Time to Teach: Teacher attendance and time on task in Eastern and Southern Africa

In low- and middle-income countries, 53 per cent of children are in learning poverty. The learning poverty rate in sub-Saharan Africa is 87 per cent overall. It is a critical prerequisite to learning that teachers are attending lessons and spending quality time on tasks. However, teacher absenteeism ranges from 15 to 45 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. The evidence base on how policies and practices can influence teacher attendance remains low, despite teacher absenteeism being a foremost challenge for education systems in Africa. Time to Teach is a research initiative that study primary school teacher attendance in eight countries in the Eastern and Southern African region.