The World Bank

1
The World Bank Secondary Education in
AfricaDzingai MutumbukaSector ManagerAfrica
RegionWorld Bank
2
Increased World Bank support

• Finance for education project has risen from the
  early 1990s. Under 300 million in 1990 to
  nearly 600 million today.
• Much of the expansion was in the primary sector.
  In 2005. 43 went to primary education, and
  another 17 to general education projects.
• Recent years have seen a rise in secondary
  projects.

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Secondary - On the agenda

• From the early 1990s the focus was on primary
  education
• But now, the focus is shifting
• The wave of new students is emerging from primary
  school
• A modern economy demands more than primary
  education
• The quality of primary education is limited by
  lack of teachers as so few progress to secondary.

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The big increase has been in primaryIDA
disbursement for education, globally. Selected
sub-sectors, excluding general education,
millions
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New education projects in Africa, FY06
Plus 1,205 million in PRSCs in Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cape Verde, Cote dIvoire, Ethiopia,
Ghana, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal,
Tanzania, Uganda
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New education projects, expected FY07excluding
PRSC and budget support, in US millions
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Barriers to rapid expansion

• Finance
• Cost per student is a multiple of primary cost
  (often 3-5 times) (curriculum diversified,
  teachers have higher qualifications and cost
  more, subject-teaching, infrastructure)
• Teachers
• Shortage in key subject areas (Mathematics,
  Sciences, language)
• Teacher training is more expensive and takes
  longer time
• Replacement of teachers due to illness and death
• Access/Equity
• Demand side issues including fees, opportunity
  cost, early marriages, religious beliefs
• Coping with sparse populations
• Prohibitive cost of boarding schools

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Cost structure Lesotho

• Primary education
• Average teacher pay 4,322 pa
• PTR 50
• Teaching hours full school day.
• Teacher cost per student 86

• Secondary education
• Average teacher pay 8,860 pa
• PTR 40
• Expected teaching periods 30 (of 45)
• Teacher cost per student 335
• Cost per student is 3.8 times the cost at primary
  level

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Mathematics and Science (MS)A cyclical problem
Few students do M S, even fewer do well
Poor M S teaching in school
Few available to enter teacher training college
Shortage of skilled M S teachers
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The equity issues

• Secondary education as a poverty filter
• Frequently primary education is free, but
  secondary education is not. However, higher
  education is often free or heavily subsidized.
• Fees prevent the poor form accessing secondary
  education, and therefore cut off their ability to
  compete for the subsidized places in tertiary
  education
• Schools often set their own fee levels
• Schools with more wealthy students can charge
  more, and use the money to provide better
  services, widening the inequity.