NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 29: President of Morehouse College John Wilson Jr. speaks on stage The Africa-America Institute hosts Future Leaders Legacy Fund Awards gala on September 29, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The Africa-America Institute) Morehouse President John Wilson Said Africa’s Education Gap Must Be Addressed So Young People Aren’t Left Behind Morehouse College President John Wilson Jr. announced the school is working to create an online portal to reach the growing number of African students with little access to education. “We’re going to begin a new initiative, an online initiative, with some of the powerhouses in America,” Wilson said Tuesday night at the Africa-America Institute’s awards gala in Manhattan. “And we’re going to try to get at the 400 million youths in Africa, to give them a better head start than they would otherwise get, to supplement the educational infrastructure in Africa. And that’s Morehouse College in partnership with many others.” With half of Africa’s 830 million people under the age of 15, and just 700 universities on the continent compared with more than 6,000 in the U.S., Wilson said Africa’s education system simply couldn’t handle the glut of students that will soon swell its ranks. “There are 5.2 million students in higher education in Africa,” he said, “with 300 to 400 million in the pipeline, on deck, something must be done.” Morehouse’s portal project is a partnership between the historically black institution and Strive Masiyiwa, head of global telecom Econet Wireless, as well as others, Wilson said. The college president made the announcement right before he presented a business leadership award to Masiyiwa, who in 2012 launched a scholarship fund at Morehouse to send African students to school there. Wilson didn’t get into details in front of the crowd – which included former NBA player Dikembe Mutombo, Namibian president H.E. Dr. Hage G. Geingob and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo – but he promised there was more to come. “Stay tuned for a major announcement about that later,” he said. The event raised money to send African students to top universities both in the U.S. and Africa. Hit the flip for more from the gala:
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BOSSIP Exclusive: Morehouse President Announces New Online Portal To Bring Higher Ed To Students In Africa
