagement.
Equally, the young people feel cheated when they get free primary education, where they excel in national examinations, but find themselves unable to proceed to secondary education because of inability to pay. Since three out of the six Education For All (EFA) dwell on accessible secondary education, it is only logical that countries must move towards achieving them at the earliest opportunity. By opting for free or affordable secondary education, the Cluster countries are seeking to actualise the fact that basic education extends beyond primary level – that learners must enrol and remain in school for a considerable length of period if they are to derive the maximum benefits. Indeed, it is only be staying long in school that youngsters get thorough preparation for lucrative professions that ultimately lead to better life. Even so, we cannot lose sight of certain fundamental realities. From the experience of free or universal primary education, providing free secondary education or waiving tuition, have inherent challenges. The most obvious one is lack of teachers and facilities to meet the demands of the increased enrolments in secondary schools, as it happened with the primary schools when various countries abolished fees. Added to that is getting adequate textbooks to go round besides other instructional materials. Not only are the existing schools under the obligation to expand, but also there is urgent demand to put up new schools to accommodate the envisaged increased enrolment. Given the prevailing economic conditions, the countries cannot easily afford to mobilise adequate resources to put up those required additional schools. Inevitably, more sustainable models for financing secondary education will have to be pursued if the campaign to expand access at this level is to succeed. Increasingly, there are discussions of having more day schools, which are cheaper to manage and also streamlining general education management to ensure efficient resource utilisation. Clearly, more innovative and radical ideas would be needed to make secondary education accessible to all eligible students. Nonetheless, there is light at the end of the tunnel given the overriding political will among the member states to provide free or affordable secondary education and a change of heart among donors, who now see the wisdom in having more learners pursue post-primary education and training. Besides secondary education, the cluster countries are giving increased attention to education quality across all the levels. In particular, the experience of free or universal primary education brought with the challenge of quality given the large enrolments realised against a shortfall of teachers, facilities and learning and teaching aids. Since, there is evidence that the countries have progressively been working on teacher training, recruitment and deployment with the express objective of easing teaching workload and giving learners value for their time. Rwanda, Burundi and Eritrea, for example, have been putting a lot of emphasis on professional development of teachers, which has a bearing on the quality of learning. Notably, these countries have had to deal with the post-conflicts such as teacher scarcity and dilapidated infrastructure. Kenya and Uganda have had a headstart but they equally have to deal with the issue of recruiting more teachers to meet the demands of schools at a time when public finance is being stretched to the limits by various competing interests. In a nutshell, the quest towards making secondary accessible through fees waivers is putting the cluster countries on a better stead to realise universal basic education. Building on the experience of free or universal primary education, the countries are clearly walking on the right path and the challenge is to sustain the momentum and the resolve to make secondary education accessible to the vast majority of our populations. EFA Media Unit UNESCO Nairobi Office | 
