By Moses Okorie
The British Council has revealed that over one million English teachers across sub-Saharan Africa, each year, receive free access to materials that enhance their professional development in order to compete favourably with their colleagues across the globe.
The Director, English Programmes Sub-Saharan African, Mr. Julian Perry made this revelation in the ongoing Language in Education International Conference 2025 holding in Abuja, which has in attendance stakeholders from across the education sector and beyond.
According to Perry, “Across sub-Saharan Africa, each year over a million English teachers access our learning materials through our global and regional Africa websites to download free resources, take free professional development courses, join webinars and groups, and be part of a global discussion where they share and learn about good teaching practices.
“Coming back to our conference, at the heart of this dialogue is a shared belief. Language is not just a tool for communication, but it’s a bridge to inclusion, identity, and opportunity.
“In many parts of the world, language remains a barrier. This conference is about sharing evidence, challenges, and successes from a range of contexts so we can learn from each other”.
Perry said the British Council is not an advocacy organisation, neither a policy-making body, but have always been trusted partner who works alongside governments and institutions to help achieve their own education goals.
He said they do this by drawing on evidence, by sharing insights from over 100 countries, and by listening carefully to what works and what might not work in each unique context.
“This year’s theme, Language, Education and Inclusion, Empowering Every Learner, reflects a growing recognition that language plays a role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal, ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all”.
On her part, the Country Director Nigeria, Donna McGowan said British Council works to ensure that every learner, regardless of their language background has an equal opportunity to thrive.
“English school education teams across the world support governments to meet their ambitions through projects and programmes that focus on seven important areas: teaching quality, English in education, language in foundational learning, life skills for young people, school leadership, girls’ education, and crisis displacement and migration.
“All our work also supports cross-cutting themes and inclusive education. I’d like to share some examples of the diverse projects we deliver in sub-Saharan Africa.
“In Rwanda, which has an English-medium education policy across all levels of basic education, we partner with MasterCard Foundation and Rwanda Basic Education Board to improve the English-language proficiency of pre-service and in-service lower-secondary teachers as STEM subjects.
“This enables them to more effectively deliver science and mathematics curriculums through the medium of English, with the ultimate goal of improving learning outcomes for lower-secondary pupils.
“In Uganda, we partner with Winkle International on the Language for Resilience project, with a focus on how language can support the integration of refugees into host communities and promote their success within the education system.
“We train school leaders, teachers, and work with community leaders to help overcome some of the challenges of having multiple different home languages in an English-medium education system.