Title: The Case for Universal Education: Free, Quality, Universal Education For All
1The Case for Universal EducationFree, Quality,
Universal Education For All
Prepared by Gene Sperling Chair, United States
Global Campaign for Education Director, Center
for Universal Education Council on Foreign
Relations
2The State of Universal Education A Global
Overview
Over 72 million children around the world do not
attend primary school hundreds of millions more
lack access to secondary school or suffer from a
poor quality education.
3The State of Universal Education
- More than 78 countries are at risk of not
achieving the goal of universal primary education
by 2015 - The most high-risk countries are primarily in
sub-Saharan Africa but also include India and
Pakistan - About 70 countries failed to meet the gender
parity goal for primary and secondary education
by 2005 - Only 18 have a good chance of making this goal by
2015 - The majority of low-performing countries are in
sub-Saharan Africa. Others include Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Yemen - (All Statistics EFA GMR, 2008)
4A Global Education Overview
- Children out of school
- Just over 72 million children are out of
- school throughout the world.
- Roughly 33 million of them are in sub-Saharan
Africa. - There are 23 developing countries that have over
half a million out of school children each two
of these countries are in Latin America. - India, Nigeria, and Pakistan account for 27 of
the worlds out-of-school children - Over 226 million children are not enrolled in
secondary school. - Hundreds of millions of children go to school but
receive a poor quality education.(All
Statistics EFA GMR, 2008)
5Where Are Children Out of Primary School?
Central/Eastern Europe 2.5
Central Asia lt1
North America/Western Europe 2.4
East Asia/Pacific 12.5
Arab States 8.5
South Asia 20.3
Latin America/Caribbean 3.5
Sub-Saharan Africa 49
Percentage of the Global Total Number of Young
People Out of Primary School by Region 2007 EFA
Global Monitoring Report Out of School
Children based on a total of 76.8million
6How Many Children Enroll in Secondary School?
(All Statistics EFA GMR, 2007 Net Enrolment
Ratios in Secondary Education)
7Why Invest in Education?
8Benefits of Education
- Basic education is the
- building block for national
- development.
- Education has the power to
- Reduce infant mortality
- Reduce risk of AIDS
- Boost income growth
- Increase agricultural productivity
- Foster democracy
- No country has ever achieved continuous and rapid
economic growth without first having at least a
40 adult literacy rate (Center for Global
Development, 2007). - Studies show that a single year of primary school
increases the wages people earn later in life by
5 to 15 for boys and even more for girls (CFR,
2004). - For each additional year of secondary school, an
individual's wages increase by 15-25 (CFR,
2004). - A 65-country analysis finds that doubling the
proportion of women with a secondary education
would reduce average fertility rates from 5.3 to
3.9 children per woman (CFR, 2004). - In Africa, children of mothers who receive five
years of primary education are 40 more likely
to live beyond age five (CFR, 2004). - More productive farming due to increased female
education accounts for 43 percent of the decline
in malnutrition achieved between 1970 and 1995
(CFR, 2004).
9Wages and Productivity
- Educated women are more likely to enter the
formal labor market, where they reap greater wage
gains than the informal sector. A study in
Brazil confirmed this correlation by
facilitating the transition to the formal labor
sector, education helped promote higher wages
(Malhotra, 2003).
Education leads to higher wages. Studies show
that a single year of primary school increases
the wages people earn later in life by 5-15 for
boys and even more for girls (CFR, 2004).
Returns to secondary education are even
greater. For instance, returns to girls
secondary education were shown to be 15-25 in a
recent study (CFR, 2004). More education leads
to more productive and efficient farming. A
63-country study found that more productive
farming due to increased female education
accounted for 43 of the decline in malnutrition
achieved between 1970 and 1995 (CFR, 2004).
10Education and Health
- An extra year of girls education can reduce
infant mortality by 510 percent. This link is
especially striking in low income countries
(CFR,2004). - Multi-country data shows educated mothers are 50
percent more likely to immunize their children
than uneducated mothers (CFR, 2004). - In Brazil and Peru women with no education have
about 6 children, while women with a secondary
education only have about 3 (CFR 2004, UNICEF
2007). - When women gain four years more education,
fertility per woman drops by roughly one birth,
according to a 100-country World Bank study (CFR,
2004). - A 65-country analysis finds that doubling the
proportion of women with a secondary education
would reduce average fertility rates from 5.3 to
3.9 children per woman (CFR, 2004).
11Education and Health HIV/AIDS
- Educated girls are less likely to contract
- HIV/AIDS
- A study in Zambia found that AIDS spreads twice
as slow among educated girls (CFR, 2004). - Young rural Ugandans with secondary education are
three times less likely than those with no
education to contract HIV/AIDS (CFR, 2004). - A review of 113 studies indicates that
school-based AIDS education programs are
effective in reducing early sexual activity and
high-risk behavior (CFR, 2004). - A study shows that HIV/AIDS education leads to a
65 decrease in pregnancy among young girls from
riskier, older partners (sugar daddies). High
risk sexual activities are the main drivers of
the spread of HIV/AIDS in this population (MIT,
2006).
