This chapter reviews some of the history of education inequalities in Africa since the 1970s. To what extent do the existing social indicators used to assess the provision of schooling give insight into the depth of education inequalities? Focusing on gender inequalities, we present some critiques of the indicators currently used for their failure to assess some important dimensions of why gender divisions in schools are significant. The chapter goes on to suggest how more complex measures of inequalities can be developed and presents the results of assessments of changing gender inequalities in Africa based on the Gender Equality in Education Index (GEEI), pointing out how different the picture it presents is to that based on existing measures of enrollment and gender parity. In conclusion, this chapter shows how linking measures relating to poverty and education enrollment and attainment will allow a richer picture of both the scale of the social policy challenges required to reform education in Africa and also some of the ways in which connections between social policy areas can be enhanced.
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Unterhalter, E., Oommen, M. (2008). Measuring Education Inequalities in Commonwealth Countries in Africa. In: Holsinger, D.B., Jacob, W.J. (eds) Inequality in Education. CERC Studies in Comparative Education, vol 24. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2652-1_23
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