Article 13
Education and skills development
1. Every young person shall have the right to education of good quality.
2. The value of multiple forms of education, including formal, non-formal, informal, distance learning and life-long learning, to meet the diverse needs of young people shall be embraced.
3. The education of young people shall be directed to:
a) The promotion and holistic development of the young person’s cognitive and creative and emotional abilities to their full potential;
b) Fostering respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as set out in the provisions of the various African human and people’s rights and international human rights declarations and conventions;
c) Preparing young people for responsible lives in free societies that promote peace, understanding, tolerance, dialogue, mutual respect and friendship among all nations and across all groupings of people;
d) The preservation and strengthening of positive African morals, traditional values and cultures and the development of national and African identity and pride;
e) The development of respect for the environment and natural resources;
f) The development of life skills to function effectively in society and include issues such as HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, substance abuse prevention and cultural practices that are harmful to the health of young girls and women as part of the education curricula;
4. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures with a view to achieving full realisation of this right and shall, in particular:
a) Provide free and compulsory basic education and take steps to minimise the indirect costs of education;
b) Make all forms of secondary education more readily available and accessible by all possible means including progressively free;
c) Take steps to encourage regular school attendance and reduce drop-out rates;
d) Strengthen participation in and the quality of training in science and technology;
e) Revitalise vocational education and training relevant to current and prospective employment opportunities and expand access by developing centres in rural and remote areas;
f) Make higher education equally accessible to all including establishing distance learning centres of excellence;
g) Avail multiple access points for education and skills development including opportunities outside of mainstream educational institutions e.g., workplace skills development, distance learning, adult literacy and national youth service programmes;
h) Ensure, where applicable, that girls and young women who become pregnant or married before completing their education shall have the opportunity to continue their education;
i) Allocate resources to upgrade the quality of education delivered and ensure that it is relevant to the needs of contemporary society and engenders critical thinking rather than rote learning;
j) Adopt pedagogy that incorporates the benefits of and trains young people in the use of modern information and communication technology such that youth are better prepared for the world of work;
k) Encourage youth participation in community work as part of education to build a sense of civic duty;
l) Introduce scholarship and bursary programmes to encourage entry into post-primary school education and into higher education outstanding youth from disadvantaged communities, especially young girls;
m) Establish and encourage participation of all young men and young women in sport, cultural and recreational activities as part of holistic development;
n) Promote culturally appropriate, age specific sexuality and responsible parenthood education;
o) Promote the equivalence of degrees between African educational institutions to enable the youth to study and work in State Parties;
p) Adopt preferential recruitment policies for African youth with specialised skills amongst States Parties.
5. Youth are determined to transform the continent in the fields of science and
technology. Therefore they are committed to:
a) Promoting and using science and technology in Africa;
b) Conducting research towards science and technology.
6. State Parties should encourage youth to conduct research. In this regard,
an African discoveries day should be established along with mechanism of
awarding prizes at the continental level.
7. Enterprises that are located in Africa should establish partnerships with training institutions to contribute to technology transfer for the benefit of African students and researchers.
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