12Every Child Deserves a Fair Chance
- Education is a human right.
- In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly
signed the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
The Declaration states that, Everyone has the
right to education. Education shall be free, at
least in the elementary and fundamental stages.
Elementary education shall be compulsory.
Technical and professional education shall be
made generally available and higher education
shall be equally accessible to all on the basis
of merit. - The Convention on the Rights of the Child was
agreed by the United Nations General Assembly in
1989 and was ratified by 191 out of 193
countries, making it a truly global bill of
rights. The Convention on the Rights of the Child
states that countries should make primary
education compulsory and available free to all.
Education is one of the eight Millennium
Development Goals by 2015, all children should
complete a full course of primary schooling. In
2007, the world reached the halfway point in
moving toward this goal.
13The State of Global Funding for Education
14Fast-Track Initiative
- Global compact of developing and donor countries
and agencies to support global EFA goals by
focusing on accelerating progress towards
universal primary school completion by 2015 - Launched in 2002 and housed at the World Bank but
not owned by a specific institution - The FTI is a virtual fund designed to be a
global compact for education developing
countries present strong EFA plans and donors
harness resources to cover the financing gap in a
single process
15Fast-Track Initiative
- Currently 36 FTI Countries with endorsed national
education sector plans - 30 more are pending endorsement in 2007 2008
- Three of currently endorsed countries Guyana,
Honduras and Nicaragua are in Latin America
Catalytic Fund Provides funding in the form of
grants to help close the financing gap for
countries with limited donor presence. Commitment
s total about US 1.2 billion over 2003-2009
(All Statistics FTI, 2007)
16A 10 Billion Financing Gap Remains
- Recently, the UK
- committed to spending
- 1.5 billion per year
- 15 billion over ten
- years to ensure
- countries long-term,
- predictable funding for
- education
- Currently, government donors commit approximately
2.5 billion to education all children in the
world - The U.S. gives just 460 million/year, about what
it spends to build 25 high schools - Conservative estimates show a 5.6 billion
financing gap to cover 6 years of education for
all the worlds children - To cover the 8 years necessary for real
proficiency, the gap is probably closer to 10
billion - Two donors currently leading on education funding
are the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
- Some examples of the UKs Commitment
- Mozambique will receive 91m over 10 years
- to help provide a national bursary for
orphans - and girls in rural areas, and to reduce
classroom - sizes in primary schools.
- Tanzania 515m from 2007-2017 to support
- their national education program.
- India with 395m from 2007-2011.
17Key Issues in Education
18Key Issues Quality
- There is some good news - several countries
- have made significant progress
- Brazil has launched an initiative FUNDEF to
reduce regional funding inequities. Proformação
is a program started to train unlicensed teachers
using distance learning. - South Africa instituted incentives for
better-trained teachers to work in poorer schools - Chile has been adopting more participatory
learning methods to replace rote learning
- Major quality challenges include
- Class size
- In countries with the highest pupil-teacher
ratios, barely one in three students who start
primary reach grade 5. - Teacher education
- In Tanzania and Ghana, less than 20 of all
teachers have formal training - Resources
- Over half of sixth graders in major African
nations are in classrooms without a single
textbook - Other factors of quality pedagogy, language of
instruction and school facilities.
A Southern Africa Consortium Study found that in
four out of seven countries, fewer than half of
sixth-graders achieved minimum competence in
reading.
2005 Global Monitoring Report Summary The
Quality Imperative
19Key Issues Avoiding the Access/Quality Tradeoff
- Major expansion of access to education can suffer
serious declines in qualitythe student-teacher
ratio may zoom to 1001 from 501 in ill-equipped
classrooms (IMF, 2005). - The heads of state in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania
all made major commitments in recent years to
abolish fees and saw enrollments skyrocket by
millions overnight. - In Kenya, enrollment increased from 5.9 million
to 7.2 million yet they added no new net teachers
(UN Millennium Project, 2005) - Without long-term, predictable funding,
Ministries are hesitant to add new teachers
because salaries are reoccurring costs that
constitute the largest component of an
expansionusually averaging over 80 percent of
education budgets in major developing nations
(IMF, 2005).
