By Paul Bennell, independent consultant
The physical environment of a school is central to an appropriate learning environment. However, very little attention has been given to financing the necessary investment in primary school infrastructure, and there are virtually no databases tracking basic progress, such as how many schools or classrooms are built or rehabilitated, or at what cost. This lack of data is critical, as evidence suggests that the pace and scale of school development is too slow and may be declining in many countries. While experts were once optimistic about building the number of classrooms needed for universal primary completion by 2015, reality has proved otherwise.
A lack of investment perpetuates overcrowding
One of the most obvious indications of the need for more classrooms is the high student/classroom ratios. Only 5 of 23 countries with available data have met the target ratio of 40:1. Countries like Cameroon, the Gambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia have ratios of 60:1 and above, necessitating the use of double or even triple shifts to manage class sizes. National averages are also masking large variations. Congestion in schools in capital cities has been a major driver of privatization: with a few exceptions, ratios are much lower in private primary schools.
As shown in the 2025 Spotlight report and the background paper, which contributed to it. the rate of growth in the number of public primary schools in sub-Saharan Africa was negative, constant (below 1%), or low (below 3%) in all but 1 of the 29 countries for which data are available between 2010 and 2020. In contrast, the increase in the number of new private primary schools was higher than the public sector equivalent in nearly 60% of countries with data. In many countries, non-governmental actors, such as faith-based organizations or community groups, manage sizeable shares of public primary schools, bearing the responsibility for maintenance rather than the government.
This heterogeneity makes it difficult to track capital expenditure reliably. School improvement grants were intended to become a major investment vehicle, but data on how these grants are split between recurrent and capital expenditure is scarce. Only a handful of countries allocate more than 20% of total public education expenditure to capital investment; in most, this figure is less than 10%. This already low share has been declining or stagnant in the 2010s in two thirds of 30 countries with data.
Where data is available by level, the bulk of investment is typically directed toward secondary and higher education. For primary education specifically, three quarters of the countries reviewed spent under 5% of the national primary education budget on capital investment in the mid- to late 2010s.
One third of the World Bank project portfolios goes to infrastructure
While public primary school infrastructure is not a focus area for most bilateral donors, the World Bank remains by far the largest source of such funding, with construction accounting for one third of its education project portfolio in sub-Saharan Africa.
An analysis of World Bank projects since 2020 for the Spotlight report also found that the unit cost of classroom construction varies widely, with the most expensive projects costing around 10 times more per classroom than the cheapest. For instance, estimated costs per classroom in USD terms range from approximately 5,600 in Burkina Faso and 6,100 in Kenya (often involving community participation) to 26,700 in Chad, 34,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and 42,500 in the United Republic of Tanzania, which would suggest there is scope for efficiencies.
The need for new schools is becoming urgent
The quality of existing infrastructure remains alarmingly low. In the mid-2000s, it was estimated that almost 30% of primary classrooms in 15 countries were temporary or in poor condition, rising to 50% in Mozambique, Niger, and Rwanda. More recent data suggests that in around half of the 19 countries with data, ‘temporary’ classrooms built with non-permanent materials still account for 40% or more of the total public primary school stock. These community schools, often in rural areas, are rarely weatherproof, unsuitable for effective learning, and, in 7 of 17 countries, at best half of public primary schools were in “good” condition.
Five case studies are featured in the report looking at the situation for each and the different challenges and solutions they’ve found to the issue. Many did not manage to maintain a speed of classroom construction that matched the speed of enrolment after policies making education free, as seen in Nigeria, in Rwanda and Sierra Leone. The relative ease with which private schools can build classrooms and schools has shown up the slow pace of public infrastructure, particularly visible in countries like Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
As for solutions, the case study on Rwanda shows a community-led approach, which achieved rapid, high-volume construction at a drastically low unit cost, although a similar approach in the United Republic of Tanzania was not as successful. Similarly, innovative procurement methods, like those used in Senegal where an autonomous public construction agency was established to jump through some bureaucratic hoops, offers a useful test-case.
A call to refocus
Governments have looked away from school construction for too long. Every child should be able to attend a school close to them with facilities that constitute an appropriate learning environment.
To close the massive infrastructure gap and achieve sustainable progress, governments must focus on two critical shifts: increasing the share of the national budget dedicated to capital expenditure, and adopting efficient, low-cost construction modalities.
