South Asia EFA Mid-Term Policy Conference Kathmandu, Nepal June 2008 Education for All by 2015: Will we make it?

2 The big questions in 2008 Gender goal Midpoint Dakar  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

5 Progress in primary education Sub-Saharan Africa Arab States South/West Asia Central Asia Central/Eastern Europe East Asia/Pacific Latin America Caribbean North America Western Europe Net enrolment ratios 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

6 Overall progress in primary net enrolment ratios NepalIndia Iran Maldives Bangladesh Pakistan Sri Lanka

Afghanistan Chad Niger Yemen Côte Mali Benin Burkina Djibouti Guinea Mozambique Togo Burundi Ethiopia Morocco Guatemala Cambodia India Nepal Senegal Ghana Uganda Mauritania Malawi Gambia Gender parity index in primary GER Gender parity line More girls in primary school  In total, 63% of countries have achieved gender parity at the primary level  Specific policies to encourage girls’ schooling have included: - Community mobilization - Targeting disadvantaged areas - Free learning materials - Sanitation in schools

8 Number of out-of-school children declining Central Asia North America Western Europe Central/Eastern Europe Latin America Caribbean Arab States East Asia/Pacific South/West Asia Sub-Saharan Africa Out-of school children, million million in South and West Asia, 66% of whom are female 1999: 96 million 2005: 72 million

Out-of-school children, by region Data as of 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 world’s out-of-school children are female

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 world’s 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

EFA progress in South and West Asian countries (EDI, 2005) 11 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 challenges:adult illiteracy, gender disparities, and quality of education

12 Aid to education: substantial increases Total aid includes allocations from budget support and aid to level unspecified Aid to basic education doubled between 2000 and 2004, benefiting low-income countries, but declined in 2005 Total aid to education Constant 2005 US$ billions Low income countriesAll recipient countries Total aid to basic education Constant 2005 US$ billions Low income countriesAll recipient countries

13 Major concerns and prospects

14 Early childhood care and education: acting on the benefits  Provision of pre-primary education remains scarce across sub-Saharan Africa and Arab States ECCE programmes improve child well-being and prepare children for school but: Sub-Saharan Africa Arab States Central Asia South/West Asia East Asia/Pacific Central/Eastern Europe Latin America Caribbean North America Western Europe GER in pre-primary education (%)  There is a lack of policies for under 3s  Programmes are not reaching the poorest and most disadvantaged children

15 Progress in pre-primary GERs ( ) 15 Afghanistan Bangladesh Nepal India Iran Is. Rep. Maldives Pakistan

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 Nigeria Kenya Ethiopia Eritrea Senegal Guinea Mali Zimbabwe Benin India Mauritania Gambia Nepal Colombia Zambia Egypt Niger Burkina Mozambique Bangladesh Bolivia Cambodia South Africa Ghana Philippines Morocco U. R. Tanzania Peru Mexico Indonesia Argentina Brazil Geographical disparity pre-Dakar post-Dakar

Sub-national gaps in access to education Source: UIS study on “Educational Equity and Public Policy: Comparing Results from 16 Countries”, 2007

18 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. Sec. Prim. Sec. Prim. Sec. Prim. Sec. Prim. Sec. Prim. Sec. Prim. Sec. Prim. Sec. Gender Parity Index in GER Sub-Saharan Africa Arab States South and West Asia Latin America Caribbean Central and Eastern Europe East Asia and Pacific Central Asia North America Western Europe

Gender disparities in primary education 19 Gender parity line GPI of GERs MaldivesPakistanIndiaAfghanistanBangladeshIran Is. Rep.Nepal

20 Minimal attention to adult literacy  South and West Asia is home to half of the world’s 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 ) 774 million adult illiterates worldwide Central Asia North America/ Western Europe Central/Eastern Europe Latin America/Caribbean Arab States East Asia/Pacific Sub-Saharan Africa South/West Asia Adult illiterates, million

21 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

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 22

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 23

24 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 Strong variations in how much donors allocate to the basic level Luxembourg Greece Switzerland New Zealand Portugal Ireland Finland Italy Austria Australia Sweden Denmark Belgium Spain Norway Canada Netherlands United Kingdom United States Germany Japan France IDB FTI UNICEF AfDF AsDF European Commission IDA Constant 2005 US$ billion Total aid to basic education Total aid to education

25 The Way Forward

26 Promoting access  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 To offset the cost of schooling for poor households, countries are:

27 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  Healthy and safe learning environments Nutrition and health programmes, physical and psycho-social safety  Learning time, materials and textbooks Textbook production, unbiased learning content, free distribution to priority areas  Effective teaching and learning strategies Active learning, relevant curricula, HIV/AIDS education, importance of acquiring basic skills, better assessment methods

28 Attention to: (1) early childhood and (2) literacy programmes for youth and adults Good ECCE programmes offset disadvantage, improve children’s 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

29 Summing up Dakar’s impact  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 1. Effective national policies 2. Domestic spending 3. External aid Educational development

30 Five policy priorities  Inclusion  Quality  Literacy  Capacity Development  Financing  low-income countries and fragile states  ongoing support to countries making progress towards EFA  National commitment to increase education spending  Donor focus on:

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 31

32 Contact information UIS-AIMS Unit, UNESCO Bangkok &