Eritrea: Education Country Brief

January 2024
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Background

This brief provides data and references to the literature on issues that matter for education in Eritrea. It is part of a series that provides a brief introduction to the state of education systems in Africa. The work was prepared for country pages on IICBA’s website and a digital repository of resources at the country, sub-regional, and continental level. The brief series also informs work conducted in the context of (i) the European Union’s Africa Regional Teachers’ Initiative and (ii) the KIX (Knowledge and Innovation eXchange) Africa 19 Hub for anglophone countries that promotes the use of evidence for policy making and benefits from funding from the Global Partnership for Education and Canada’s International Development Research Center. This brief and its associated webpage are meant to be updated as new information becomes available, at least on a yearly basis. 

Key resources: This brief provides the following resources: 

  • Educational outcomes: Estimates are provided for learning poverty (the share of 10-year-old children not able to read and understand a simple text), educational attainment and/or enrollment rates at various levels of education, the components of the human capital index, and human capital wealth as a share of national wealth. 
  • Selected literature: Links are provided to selected publications at the global, regional, and country levels with a focus on six themes: (i) learning assessment systems; (ii) early childhood education; (iii) teaching and learning; (iv) the data challenge; (v) gender equality; and (vi) equity and inclusion. 
  • Country policies: Links are provided to key institutions (including Ministries) managing the education system, selected policy and planning documents, and websites that aim to provide comparative data on policies across countries.
  • Knowledge repositories and other resources: Links are provided to a dozen digital repositories that collate publications and resources on education issues in Africa. 
  • Data: Links are provided to data sources that can help inform education policy.

This country brief provides a brief introduction to selected issues and research relevant to Eritrea’s education system and links to resources that may be useful to official of Ministries of Education and other education stakeholders. A special focus is placed on thematic areas from the KIX (Knowledge and Innovation eXchange) initiative for which UNESCO IICBA manages the Secretariat of the Africa KIX 19 Hub. Together with the associated webpages on UNESCO IICBA’s website, the brief is to be updated as new information becomes available, typically every year. The brief starts with a review of basic data on educational outcomes including learning poverty, educational attainment, and the human capital index. The focus then shifts to information related to the thematic areas of focus of the KIX Africa 19 Hub, namely: (i) learning assessment (ii) early childhood education; (iii) teaching & learning (iv) data challenge; (v) gender equality; and (vi) equity and inclusion. The brief also includes links to country documents and processes as well as a range of other resources and websites.

Educational Outcomes and Human Capital

Eritrea, like many other African countries, is facing a learning crisis. In sub-Saharan Africa, learning poverty, defined as the share of children unable to read and understand an age-appropriate text by age 10, is estimated at 89 percent by the World Bank, UNESCO, and other organizations. While specific country estimates are not available for Eritrea, UNICEF estimates that in 2018, the percentage of students who met the minimum mastery level for literacy and numeracy in Grades 3 and 5 was 46% and 38%, respectively. Furthermore, the percentage of students who passed the Grade 8 assessment declined from 60% to 40% after the COVID-19 school closures. 

Schooling does not imply learning, but lack of learning increases the likelihood of dropping out of school. According to the World Bank, the school life expectancy for male’s was 8.7 years while for females it was 7.3 years in 2015. Furthermore, UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) estimates the children of primary school age who were out-of-school was 48% in 2019. For lower secondary and upper secondary, the out-of-school rate was 39.4% and 48.1%, respectively. The primary school completion rate was at 60 percent in 2019 for boys and 52 percent for girls. The lower secondary completion rate was at 50% for boys and 52% for girls in 2019. Gross enrollment in tertiary education was at 4 percent for men in 2016 versus 3 percent for women. 

 

ER table
Photo Credit: UNESCO IICBA

Source: Compiled by the authors from various databases.

Selected Literature

Supporting countries in using evidence for policymaking is an objective shared by many organizations and initiatives. Under the KIX initiative for which UNESCO IICBA manages the KIX Africa 19 Hub and collaborates with KIX Africa 21, the focus is on six themes: (i) learning assessment systems (ii) early childhood education; (iii) teaching and learning (iv) the data challenge; (v) gender equality; and (vi) equity and inclusion. For each topic, a link is provided to the GPE-KIX Discussion paper written at the start of the initiative in 2019 and additional publications that could be useful for policy. By necessity, to keep this brief short, only a few resources can be mentioned, but additional resources can be accessed through digital repositories listed below. A brief note on UNESCO IICBA research is also provided.

