Foundational learning: Empowering Africa’s agency and development in the age of AI

As we commemorate the 2025 International Day of Education, Artificial Intelligence (AI) dominates global discussions—from policy debates to boardrooms. This year’s theme, “AI and Education: Preserving Human Agency in a World of Automation,” underscores both the promise and concerns AI presents. While AI drives productivity and innovation, it also raises fears about job displacement. One truth remains: automation-resistant skills begin with strong foundational learning—basic literacy, numeracy, and transferable skills like cognitive reasoning, analytical thinking, and socio-emotional development.

The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs Report highlights that as automation accelerates, uniquely human capabilities—analytical thinking, problem-solving, resilience, and leadership—will only grow in importance. These skills are the backbone of human agency in an increasingly automated world. As Africa continues to drive global workforce growth in the coming years, there is an urgent need to match this demand with quality supply. This process begins at the foundational level.

These higher-order cognitive and socio-emotional skills are not inherently innate; the evidence indicates that they are cultivated through early and consistent exposure to quality foundational learning. A 2011 Stanford University study led by Dr. Vinod Menon found that just one year of structured early math instruction significantly strengthened brain regions responsible for working memory and numerical processing. This neuroplasticity in early childhood forms the basis for more complex problem-solving and analytical thinking later in life. Similarly, research by Mark T. Greenberg (2023), published by the Learning Policy Institute, found that Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programmes improve academic performance while also enhancing resilience, emotional regulation, and pro-social behaviours.

The AI revolution strengthens the case for foundational education. Human agency in the AI era is not built in coding bootcamps—it develops in pre-primary and primary school classrooms, where children first learn to decode text, understand numbers, and think critically. A child who learns to read with comprehension is not just acquiring a skill—they are building the cognitive foundation necessary to question, analyse, and shape their world. Similarly, mastering basic mathematics creates the mental frameworks needed to use, control, and develop technology, including AI, rather than being controlled by it.

The stakes could not be higher for Africa. With the continent poised to make the largest contribution to the global labour market due to its young and growing population, ensuring strong foundational skills becomes an economic necessity. We have observed leadership across the continent, with countries such as Rwanda and Mauritius publishing comprehensive national AI strategies and Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa pioneering AI applications in education. The African Union’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy also envisions us as leaders in technological innovation. But leadership requires human agency—the ability to shape, not just adapt to, technological change. Tackling AI risks, bridging the digital divide, and designing ethical AI systems all require the highest levels of human agency, which is predicated on structured investments in foundational learning.

The urgency of this challenge could not be understated: nine in ten African children cannot read or do basic arithmetic by age 10 (World Bank, The State of Global Learning Poverty). In an era where AI can generate text, create images, and solve complex problems, these children risk becoming passive users of AI systems they cannot critically evaluate. This is not just a digital divide; it’s an agency divide that threatens to reinforce neo-colonial patterns of technological dependence.

The path forward is clear. African leaders must prioritize education at large—particularly foundational learning—as the bedrock of technological agency. Investing in foundational skills is not a trade-off between basic and advanced learning—it is the base upon which all future learning, including AI, is built. The evidence is clear: interventions such as Teaching-at-the-Right-Level (TaRL), which groups students by learning level rather than age to provide targeted instruction, and structured pedagogy programmes, which offer a systematic approach to teaching with scripted lessons, teacher training, and materials, can boost learning outcomes in early grades, deliver cost-savings, and in turn build uniquely human skills—such as analytical thinking, creative problem-solving, resilience, flexibility, and leadership. These skills will hold value in future labour markets and lay the cognitive foundation for technological empowerment.

While foundational learning is crucial, a holistic approach to education in the AI era will require broader interventions. I join the Foundational Learning Hub and partners to call upon African governments, donors, the private sector, and the broader education community to leverage the advancements in edtech and apply them to strengthen our educational systems further. To ensure the best results: