Losing or securing futures? Looking beyond ‘proper’ education to decision-making processes about young people’s education in Africa–an introduction

Abstract

The education of young people in Africa has been receiving increasing political attention due to expanded schooling and, as a result, an expanding number of unemployed educated youths who challenge governments. While many studies have described young people in Africa as being in a stage of ‘waithood’, this special issue looks at decision-making processes in youths’ education. The articles, which are mainly based on anthropological fieldwork, show how fears of ‘losing’ the future and ideas of ‘securing’ it guide decisions about young people’s education. Economic, political, moral, gendered, and religious factors are decisive in educational decision-making processes. Moreover, the status and prestige attributed to various forms of education impact those decisions. By looking beyond ideas of ‘proper’ education, which often reduce it to public schooling, this issue gives insight into the educational landscape in Africa and its connections to those of other continents that shapes young people’s lives and futures.