Shadow education in Africa: private supplementary tutoring and its policy implications

This study focuses on the so-called shadow education system of private supplementary tutoring. The phenomenon is called shadow education because to a large extent its content mimics that in schooling: as the curriculum changes in the schools, so it changes in the shadow. The two main categories of providers considered are regular teachers offering tutoring as part-time activities to earn extra incomes, and tutorial companies operating on a commercial basis. Such tutoring may be provided one-to-one, in small groups, in large lecture theatres, and over the internet.

Shadow education can help achieve the fourth of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG4) by promoting learning, and well-organised tutorial companies can be a social and economic asset. However, much shadow education also raises major questions about social inequalities, (in)efficiency in education systems, and ethics. Shadow education has become a major focus of attention, particularly in East and South Asia, and also to some extent in Europe and North America. In Africa, it has received less attention because commentators have felt that the priority focus should be to get children into school in the first place. This orientation has overlooked the significance of farreaching issues arising from shadow education and related to SDG4.