South Asia EFA Mid-Term Policy Review Conference HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EDUCATION FOR ALL MID-DECADE ASSESSMENT SOUTH ASIA REPORT South Asia EFA Mid-Term Policy Review Conference Kathmandu, Nepal 16 June 2008

SOUTH ASIA EFA MDA REPORT Covering 7 countries of South Asia: Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka

INFORMATION SOURCES Part I: Background and Thematic Issues Thematic reports and studies by EFA partners, development agencies and members of the Thematic Working Group on EFA and the 7 country reports. Part II: South Asia Progress and Challenges Internationally standardised data verified by the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) supplemented with information from the 7 country reports. Part III: Progress in Achieving the EFA Goals in the Countries of South Asia National EFA MDA reports submitted by the Ministries of Education of the respective Governments.

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION (ECCE) Goal One: Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children

Policies and Strategies Recognised as cross-sectoral and referred to in policies of ministries and departments of education, health and women’s and children’s affairs In India ECCE recognised as a constitutional provision but not as a legal right of every child In Sri Lanka ECE is part of the General Education Reforms of 1997 ECCE policies and strategic frameworks cover a range of services Ministries and departments of education focus on pre-primary education Recognition of services provided by the private sector and NGOs with services being extended through public and private initiatives

Variations and Disparities Much higher coverage for those who can afford to pay for services Services more widely available in urban areas (except urban slums) Regional differences reported in some countries Insufficient data on coverage of various sub-groups but generally the poor and most vulnerable are outside the services except where specific initiatives have been set up for them

Challenges and Prospects Lack of political will to universalise ECCE Poorly resourced Gaps in services Lack of reliable data Lack of coordination between sectors and types of providers Need for appropriate training for care-givers, facilitators and pre-school teachers Unlikely that ECCE will be comprehensively implemented across South Asia in the foreseeable future

UNIVERSAL PRIMARY/ BASIC EDUCATION Goal Two: Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to a complete free and compulsory education of good quality

Policies and Strategies All signatories of CRC and obligated to provide free education for every child All NPA’s include targets to achieve universal primary education Free and compulsory education extending past the primary years in Sri Lanka (ages 5-14) and India (ages 6-14) and free education in Bhutan (11 years of school counting pre-primary) and the Maldives (10 years of schooling) Compulsory and free primary education in Bangladesh (ages 6-10) In Nepal provision of free primary and basic education being implemented through a phased approach In Pakistan compulsory primary education enacted in some provinces and areas but enforcement still pending Goal for which the greatest commitment has been demonstrated

Variations and Disparities Significant differences between geographical areas, e.g. up to 40% difference in highest and lowest NERs within a country Generally urban rates are higher and gender disparity less in urban areas Where reported, rates in urban slums even lower than in rural areas Limited available information suggests wide disparities among sub-groups based on ethnicity, language, socio-economic status and other factors Children facing multiple disadvantage are ones least likely to enrol and complete primary education Participation of children with disabilities very low or not noted

Challenges and Prospects Tremendous progress made but more concerted efforts will be required to reach the goal Efforts must be intensified to identify and reach the unreached and underserved both through special initiatives (as an interim measure) and through making mainstream education more accessible, equitable and inclusive Poor quality and inefficiency of systems preventing fulfilment of EFA and MDA goals even in some countries with high enrolments Gender parity achieved by only 3 countries and for gender equality more systematic and far reaching reforms will be required Most children in South Asia are missing out on secondary education

LIFE SKILLS AND LIFELONG LEARNING Goal Three: Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes

Policies and Strategies Wide variety among countries of definitions and understanding of the goal Emphasis in most countries on adolescence and youth No clear overarching policy for this goal in any of the 7 countries No quantifiable targets Intention to introduce life skills into formal and other curricula in most countries Great variety of providers across departments and ministries but primarily outside the government systems

Variations and Disparities Great variety of programmes and definitions make it difficult to analyse extent of variations in programmes and reach Particularly poor documentation in this area makes it difficult to analyse disparities Formal programmes tend not to reach the most disadvantaged while nonformal programmes often are not officially recognised

Challenges and Prospects Life skills introduced in curricula in various ways but only rarely seen as part of mainstream education Some linking of life skills with issues of health and HIV/AIDS prevention Very low enrolment in formal TVET courses and generally low correlation of education with skills development for employment Both life skills and livelihood skills still appear to be on the fringe of educational provision in most countries and coverage represents a tiny proportion of the age cohort

ADULT LITERACY AND CONTINUING EDUCATION Goal Four: Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults

Policies and Strategies Widely varying definitions across and within countries Most statistics based on census which relies on self-reporting May be defined by specific or variety of languages Constitutional right in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh Ambitious targets in most NPAs India only country with a comprehensive policy and approach, which it has had for 20 years Focus on adult literacy programmes for women and disadvantaged groups

Variations and Disparities Gender disparities higher for adult literacy than for any other indicator Wide variations in literacy rates within countries with some geographical areas having rates much lower than national average Urban rates higher than rural rates Huge disparity between rates for urban males and rural females Extremely low rates noted for some social and cultural sub-groups Unacceptably high gap between advantaged and disadvantaged groups