Learning Assessment Systems [GPE-KIX Discussion Paper]. Learning assessment tools and systems are essential to gauge and improve learning outcomes for students. A primer on large scale assessments from the World Bank provides guidance on such assessments, as does a review of learning assessments in Africa from UNESCO IIEP. Among regional assessments, PASEC (Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems) for francophone countries in West and Central Arica and SEACMEQ (Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality) for anglophone countries in East and Southern Africa are the best known. These instruments target primary schools. Other tools that focus and assess the learning outcomes of young learners include the Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Assessments (EGRA/EGMA). Supported and funded primarily by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), these assessments are administered by different agencies such as the World Bank, RTI International and others across the continent. The West African Examinations Council also provides guidance on examinations and certificate accreditation in Anglophone countries of West Africa Also interesting is PISA for development which is being piloted in secondary schools in a few African countries. 

Eritrea does not participate in these international assessments, but national examinations are administered by in grades 8 and 12. In order to gain admission to colleges, students are required to take the Eritrean Secondary Education Certificate Examination (ESECE) operated by the National Higher Education and Research institute (NHERI). In 2023, 14,395 students were registered to take the national examination of which 49.1% were female.   

Improving Teaching and Learning [GPE-KIX Discussion Paper]. How teachers and students interact and engage is key to improve learning outcomes. Cost-effective approaches pr ‘smart buys’ to improve learning in low-income countries are discussed in a World Bank report. Teaching is paramount, and therefore so are teacher policies to ensure that successful teachers make for successful students. Standards for the teaching profession were proposed by Education International and UNESCO with regional standards available from the Africa Union Commission, including a framework for standards and competencies. 

The education system follows a structure of 7-4-4. The first seven years is basic education includes two years of preschool education followed by five years of elementary level and middle level education. The medium of instruction is English from this grade level onwards. This is followed by four years of secondary schooling and another four years of tertiary education. In Eritrea, Finnish researchers in collaboration with the College of Education in Eritrea evaluated the role of teaching identity in the context of teacher professional development. Researchers from the Asmara College of Education and the Ministry of Education also explore the pedagogical dimensions of committed collaborative learning in supporting a cycle of action research by student-teachers. 

Strengthening Early Childhood Care and Education [GPE-KIX Discussion Paper]. Experiences children undergo in early childhood can affect their entire life. Nurturing care is essential. Essential interventions in early childhood include pre-primary education.  Yet less than half of young children in Africa benefit from pre-primary education according to the Global Education Monitoring report 2021.  The Office of Research at UNICEF maintains a webpage with useful links to organizations working on child-related themes organized by subject, including early childhood. 

In Eritrea, early childhood education includes community caregiver centers and preschools (kindergartens) overseen by regional Ministry of Education offices. This two-year preschool program serves children up to age five and is mainly concentrated in urban areas, primarily Asmara, with limited accessibility. A study exploring the causes of vision loss of Eritrean children identified that that trauma, infection and nutritional deficiency were major causes.  The study identified that many of the causes were avoidable and shared recommendations to reduce the rate of vision loss to help these children achieve better learning outcomes. Basic data on early childhood development are available from a nurturing care profile.

Achieving Gender Equality In and Through Education [GPE-KIX Discussion Paper]. The cost of gender inequality is massive, as is the cost of not educating girls, including in Africa. When girls lack education, this affects their earnings in adulthood, the number of children they will have and their health, as well as their agency, among others. When girls are not in school, they are also at higher risk of child marriage, with again high costs for them, their children, and society. In Africa, the African Union’s International Centre for the Education of Girls and Women in Africa supports member states on girls’ education. 

A 2022 UNICEF report on Child Marriage in Eastern and Southern Africa estimates that, in Eritrea, 4 in 10 young women were married in childhood with those most vulnerable being the girls who have received the least amount of education. 59% of women aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or in union before age 18 had no education as compared to 25% who had at least a secondary education. The most recent version of the Eritrean Population and Health Survey 2010 (EPHS) found that 69% of women and 39% of men aged 15-29 who never attended school cite child marriage as the main reason for not attending school.

Data Management Systems Strengthening [GPEKIX Discussion Paper]. Education management information systems (EMIS) are key for management. They can also support evidence-based policymaking. In Africa, the African Union’s Institute of Education for Development supports member states on EMIS. In addition to EMIS data, other data sources including household surveys, school surveys, student assessments, and impact evaluations of pilot interventions are essential to inform policy. 

