1. 8th Annual EFA Coordinator’s Meeting February 26-March 2, 2007
Sub-regional Summary of Progress towards Achieving EFA and Remaining Challenges Southeast and East Asia
8th Annual EFA Coordinator’s Meeting
February 26-March 2, 2007

2. Countries included in this preliminary sub-regional summary:
China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand
Based on goal-based assessments and conclusions from Day 2

3. Progress and Challenges Goal #1: ECCE
ECCE coverage is improving in urban areas
Still major gaps in rural and remote areas
Countries are making progress towards establishing ECCE
Need for specific parameters in determining “success:” progress towards enrollment, quality, core indicators, etc.)
As of 2005, approximately half the countries in the region have a GER of less than 50% in ECCE (Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, China, Indonesia, Mongolia)
Gradual improvements in quality of ECCE
Issue of under-reporting (private schools), gap in govt. monitoring
Discuss “targets” rather than “success”
Role of community centers and pagodas
No standard measure of quality in ECCE-accreditation systems?
Exceptionally good practices: research on ECCE and parent training , TV and internet (China)
Countries can report on access but a common challenge is reporting on quality

4. Progress and Challenges Goal #2: UPE/UBE
Significant progress overall in the region in achieving UBE/UPE
Primary NER (2005) for most countries is over 80%
Some countries are making progress towards enrollment while facing increasing disparities
Gender parity appears to be improving, but more data still needed
Several countries have incentive programs (school feeding programs, scholarships)
Regional disparities in access persist
Insufficient disaggregated data about “unreached” groups
Only a few countries presented about language policy and “mother tongue initiatives” in UBE
Gender parity increasing in favor of girls in some countries (at lower and upper secondary)

5. Progress and Challenges Goal #3: Lifelong Learning and Lifeskills
Significant data gaps across the region
Need for more information, data and strategies for assessing and measuring progress
Only a few countries presented on Lifeskills—implications?
Only recently incorporated into national collection processes
Understanding of purpose and concepts of lifeskills makes it difficult to undertake cross-country comparisons
Best Practices: Functional Lit in Indonesia is reaching the unreached
Definition differs from country to country
Some proposed indicators are proxy indicators of lifeskills
“Learning needs of all young people and adults are met”
Lifeskills conference held in Bali and workshop in Bangkok—revealed that in countries with extreme poverty, there are programs emphasizing coping skills and income generation. In countries with faitth-based societies, there is a focus on ethics. Another trend—two streams: academic, and vocational

6. Progress and Challenges Goal #4: Literacy
Progress across the region towards literacy goals
Significant gender parity issues in some countries (Indonesia, Vietnam, others?)
Gaps in reaching the unreached, particularly in remote and rural areas
Issue of discrepancies between literacy statistics due to different definitions and sources (self-declared “head-counts,” literacy measurement through tests and measurement) Many countries have not measured literacy in terms of abilities
Need for countries to measure levels of literacy
Best Practice: Indonesia—Informal Reading Inventory; Myanmar—3Rs program for unreached groups in border areas (since 1996)

7. Progress and Challenges Goal #5: Gender Equality
Overall, countries reported increasing gender parity, particularly in UBE/UPE, and ECCE
Some countries have programs targeting girls
Some countries reported gender disparities in teaching staff (more females)
However, barriers still exist, particularly for girls in remote and rural areas
Overall, lack of reporting on gender equality issues, processes and outcomes (i.e. gender in curriculum, employment, etc.)
Retention and completion rates also need to be reported
Gaps in gender parity increase among higher age groups

8. Progress and Challenges Goal #6: Quality
Overall improvements in quality as measured by expenditures in sector, teacher training, student achievement, teaching materials, etc.
Improving quality of schools is a priority across the region (curriculum development, teacher training, assessment and management, etc.)
Many countries still facing challenges of underinvestment in education, regional disparities, and inadequate mechanisms for collecting data and assessing quality
Issue of retention of trained teachers in rural areas
Question of learning achievement—are we any better? Standards to measure achievement; other key dimensions of quality still lacking (i.e. water, sanitation)
Teaching Methodology and Mechanisms—use of ICT?

