by Kathy Rusniak

Created on: April 22, 2008

What is China's role in the development of Africa and how does this role affect the African education system? The African continent contains many countries, many cultures, a myriad of political issues, some prevalent health concerns, and a diverse historical range of ex-colonial and international influences. The complicated historical background of Africa complicates the identification of a linear cause and effect between China's involvement in African economics and the state of education in African nations. Nonetheless, the basic relationship between China and Africa can be traced back to the 1950's. At this time, diplomatic and educational ties between the regions were formed. Both types of relations have persisted and grown in parallel for over fifty years, and both have had an impact on the African education system.

Incentive for diplomacy with Africa has long been present in the form of political support and distraction from international criticism. This is still true today with China looking for "One China" campaign support and making efforts to evade human rights violation complaints. Yet as China has dramatically grown the national economy in recent years, diplomacy with developing nations has also benefited China in the search for increasingly large amounts of oil and other natural resources, as well as the search for new markets for manufactured goods. Through business dealings to secure such interests, China has canceled debts, directly contributed aid funds, and installed basic infrastructure in collaborative African countries. Theoretically, these three types of government aid should help reduce poverty and support social institutions such as public education.
Undoubtedly, establishing and improving infrastructure has benefited the public in target nations. Unfortunately, it is not as clear how much Chinese direct investment and debt forgiveness have benefited the needs of everyday Africans. Because of China's foreign policy of no interference in government affairs, aid is given with no conditional clauses and therefore functions as a purely business type of transaction in exchange for raw materials, oil rights and market agreements. Additionally, controversial trade agreements have led to the provision of military equipment and training subsequently used in military operations, such as the ongoing conflict in Darfur, which generate an instability that makes the creation of a functional education system difficult.
While Chinese aid to Africa has

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