The African Economist recently ranked Equatorial Guineathe country with the second-highest literacy rate among 52 African country.
The magazine cited an adult literacy rate of 87% for Equatorial Guinea; however, the magazine may have understated the West African country’s literacy rate. In 2010, UNESCO reported that Equatorial Guinea had the highest adult literacy rate in Sub-Saharan Africa, at 93%.
Equatorial Guinea has made steady efforts to improve education and promote culture and literacy over the last 20 years. The African Economist survey used available census figures in compiling its rankings, and breaks out literacy by total population and gender.
The country’s literacy rate is the product of cooperation and partnership with world-renowned universities in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia, and from public-private partnerships.
“Whatever they offer us as cooperation, we tailor that to the objectives that the government has identified,” said Mari Carmen Ecoro, Minister of Education and Science. “Sometimes, when you learn from the best, the best seem to forget that they are the providers of the knowledge. We exceeded the expectations. We learned it from the best and we use it so it can benefit us.”