The Spotlight Series is a collaborative initiative between the Global Education Monitoring Report, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), and the African Union. The series aims to address the critical educational challenges faced by sub-Saharan Africa by providing evidence-based insights and fostering policy dialogue.

This inaugural report, "Born to Learn," synthesizes data on school completion rates and minimum learning proficiency levels across the continent, highlighting a severe learning crisis. It reveals that one in five primary school-age children remain out of school, and only two-thirds complete primary education by age 15. Among those who complete, merely three in ten achieve the minimum proficiency in reading.

Drawing on detailed reports from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Senegal, as well as various regional case studies, the report emphasizes the need for improving foundational learning.

The Spotlight Series presents successful practices and offers actionable recommendations to enhance national education policies through established African Union peer learning mechanisms. It ultimately aims to inform the debate on national SDG 4/CESA benchmarks. The second report will draw on country reports from Angola, Mauritania, Niger, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.