Education in Equatorial Guinea

There have been major strides with Education in Equatorial Guinea over the past ten years, although there is still room for improvement.

[1] According to The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency as of 2015, 95.3% of the population age 15 and over can read and write in Equatorial Guinea were respectively literate.

[3] Although it has a high GNI per capita, which, as of 2018, was 18,170 international dollars, its educational outcomes fall behind those of the rest of West and Central Africa.

[2] UNESCO has cited several issues with the current educational system, including poor nutrition, low quality of teachers, and lack of adequate facilities.

[7] During the period of colonization, Equatorial Guinea's educational system was mostly controlled by Catholic missionary groups, in particular the Claretians.

[9] In addition to the lack of funding, the educational system suffered because President Macías viewed the Catholic church as a rival for power and as a symbol of Spanish imperialism.

[2] Although the country's income rose after the discovery of oil deposits in the 1990s, Equatorial Guinea's budget still only allocated about 2-3 percent to health and education.

Access is much lower, and inequalities are evident, as the richest quintile is enrolled at four times the rate of the poorest.

[14] Equatorial Guinea's government boasts that more than 500,000 students received scholarships to study at universities, participate in professional training programs, and participate in technical training programs abroad over the past forty years.