The report discusses the challenges of financing education systems effectively in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on the importance of textbooks in student learning. The report notes that textbooks are a cost-effective input for increasing the quality of primary education, but many countries struggle to deliver an adequate number of textbooks to students on time. The report highlights the importance of appropriately designed and utilized textbooks for learning at primary level, and notes that providing textbooks has been found to be one of the most cost-effective inputs for learning at this level. The report also notes that the pupil-textbook ratio in reading and math is often high in Sub-Saharan Africa, with some countries having very high ratios of three or more. The report suggests that governments need to find ways to ensure that every student has access to appropriate textbooks, and that this may require innovative financing solutions.