20Key Issues School Fees
- In 2005, of 94 poor countries surveyed, only 16
- charged no fees at all
- Yet, countries have made strides. Strategies
- include
- Eliminating Fees Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, and
Tanzania - Enrollment of the poorest girls in Uganda nearly
doubled when fees were eliminated from 46 to
82 - Reduction of Fees Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nepal,
Peru, China, and Senegal - Scholarship Programs Bangladesh, Mexico, and
Brazil - Mexicos Progressa program gives cash grants to
the poorest families to offset the opportunity
costs of schooling. Enrolments have increased 8
for boys and 14 for girls - Meal Programs Kenya
International Food Policy Research Institute
Mexico Progresa
21Key Issues School Fees
- Households spent significant amounts of money on
school fees - Generally, 5-10 of annual income, but up to
20-30 in poorer households (CFR, 2004). - In some cases, fees can cost up to a months
salary (UN Millennium Project, 2005). - Even when direct fees are eliminated, other costs
remain - School uniforms
- Transportation
- Learning materials
- Opportunity cost of child not working/helping at
home - Parent/Teacher Associations or community fees
22Key Issues Girls Education
- In Brazil, illiterate mothers have an average of
six children while literate mothers choose to
have less than three children and are better able
to care for and invest in their children's
well-being. - Educated women in Bangladesh are three times more
likely to participate in political meetings.
- Investing in girls empowers women throughout
- their lifetime.
- Even a few years of education helps young
- women
- - make informed choices that promote
- sustainable families
- - improve their own health and well-being
- - achieve economic self-sufficiency, and
- - even increase their political participation.
- A single year of primary education correlates
with a 10-20 increase in women's wages later in
life. The return to a year of secondary education
for girls is even higher, in the 15-25 range. - Educated girls are more likely to delay sexual
activity and have fewer sexual partners over
their lifetime, reducing her risk of disease. - (All Statistics CFR, 2004)
23Key Issues Rural Education
- Teachers in Rural Areas
- Teacher shortages in
- rural areas, particularly
- in sub-Saharan Africa,
- are a major barrier to
- education.
- Studies show that working
- in rural schools is more
- difficult and less motivating than teaching in
urban schools, mainly because of poor living and
working conditions - As a result, rural schools have
- relatively fewer qualified and experienced
teachers - higher turnover (UN Millennium Project, 2005)
Place of residence largely determines school
enrollment Over 80 of out-of-school children
in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia live in
rural areas (EFA GMR, 2007). The share of
children out of school is at least twice as large
in rural areas as in urban areas in twenty-four
of the eighty countries analyzed in a recent
study (EFA GMR, 2006) The share of rural
out-of-school children is even higher in some
countries Ethiopia (96), Burkina Faso (95),
Malawi (94), Bangladesh (84) and India (84)
(EFA GMR, 2007). In Ethiopia, rural children
were sixty times more likely to drop out than
urban children(EFA GMR, 2007).
24Key Issues Incentives
- Making Schools Girl Friendly For girls, a
crucial aspect of making schools safe and
accessible is ensuring female teachers are
present especially when girls are older and
providing private latrines.(Source CFR, 2004)
- Eliminate Fees Eliminating fees has a dramatic
effect on encouraging parents to send their
children to school yet unless donors and
governments work to find new resources to make up
for lost revenue from fees and to pay for the
additional teachers to meet rising enrollments,
class sizes can escalate and quality can suffer. - Scholarship and Stipend Programs Programs that
reduce direct and opportunity costs by not only
paying for books, tuition, and fees, but also for
lost labor time have been very effective in
Brazil, Bangladesh and elsewhere. - Safe Schools, Close to Home When school is
nearby, roughly 1 kilometer or less from home,
school seems more accessible and parents are more
willing to send their children to school.
