South%20Asia%20EFA%20Mid-Term%20Policy%20Conference

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Education for All by 2015 Will we make it?
South Asia EFA Mid-Term Policy Conference
Kathmandu, Nepal 16-19 June 2008
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The big questions in 2008

• Have national governments followed up on their
  commitment to EFA?
• Where are the greatest challenges?
• Are donors providing adequate support?
• What requires top policy attention?

3
Global trends influence EFA

• Sustained economic growth
• Increasing inequalities
• Rapid urbanization
• Health concerns
• Growth of knowledge economies

4
Major advances since Dakar
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Progress in primary education

• Primary school enrolment up
• 36 in sub-Saharan Africa
• 22 in South and West Asia
• 11 in Arab States
• 10 drop in East Asia
• Worldwide, 688M children are enrolled in primary
  education as of 2005, up from 647M in 1999
• NER in South and West Asia was at 86 in 2005, up
  from 72 in 1991

Sub-Saharan Africa
Arab States
South/West Asia
Central Asia
Central/Eastern Europe
East Asia/Pacific
Latin America Caribbean
North America
Western Europe
50
70
90
60
80
100
Net enrolment ratios in primary education ()
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Overall progress in primary net enrolment ratios
Iran
Nepal
India
Maldives
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Bangladesh
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More girls in primary school
Gender parity line
Afghanistan

• In total, 63 of countries have achieved gender
  parity at the primary level

Chad
Niger
Yemen
Côte
Mali
Benin
Burkina
Djibouti
Guinea

• Specific policies to encourage girls schooling
  have included
• - Community mobilization
• - Targeting disadvantaged areas
• - Free learning materials
• - Sanitation in schools

Mozambique
Togo
Burundi
Ethiopia
Morocco
Guatemala
Cambodia
India
Nepal
Senegal
Ghana
Uganda
1999
Mauritania
2005
Malawi
Gambia
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
Gender parity index in primary GER
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Number of out-of-school children declining
Sub-Saharan Africa
1999 96 million
South/West Asia
East Asia/Pacific
Arab States
2005 72 million
1999
Latin America Caribbean
Central/Eastern Europe
North America Western Europe
17 million in South and West Asia, 66 of whom
are female
Central Asia
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Out-of school children, million
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Out-of-school children, by region
72.13 million school-age children are not in
school worldwide, 17 million of whom are in South
and West Asia (66 female) 56.8 of the worlds
out-of-school children are female
Data as of 2005
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Education expenditure increasing in regions with
the greatest needs

• Education expenditure has been increasing rapidly
  in South and West Asia, one of the regions where
  most of the worlds out of school children live
• However
• The share of education expenditure in GNP varied
  greatly with low shares in Bangladesh and
  Pakistan (both 2.4) and a relatively high share
  in the Maldives (7.5)
• South and West Asia have the lowest proportions
  of education expenditure in government spending

3.6
3.3
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EFA progress in South and West Asian countries
(EDI, 2005)
EFA Achieved (EDI between 0.98 and 1.00) None Close to EFA (EDI between 0.95 and 0.97) None
Intermediate Position (EDI between 0.80 and 0.94) Islamic Republic of Iran, Maldives Far from EFA (EDI below 0.80) India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan
Main challengesadult illiteracy, gender
disparities, and quality of education
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Aid to educationsubstantial increases
Aid to basic education doubled between 2000 and
2004, benefiting low-income countries, but
declined in 2005
Total aid to education
Total aid to basic education
10.7
9.2
8.2
8.3
7.3
6.9
6.5
5.1
Constant 2005 US billions
4.0
3.7
Constant 2005 US billions
2.9
2.9
2.8
2.7
6.3
4.5
4.3
4.0
4.0
3.6
3.7
3.3
2.6
1.6
1.9
1.9
1.9
2.3
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Low income countries
All recipient countries
Low income countries
All recipient countries
Total aid includes allocations from budget
support and aid to level unspecified
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Major concerns and prospects
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Early childhood care and educationacting on the
benefits
ECCE programmes improve child well-being and
prepare children for school but
1999

