Speech Transcripts

Honorable Ministers,
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentleman,

As President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), I am honored to have the opportunity to speak at this very important seminar called "Education for Africa to Empower Future Generations."

During this event, we will discuss the importance of basic education and learning, and how countries and development partners can accelerate these efforts. I welcome our distinguished guests to exchange their views and experiences openly throughout the course of this event.

I strongly believe that the world needs to invest more, and better, in basic education. Modern history shows us that primary and secondary education is fundamental for mid-term and long-term socioeconomic growth. We also know that basic education is critical in terms of human security, because it equips children with skills to cope with emerging threats, enabling them to live in dignity. I believe the case for investing in basic education is particularly relevant for Africa, where we see a rising young population.

During the last two decades, the world achieved dramatic success in expanding primary school enrollment. However, attending school is different from actually learning. In fact, UNESCO estimates that more than half of the world's children have not acquired minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics. Therefore, we must recognize that providing quality education to all children is still an utmost global challenge.

In the case of Japan, the government and its citizens made significant investments in basic education in the process of its modernization to raise children's overall academic abilities.

From the 17th to the 19th Centuries, Japan established the basic education system. During this period, Japan established schools that not only served the upper class, but also schools for children of commoners. With this, Japan's literacy rate became one of the highest in the world.

Building on this legacy, the Meiji Government modernized Japan's education system during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Although they faced obstacles, they successfully managed to increase primary school enrollment to nearly 100%.

The government also implemented an important policy to establish so-called "Teachers Schools" in all prefectures. These schools provided free education to those who wished to become teachers, enabling Japan to deliver quality education to its children.

Japan's education system also emphasized strong collaboration between local communities and schools. During the Meiji Era, many Japanese communities provided significant support to establish and manage their local primary schools. In return, the schools not only educated children, but they provided additional services by sharing their facilities with other local communal divisions such as fire departments, police departments and health services. In this sense, schools became the core of communities.

With these investments, Japan increased its human capital, income equality and advancements in science and technology to achieve rapid economic growth and prosperity that were widely spread among the population.

Having said the case of Japan, can Japan's experience be applied in Africa's context? Needless to say, we must not simply "export" Japan's approach to education. However, there may be elements that can be adapted to best suit partner countries' social and cultural contexts.

With this in mind, JICA has worked hand-in-hand with partner countries, respecting local culture and country ownership. With "trust" as our guiding principle, JICA has expanded its cooperation with Africa in the education sector. Since the first TICAD in 1993, JICA and Africa have worked together to provide quality education to over 30 million children, approximately 10% of all Africa's children.

"School for All" is one of JICA's distinct education programs that has been adopted by over 45,000 schools across Africa as of last year. This program facilitates collaborative work between schools and communities to resolve problems not only in education, but also on issues like health and nutrition. For example, local communities in Madagascar and Burkina Faso have helped improve schoolchildren's nutrition by supplying schools with ingredients to make school meals. Under "School for All", schools and communities nurture trust, and schools become central to the community, just like in Meiji Japan.

JICA's cooperation with Egypt also highlights our work in education. In response to an enthusiastic request by the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, JICA and Egypt have worked to establish 35 Egypt-Japan Schools last year that have adopted Japan's approach to education. These schools nurture values like teamwork and responsibility by conducting school activities like assigning daily classroom coordinators (Nicchoku) and having students clean their classrooms. Students also foster social and emotional development through music, art, and physical classes, and learn to value personal hygiene by daily washing their hands and brushing their teeth at school. Before implementing these practices, officials from both Egypt and JICA carefully considered these activities to ensure they are a good cultural fit and meet parent's expectations. To provide quality education for ALL children in Egypt, JICA is committed to accelerating such partnerships with our Egyptian colleagues.

Building on our work, JICA looks forward to scaling up our education cooperation in Africa. At the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan launched the "Education Innovation Initiative" to create inclusive, resilient and innovative societies. Through this initiative, JICA plans to deliver quality education to at least three million of Africa's children in 3 years, particularly focusing on early childhood and girls' education. Additionally, JICA will continue working with development partners to ensure all boys and girls have access to a minimum of 12 years of quality education. As a designated Human Capital Champion, under the Human Capital Project launched by the World Bank last year, we will also be signing a Joint Action Note with the World Bank at the end of this event.

Let's work together and accelerate quality education progress in Africa for generations to come.

Thank you very much.