Description
Introduction
This paper recalls early forays by the IB into Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa. This is followed by the challenges which have been faced, more recent promotion and strategy for the IB on that
continent, and progress so far. We tend to divide Africa into two very broad regions: Northern (mostly Arabic people with Arabic as the official language) and Sub-Saharan (sometimes referred to as ‘black Africa’) with the following European official languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish (Equatorial Guinea only). A few countries also have official African languages alongside those of the former colonial powers. Cameroon is officially bilingual in English and French and is the only country which offers a dual education system based on those of the UK (A levels) and France (a baccalaureate). Africa has a vast array of ethnic groups with their own languages. Alas, ethnic rivalry occurs in some countries and leads to internal conflict or tensions. The world has witnessed the horrific bloodshed of Rwanda, the war lords of Sierra Leone and Liberia, and the irrational rantings and oppression of an ageing Mugabe in Zimbabwe, to mention but a few of the problems.