Challenges and Prospects Expanded and improved primary education systems are greatest contributor to increased literacy rates Cross-sectoral and non-governmental efforts making valuable but limited contribution Literacy programmes very poorly resourced Generally given very low priority Reliance on formal education systems alone will take several decades to produce a literate South Asia Two-pronged strategy needed to provide universal primary education and opportunities for adult literacy and continuing education Likelihood of achieving adult literacy goal very low unless commitment is renewed and adequate resources applied

GENDER PARITY AND EQUALITY Goal Five: Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality

Policies and Strategies All countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and are duty bound to promote not only gender parity but also full equality Most of the countries have policies promoting gender equality in education Gender is a cross-cutting theme in most of the EFA MDA reports and in the NPAs Along with special initiatives for girls and women, mainstreaming gender issues has been adopted as the dominant approach in most countries

Variations and Disparities Gender differences within countries as great as across countries of the region Generally urban areas have higher GPIs than rural areas Regional differences in GPIs Significant differences in GPIs of sub-groups of the population Gender is often a major contributing factor to other types of disadvantage

Challenges and Prospects Main focus of data is on gender parity Significant progress has been made in gender parity but the 2005 EFA goal was only achieved by 3 countries Gender parity is often confused with gender equality, which is much more difficult and complex to achieve Considering the patriarchal nature of most South Asian societies, notable progress has been made toward gender equality To achieve gender equality by 2015 policy makers and practitioners must work together to break down prejudices and to fight discrimination both within education and the greater society

QUALITY EDUCATION Goal Six: Improving all aspects of the quality of education, and ensuring excellence of all so that recognised and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills

Policies and Strategies All countries identified quality as a high priority, cross-cutting issue Most countries have not defined quality Most indicators are proxy Emphasis of policies and strategies is on increased retention and learning achievement as signs of quality improvement Programme approaches with an emphasis on quality improvement are being implemented in 4 countries Teaching in mother tongue and multilingual issues are being considered and promoted in some cases but on a limited scale Rights-based inclusive education is being advocated although practise is not yet widespread

Variations and Disparities Although not well documented, poor quality most adversely affects those already disadvantaged and marginalised Although primary education is meant to be free in most countries, hidden costs greatly disadvantage the children of the poor The opportunity to learn in one’s mother tongue is a viable option for only a small minority of linguistic minority children and adults and the quality of provision varies greatly

Challenges and Prospects Most children are the victims of inefficient and ineffective systems with excessive wastage, high repetition rates, low completion rates and poor achievement levels Recruitment, professional development and retention of a cadre of capable teachers remain a major challenge for most countries Major challenge is to develop and use qualitative indicators to monitor progress and to promote effective teaching and learning Without an improvement of quality, EFA and MDG quantitative targets will not be met

RESOURCES Without the allocation of sufficient resources for enrolment, retention and effective teaching the goals cannot be met Governments must show their commitment to EFA by allocating increased financial resources Achieving EFA must be given the highest priority by governments or it will remain an elusive dream

BARRIERS TO EDUCATION Economic Social Ethnic and linguistic Geographical Physical and mental Difficult circumstances Gender

OVERALL PROGRESS IN SOUTH ASIA The coverage of ECCE has expanded but is still limited to less than half the age group in most countries Primary school enrolments have greatly increased and countries have made significant gains in this area, but less than half the age cohort is enrolled in secondary education in 5 of the 7 countries Youth literacy rates have increased significantly but the majority of young people are involved in no educational activities In most countries there has been an increase in adult literacy mainly as a result of formal schooling for children but little is being done to address the needs of illiterate adults.

OVERALL PROGRESS IN SOUTH ASIA GPIs have improved for all indicators, but the lack of equality is apparent by reduced numbers of girls in higher levels of education and the low GPIs for adult literacy There is a much greater emphasis on quality but this is yet to be translated into more effective and efficient systems The collection and analysis of data has greatly improved but there is still a lack of information on sub-groups of the population which are unreached or underserved

MAJOR CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS ECCE will remain outside the reach of most young children unless efforts are undertaken to provide adequate financial resources for all children to participate Universal primary education and universal completion will only be achieved in most countries if they can improve the efficiency, the quality and the inclusiveness of their systems Effective initiatives for adolescents and youth are needed to develop their life and livelihood skills in order to reach the majority of the age group currently not involved in education Adult literacy targets will not be met without much greater commitment and resource allocation The gains in gender parity must be built upon and deepened to challenge prejudices and discrimination in order to achieve gender equality Without further improvement in quality, the MDA of universal completion cannot be reached in most countries

MAJOR CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS Children, young people and adults outside the system must be identified and effectively involved The barriers inhibiting their full participation must be addressed Improvement of quality of education and the effective inclusion of all children in meaningful learning are the keys to reaching the EFA goals The countries of South Asia can meet the challenge and achieve EFA if there is a renewed commitment and the allocation of sufficient resources!