The World Bank Group seeks to double its funding for education in the Western and Central African region by 2025 to accelerate the work of educational reforms, a senior official of the bank said here late Monday.

Ousmane Diagana, the World Bank Vice President for Western and Central Africa, said this at a press briefing after a one-day strategy meeting of education and finance ministers from the region.

“Currently, our educational portfolio for the region is 3.1 billion dollars, but we intend to double this amount by 2025, making it a minimum of 6.2 billion dollars,” said Diagana.

The vice president said there was the need to accelerate the bank’s support for educational reforms in the region, given the challenges ahead and the challenges imposed by the demography of the continent, and the need to reduce poverty in the region.

As the bank will meet with African leaders in Senegal in July to discuss the new program of financing for the region, Diagana said education would be at the center of these discussions, news agency ANI reported.

Strategically, he said the discussions would focus on energy, food, agriculture, education, health, and digitalization.

The one-day meeting attracted more than 40 finance and education ministers from Western and Central Africa. The meeting concluded with an urgent call to advance reforms in education and deliver better access to quality education for young people across the region.

During the meeting, the World Bank unveiled its new regional education strategy titled “From School to Jobs: A Journey for the Young People of Western and Central Africa” for the region.

The strategy provides a roadmap for investments to improve learning and equip young people with the right skills to access productive jobs.

Image courtesy: ANI