• Provision of pre-primary education remains
  scarce across sub-Saharan Africa and Arab States

Sub-Saharan
Africa
2005
Arab States
Central Asia
South/West Asia

• There is a lack of policies for under 3s
• Programmes are not reaching the poorest and most
  disadvantaged children

East Asia/Pacific
Central/Eastern Europe
Latin America Caribbean
North America Western Europe
0
20
40
60
80
100
GER in pre-primary education ()
15
Progress in pre-primary GERs (1999-2005)
Bangladesh
Iran Is. Rep.
Maldives
Pakistan
Afghanistan
Nepal
India
15
16
Inequities in education addressing geographic
disparities
Progress in enrolment has rarely been uniform
within countries. Geographic disparities in NER
have increased in some countries
80
pre-Dakar
70
60
50
post-Dakar
Geographical disparity
40
30
20
10
0
Mali
Peru
India
Egypt
Niger
Brazil
Benin
Nepal
Kenya
Bolivia
Eritrea
Ghana
Nigeria
Guinea
Zambia
Mexico
Gambia
Burkina
Ethiopia
Senegal
Morocco
Colombia
Cambodia
Indonesia
Argentina
Zimbabwe
Mauritania
Philippines
Bangladesh
South Africa
Mozambique
U. R. Tanzania
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Sub-national gaps in access to education
Source UIS study on Educational Equity and
Public Policy Comparing Results from 16
Countries, 2007
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Gender inequalities prevail

• 63 of countries have achieved gender parity in
  primary education 37 in secondary education
• 59 countries have achieved gender parity at both
  primary and secondary levels
• Gender disparities in secondary education are
  greater than in primary they favour girls as
  often as boys

Prim.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sec.
Prim.
Arab States
Sec.
Prim.
South and West Asia
Sec.
Prim.
Latin America Caribbean
Sec.
Prim.
Central and Eastern Europe
Sec.
Prim.
East Asia and Pacific
Sec.
Prim.
Central Asia
Sec.
Prim.
North America Western Europe
Sec.
0.70
0.80
0.90
1.00
1.10
Gender Parity Index in GER
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Gender disparities in primary education
Gender parity line
1996
2006
GPI of GERs
Maldives
Pakistan
India
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Iran Is. Rep.
Nepal
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Minimal attention to adult literacy
774 million adult illiterates worldwide

• South and West Asia is home to half of the
  worlds illiterate adults (338 million 63
  female)
• 75 adult illiterates live in 15 countries, 3
  in South Asia
• Direct assessments of literacy skills suggest
  even greater challenge
• South and West Asia has the strongest gender
  disparities in adult literacy (GPI of 0.67 in
  1995-2004)

South/West Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
East Asia/Pacific
Arab States
Latin
America/Caribbean
Central/Eastern
Europe
North America/
Western Europe
1985-1994
1995-2004
Central Asia
0
100
200
300
400
500
Adult illiterates, million
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Improving the quality of education

• A major challenge in South and West Asia is
  school retention. Only 79 of students who enter
  primary school reach the last grade.
• Results from national and international learning
  assessments indicate poor learning outcomes in
  the region.
• There are still countries with high primary
  pupil-teacher ratios, particularly in public
  schools. Teacher shortages are large in
  Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
• Low levels of learning achievement are related to
  

• socio-economic background
• language of instruction
• rural residence
• lack of access to books
• insufficient instructional time
• inadequate physical and material resources

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Cost of schooling Still too high for the poorest
households

• Families are still required to make substantial
  contributions for the education of their children
  (around 20 of total expenditure at primary and
  secondary level)
• Costs can be as large as one third of household
  discretionary income

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Challenge of increasing the public financial
priority given to education