In Eritrea, data on the country’s education sector covering the 2018/2019 period is provided by essential education indicators from the Ministry of Education’s Department of Research and Human Resource Development. Lessons Learned from World Bank Education Management Information System Operations detail findings on the Eritrea Education Sector Improvement project from 2003-2012. The report notes that Eritrea successfully incorporated an EMIS to inform its education policy. However, another Geographic Information System (GIS) was also being used concurrently. The WB suggested the project would have benefited from an integration of the two systems. 

Equity and Inclusion/Leaving No One Behind [GPEKIX Discussion Paper]. Equity and inclusion are major challenges for education systems. Gender, disability, ethnicity, indigenous status, poverty, displacement, and many other factors may all lead some children to lack access to education. In Africa especially, gaps in educational outcomes between groups may be large, as illustrated in the case of disability. Equity must be at the center of education policy on the continent. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) are Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) are two major international frameworks related to disability-inclusive education exist. 

Basic education, which includes pre-school, primary, and middle school levels, is both mandatory and provided at no cost for all children of school age. Eritrea has ratified the CRC and is in discussions to ratify CPRD. Eritrea's National Disability Policy of 2021 mandates that all children with disabilities have access to free and compulsory primary, junior, and secondary education in inclusive settings. Eritrea also enforces a policy of using learners’ native languages for literacy and learning for up to eight years of primary level schooling, which has resulted in better performance in national examinations.   

Note on UNESCO IICBA Research. IICBA recently launched a new program of applied research on teacher and education issues in Africa. A total of 200 publications have been completed from January to September 2023, including studies, discussion papers, training guides, reports, knowledge briefs, event summaries, and interviews. Several of those publications focus on Eritrea. All publications are available on IICBA’s website. 

Country Policies 

The Education Sector Plan (2018-2022) is the flagship policy guiding the sector.  The Eritrea Education Sector analysis undertaken in 2017 provides information on pre-primary, primary, middle, secondary, adult education and technical vocational education and training. While some African countries have an independent Teacher Service Commission, Eritrea does not. 

A few organizations aim to capture education policies on specific themes across countries, including Eritrea. UNESCO’s Profiles Enhancing Education Reviews (PEER) covering the themes of the Global Education Monitoring reports, including: inclusion in education (2020 Report), non-state actors in education (2021/22 Report), technology in education (2023 Report) and leadership in education (2024/25 Report, forthcoming). PEER also covers additional topics on key SDG 4 issues, including financing for equity, climate change communication and education, and comprehensive sexuality education. 

Knowledge Repositories

Only a few links to the literature on education by theme for Eritrea, Africa, and globally were provided earlier to keep the brief short, but repositories of digital resources facilitate access to the literature. A few of those repositories are listed below by alphabetical order:

Many organizations maintain websites that include country pages with useful information. Examples include the GPE Eritrea Country Page; World Bank Eritrea Country Page; UNESCO IIEP Country Page. Many organizations also maintain blogs on education issues, often with stories on Africa. Examples include Education for All (Global Partnership for Education), Education for Global Development (World Bank), Education Plus Development (Brookings Institutions), and World Education Blog (UNESCO). Beyond blogs focusing on education, blogs on Africa more generally may also provide useful resources. This includes Africa Can End Poverty and Nasikiliza (the World Bank’s two blogs for sub-Saharan Africa ) and  Arab Voices (the Bank’s blog for the Middle East and North Africa).

Data

It is often useful to download data for Eritrea and other countries from multi-country databases. The largest database on development, including education data, is the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI). The World Bank also maintain the Education Statistics (EdStats) database. Both World Bank databases rely in part for education on data from the UNESCO Institute of Statistics. UNESCO also maintains the Global Education Observatory and the World Inequality Database in Education (WIDE), as well as a wide range of other databases. Specific estimates are occasionally maintained by other agencies. For example, UNICEF provides data on out-of-school rates, adjusted net attendance rates, completion rates, foundational learning skills, information communication technology skills, youth and adult literacy rates, and school-age digital connectivity. Another useful reference is StatCompiler which provides data at various levels of aggregation from Demographic and Health Surveys across countries and over time, including Eritrea. For comparison purposes, data from the OECD for member and partner countries (including South Africa) can be useful.

References

References are available through the links provided in this brief.