p All African countries show great concern for the problems of education and consider their solution to be a key factor in their development. New schools and higher educational establishments are rising throughout the continent and measures to liquidate illiteracy are being implemented. The obstacles to the development of education, which have been inherited from the colonial past, are gradually being removed and features of a new African school are becoming increasingly discernible. They include: provision of mass education facilities for school-age children, a sharp increase in the number of students attending secondary and higher educational establishments, and use of local languages in teaching.

p Yet it is no easy matter for the African countries to overcome the difficulties, especially in education, that they have inherited from their gloomy colonial days. The main difficulties include: lack of sufficient financial resources for educational needs; acute shortages of medium- and highlevel personnel, including teachers; the brain-drain, and the gap between the system of education and economic development needs.

p The African countries cannot yet, of course, rely exclusively on their own resources in developing education and have to resort to foreign aid. The socialist countries are opening up before Africa good opportunities for achieving true progress in education and the training of national personnel.

Soviet-African cooperation in education covers various fields, including the construction, with Soviet assistance, of higher educational establishments and research centres, 242 secondary and vocational schools; training local personnel in industrial enterprises built with Soviet aid; sending Soviet teachers to Africa; enrolment of African citizens for study and training in the Soviet Union; and the transfer of Soviet experience in training national personnel.