• There is a relatively low priority on education
  in government expenditure throughout the region
• the share of education in total government
  expenditure was below 15 -- target 20
• the share of government expenditure on education
  as of GDP was less than 4 -- target 6
• The widest geographic disparities are found in
  education expenditure within large countries,
  especially those with a federal structure

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Strong variations in how much donors allocate to
the basic level
Luxembourg
0.03
The three largest bilateral donors to education
allocate less than one-third to the basic
level The share for East Asia of total aid to
education dropped to 14 in 2005 from 16 in 1999
Total aid to
Greece
0.03
basic education
Switzerland
0.04
New Zealand
0.1
Portugal
0.1
Total aid to
Ireland
0.1
education
Finland
0.1
Italy
0.1
Austria
0.1
Australia
0.1
Sweden
0.1
Denmark
0.1
Belgium
0.2
Spain
0.2
Norway
0.2
Canada
0.2
Netherlands
0.6
United Kingdom
0.6
United States
0.7
Germany
0.8
Japan
1.0
France
1.5
IDB
0.0
FTI
0.0
UNICEF
0.1
AfDF
0.1
AsDF
0.3
European Commission
0.8
IDA
1.4
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
Constant 2005 US billion
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The Way Forward
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Promoting access
To offset the cost of schooling for poor
households, countries are

• Targeting poorer regions and population groups
• Setting up education cash-transfer programmes
• Providing scholarships for girls

• Governments are also encouraging access through
• Flexible models for working children and enforced
  child labour legislation (218 million children
  still employed)
• Inclusive education for the disabled
• Bilingual education for children from indigenous
  communities

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Improving learning
Four broad policy areas

• Trained and motivated teachers
• Teacher training models, professional
  development, incentives to work in
  underserved areas, policy frameworks for contract
  teachers

• Effective teaching and learning strategies
• Active learning, relevant curricula, HIV/AIDS
  education, importance of acquiring basic skills,
  better assessment methods

• Learning time, materials and textbooks
• Textbook production, unbiased learning content,
  free distribution to priority areas

• Healthy and safe learning environments
• Nutrition and health programmes, physical and
  psycho-social safety

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Attention to (1) early childhood and (2)
literacy programmes for youth and adults

• Good ECCE programmes offset disadvantage, improve
  childrens well-being and prepare them for
  primary school. Need for

• Programmes for children under age 3
• Multi-sectoral policies
• Expansion of pre-primary education
• Smoother transition from pre-school to primary
  school
• Raising qualifications, better training

Substantial scaling up of learning opportunities
for youth and adults

• Setting of targets in national plans
• Funding arrangements
• Partnerships with the non-state sector
• Strengthening of the status of non-formal
  education
• Development of literate environments

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Summing up Dakars impact
1. Effective national policies 2. Domestic
spending 3. External aid
Educational development

• Rapid increase in the number of children
  enrolled in primary school in regions farthest
  from UPE
• Rise in the number of countries conducting
  national learning assessments
• National policies targeting disadvantaged groups
  and areas
• Measures to expand early childhood care and
  education
• Increase in national spending on basic education
  in regions farthest from EFA
• Increase in aid to basic education in low-income
  countries
• Emergence of the Fast Track Initiative
• More aid to basic education channelled through
  programmes rather than project support

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Five policy priorities

• Inclusion
• Quality
• Literacy
• Capacity Development
• Financing

• National commitment to increase education
  spending
• Donor focus on

• low-income countries and fragile states
• ongoing support to countries making progress
  towards EFA

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Policy agenda for sector management and financing
toward achieving EFA

• Maintain public spending and increase it where
  necessary
• Eliminate tuition fees and provide additional
  financial support to the poorest households
• Improve management capacity at all levels of
  government
• Formally engage with civil society in policy
  formulation, implementation and monitoring

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Contact information
www.efareport.unesco.org efareport_at_unesco.org
UIS-AIMS Unit, UNESCO Bangkok efa_at_unescobkk.org
aims_at_unescobkk.org www.unescobkk.org/efa
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