25Key Issues Incentives
- Community Involvement Many African and Latin
American countries have made great strides with
parent-teacher management committees that allow
parents to be involved in monitoring school
quality and education spending. - Active learning and good use of time Moving
away from rote learning to active problem-solving
is consistently effective across cultures from
Colombia to Egypt to Bangladesh, programs that
put the child at the center improve achievement. - Health services as incentives School meals and
take-home rations also help improve attendance,
especially for girls. Programs to de-worm
children or provide vaccinations or
micronutrients at school, for instance, can also
help parents see short-term benefits. (Source
CFR, 2004)
26Key Issues Teachers
- Not enough teachers
- Class sizes are at 100 students per teacher in
Uganda and other African countries in Chad they
can reach up to 200 - Estimated 15 million more teachers needed
worldwide - Teachers low attendance
- Worse in rural areas
- Low enforcement of attendance
- Poorly trained teachers
- Teachers level of education and training linked
with students enrollment and attainment - Rote learning methods
- (All Statistics EFA GMR, 2007)
27Key Issues Conflict
- 25 million children are refugees or
- live in conflict areas
- Education Funding for Children of Conflict often
Falls through the Cracks - Education is not seen as life-saving like food
or shelter and therefore does not receive
emergency aid funding - Donors are often hesitant to invest in conflict
and post-conflict countries because the
governments are considered fragile (Sperling,
2007). - Although education for children of conflict is
often forgotten, it is critical. It can - Be crucial for healing
- Bring a sense of normalcy to a chaotic situation
- Prepare children for reintegration to society
upon return home
28Key Issues Conflict
- Only 6 of all refugee girls are enrolled in
secondary education (Womens Commission, 2004). - With more than three million reported internally
displaced persons and many more
unreportedColombia has the second-highest
population of IDPs in the world after the Sudan
(Womens Commission, 2004). - The UNDP and NGO sources believe that youth
comprise 50 of the internally displaced
population in Colombia (UNDP, 2006) - Schools are often not safe for refugee and
internally displaced children. Unsafe schools
can place girls at risk for sexual abuse and boys
at risk for military recruitment
29Key Issues HIV/AIDS as an Obstacle to Education
- Children affected by AIDS are less likely to
attend school or remain at the appropriate grade
level
- HIV/AIDS creates a new class of vulnerable
children - 14 million children under the age of 15 have lost
one or both parents to AIDS. - By 2010, this number is expected to exceed 25
million. - AIDS Kills Teachers
- In Zambia in 2000, approximately 815 primary
school teachers died as result of AIDS the
equivalent of 45 of the teachers that were
trained that year - AIDS Leads to Absenteeism, as teachers attend
funerals, care for the sick, or become ill
themselves - In high prevalence countries HIV/AIDS can account
for up to 77 of absenteeism - (All Statistics CFR, 2004)
30Regional Overviews
31Spotlight Sub-Saharan Africa
- In Burkina Faso, Mali and Mozambique, only 10 of
children from the poorest 40 of households who
entered primary school managed to complete it - Teacher-to-student ratios are 701 or higher in
Chad, the Congo, Ethiopia and Malawi. Some
classrooms have upwards of 150 students - Several countries have more than 1 million
children out of school Burkina Faso, Mali and
the Niger
- Sub-Saharan Africa is home to about half the
worlds out-of-school children 38 million. - 6.5 million of these children live in Nigeria
2.6 million live in Ethiopia - 80 of children not enrolled in school live in
rural areas - The combined effects of exclusion are staggering
In Guinea, an urban boy with an educated mother
and belonging to the wealthiest quintile is 126
times more likely to attend school than a rural
girl from the poorest quintile with an uneducated
mother. - Only 21 of girls are enrolled in secondary school
2007 Global Monitoring Report Regional
Overview Sub-Saharan Africa
32Spotlight South Asia
- Almost half of the worlds illiterate adult
population nearly 400 million live in
Bangladesh, India and Pakistan - In Nepal 43 of pupils repeat grade 1 only 31
of teachers are trained
- 16 million children in South and West Asia are
not enrolled in primary school - 4.5 million live in India 6.5 million live in
Pakistan - Over 80 of the children who are not enrolled
live in rural areas - Over three-quarters of the 16 million South and
West Asian children who are out of school have
never been enrolled and may never go to school
the rest either have been enrolled but dropped
out or are likely to enter school but at an age
beyond the official entry age - Only 16 of Afghani children enroll in secondary
school - Children in the poorest 20 of households are
three times as likely to be out of school as
children from the wealthiest 20
2007 Global Monitoring Report Regional
Overview South/West Asia
33Spotlight The Arab States
- School retention is high, more than 94 of
students reach the last grade of primary
education. However, only 48 of those students
complete primary school.
- About 6 million children are not enrolled in
primary school - 59 of them are girls
- 70 of out-of-school children live in rural
areas. - Gender parity remains low in the region for
every 100 boys only 90 girls enroll in primary
school, the gap is even larger in secondary
school - Children from the poorest income group are more
than 3 times as likely to be out of school than
those from the wealthiest category, the ratio gap
being particularly large in Algeria (6.4) and
Sudan (5.5). - A child whose mother has no education is twice as
likely to be out of school as one with an
educated mother. The ratio is close to 2.8 in
Iraq.
2007 Global Monitoring Report Regional
Overview The Arab States
34Spotlight Latin America/Caribbean
- In most Latin American countries, less than 80
of teachers have been trained - Less than 60 of teachers have been trained in
Ecuador and Peru.
- About 95 of children are enrolled in primary
school - 2.7 million children are out-of-school
- 800,000 of these children live in Brazil 700,000
live in Colombia - 60 of out-of-school children live in rural
areas. - Despite high enrollment, retention and completion
remain a major issue. For example, about 500,000
children in Central America drop out of school
each year - Secondary School is a Bigger Challenge Only 65
of boys and 69 of girls enroll in secondary
school - The Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Guatemala
have some of the lowest rates of public spending
on education hovering between 1-3
2007 Global Monitoring Report Regional
Overview Latin America/Caribbean
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36References, Continued
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