9. Progress and Challenges Goal #6: Quality
Best Practices:
Indonesia has a department focusing on improving quality
Cambodia: Standard indicators as tools for monitoring for Goals 1-5; school self-assessment teams
Thailand: Student, Teacher and Management Standards; autonomous body for external evaluation; annual reporting; external evaluation once every five years and issuing of certificates
Quality control at 3 levels : school, inspectorate (provincial and district), Min of Ed quality assurance department; in some cases, an autonomous body
Malaysia: instruments for evaluating quality—self-appraisal awarded with national awards; inspections
Lao PDR: model schools, multi-grade schools—to ensure quality; monitoring and evaluation of best practices
Child-Friendly Schools in the region
Myanmar: CFS starting from 2001, has already been implemented

10. Central and Common Findings for the Sub-region: Methodological Issues
Data Sources: EMIS, Household Surveys, Annual Reports, Case Studies, Existing legislation pertaining to goals, policies of different ministries and agencies involved in EFA, NGOS and INGOs should be sought
Data Gaps:
Difficult to access data on remote/marginalized groups in some countries i.e. China ; time and expense to gather data
Need to network with concerned depts/ministries on data sharing and including data on marginalized groups
Need to use EMIS and other sources more effectively
Need for more data on out-of-school children, lifeskills
Tap data from annual reports and international studies
Challenge of gathering data from certain ministries and private sectors
Identify sub-groups within the unreached in data-collection process—there is data on some of the sub-groups, i.e. CWDs in Brunei
More effort to find out who holds data

11. Central and Common Findings for the Sub-region: Methodological Issues
on some of the unreached groups, i.e. minority languages
Need more data about the 10% who are unreached—need to access other data sources and existing studies
Issue of lack of data on total number of CWDs in a given age group
Majority of countries still using school-collected data—not covering phenomena outside the school –but the data is available i.e. National Statistics Office; need to establish working relationship with NSO
Sample survey—misunderstanding about reliability of data from sample surveys—scientifically controlled surveys bypass distortions of other surveys
Sample surveys can be used from trends and relationships between variables
School as unit of analysis vs. individual as unit of analysis—unreached social demographic groupings (household surveys and censuses)
Inventory of data requirements for core indicators and do a survey of existing data and studies
Definitions and operationalization of definitions—different numbers and methods depending on source
In the case where no data is available, are best estimates acceptable?

12. Methodological Issues, cont.
Disaggregation and Analysis:
Difficult to disaggregate by ethnic minority groups
No data by disability

13. Content and Coverage of MDA, referring to peer review guidelines
Lack of reporting on Language Policy and Mother Tongue Education Initiatives (countries should report on existence of policy and practice)
Not enough data on disadvantaged groups including persons living with HIV/AIDS, child laborers, etc.

14. Recommendations to Improve National EFA MDA Reports
Through UNESCO and UNICEF, develop a system to measure, update and report on country progress
Need expertise from UNESCO and partners to assist in analysis and create better graphs
Need to clarify terminology and definitions: “quality education,” “literate,” “urban” and “rural,” “the disadvantaged”

15. Recommendations to Improve National EFA MDA Reports, cont.
Need assistance in making reports more presentable and readable
Need to establish sub-regional linkages (e.g. Mekong) to encourage info sharing on common issues (i.e. migrant laborers, etc.)
Too much focus on EMIS data—need to cite multiple sources

16. Comments by Partners Need for more data sources
Develop contextual understanding of why children are not in school, i.e. ethnic minorities
Lack of disaggregated data; need for a more qualitative focus to aid in capturing disparities that are identified but not quantifiable in terms of hard data
Need for more strategies to reflect gender issues in the sub-region—gender as a cross-cutting issue
More coverage on Life Skill and NFE
Need to incorporate Rights-based Approach
Minority language groups and language of instruction were not covered
No clear data about the hard-to-reach

17. Are there any interesting or unexpected findings in any of the countries?

18. What aspects of EFA MDA reporting are difficult to cover with EMIS data?