Senegal officially assumes leadership of ADEA Steering Committee

Published on Friday, 22 December 2017
(from left to right) Hon. Yien Oral Lam Tut, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology of South Sudan, Dr. Beatrice Khamati Njenga, Head, Education Division, Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology of the African Union Commission and Hon. Prof. Mary Teuw Niane, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation of Senegal | Photo credit: ADEA;

Hon. Prof. Mary Teuw Niane, the Minister in charge of Senegal’s Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation is the new Chairperson of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) Steering Committee (SC) for the next two years. He replaced Dr. Ashraf El-Shihy, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Egypt. The handing over ceremony, presided over by Dr Beatrice Njenga of the African Union Commission’s education division, took place during the 44th Session of the ADEA Steering Committee held in Abidjan on 15th December 2017. South Sudan’s Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology represented Egypt in the handover ceremony, as outgoing 3rd Vice Chairperson.

The African Union's Bureau of Specialized Technical Committee on Education, Science and Technology (STC-EST) is also the ADEA Bureau, courtesy of a decision made during the Tenth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union, held from 31st January to 2nd February 2008 in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). The Assembly approved the merger of the Bureau of the then Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF) with the ADEA Bureau of Ministers. The STC-EST Bureau replaced the combined African Ministerial Committee for Science and Technology (AMCOST) and COMEDAF following the African Union Summit Decision EX. CL/Dec.420 (XIII) to reconfigure all Ministerial Conferences into ”Specialized Technical Committees”.

Thus, the new ADEA Bureau comprises Senegal as Chairperson, Sudan the first Vice Chairperson, Burundi the Second Vice Chairperson, South Africa the third Vice Chairperson and Egypt the Rapporteur. Speaking during the 44th Session of the Steering Committee hosted by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) Headquarters, the new Chairperson, Prof. Mary Teuw Niane, welcomed all participants and expressed his deepest gratitude to all African countries for electing his country to chair the new STC-EST and ADEA bureaus for the next 2 years. He promised to effectively lead the Committee in guiding ADEA’s policy and strategic direction as the Association plays its crucial role of contributing to the achievement of the Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda through the Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-2025 (CESA 16-25), and to make ADEA’s voice heard at all levels. Ministers from Angola, Cote d’Ivoire and South Sudan, and ministerial representatives from The Gambia and Mali were in attendance. The partners present included AfDB, the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), the MasterCard Foundation, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank.