Njenga says here too, on the university level, Africa is lagging behind.

"Higher education, higher education," added Njenga. "The world average for access to university is about 27 percent. The average for Africa for accessing a first degree is between two and seven percent. We've been told we need to at least double it to 12 percent if we are just to get the human resources that we need."

The AU has established a Pan-African University which will have institutes in five separate regions focused on different disciplines. Njenga says three of the schools, in Kenya, Cameroon and Nigeria, will be ready to accept students this year. Another two are planned for Algeria and a country yet to be determined in southern Africa.

UNESCO's Massaquoi objects to the African Union characterization of the U.N. as being too focused on primary education.

"We cannot make progress with basic education unless we also strengthen higher education," added Massaquoi. "Teachers come from higher education. So when we talk about teacher training we are really talking about the higher education level. So we are now doing that. So whereas the emphasis would appear to be on basic education, all of the other inputs that we strengthen and bring about quality of education, closing the gender gap and so on are also addressed by other programs including higher education."

The challenges to providing education in Africa are vast, but Massaquoi says he is optimistic.