Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Sub-Saharan Africa: the missing middle in post-school education

The structure of education systems in Sub-Saharan countries is characterised by Basic Education; Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) as well as University Education. Whilst the basic education system has grown to be a large system that accommodates almost all children, the size of post-basic education options available to young people in these countries is still very small and weak. There is a social crisis of large numbers of young people who are not in education, employment and work in the context of skills shortages in the labour market. There are, in other words, both supply and demand issues to which the present form of post-school is unable to respond adequately. There is a challenge of the ‘missing middle’ in the Sub-Saharan education and training systems and young people who simply disappear to thin air after leaving school.