1. 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

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

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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

51. 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

52. 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

53. 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

54. 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

61. 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

62. 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

63. 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

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

67. 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.

68. 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

69. 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

70. 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!