According to UNESCO, half of the children in Sub-Saharan Africa have not enrolled in school as more than 85 percent of children in this region are not learning at the minimum proficiency standards. More so, they sadly emphasized that “despite years of steady growth in enrolment rates, the education situation in sub-Saharan Africa continues to threaten the future of entire generations''. Compounding the prevalent situation, the Covid pandemic hit deep into global educational development as nearly 2 billion children and youth were out of school as at April 2020. It therefore suffices to say that the African education system is plagued with a myriad of problems.

It has been argued that in order to proffer the right solutions to the problems facing education systems in Africa, research plays a vital role. Without an extensive and reliable education research base, it will be impracticable to implement solutions, measure impacts, and evaluate outcomes of projects and programmes within Africa's education system. Education research is sacrosanct to the overall development of the continent as it offers a systematic approach to problem-solving, knowledge-advancing, insight-gathering, resource-monitoring, and programme-evaluation.

Our goal with the Education Research Forum is to build a community of expert researchers who are passionate about solving the problems facing educational development across the continent. By providing a platform for scholars, researchers, lecturers, and other stakeholders to have access to quality information on current realities, best practices, and funding strategies for research and development, we are furthering the conversation around revamping our education systems. As an intellectual hub for learning and sharing, we are facilitating collaboration amongst key stakeholders and empowering education researchers in Africa to lead social change and global transformation.