South-East Asia EFA Mid-Term Policy Conference and

1
Education for All by 2015 Will we make it?
South-East Asia EFA Mid-Term Policy Conference
and Launch of the 2008 Global Monitoring
Report Jomtien, Thailand 18 February 2008
2
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
5
Progress in primary education
Sub-Saharan Africa

• 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 from 647 in 1999

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 ()
6
Overall progress in primary net enrolment ratios
7
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
8
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
60 girls in Arab States 66 in South and West
Asia
Central Asia
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Out-of school children, million
9
EFA Progress in Countries (EDI, 2005)
10
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
11
Major concerns and prospects
12
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 ()
13
Progress in pre-primary GERs (1999-2005)
Brunei D.
Rep. of Korea
China
Cambodia
Indonesia
Philippines
Viet Nam
Thailand
Macao, China
Malaysia
Lao PDR
Japan
13
14
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
15
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
16
Gender Gaps in Secondary Education
17
Minimal attention to adult literacy
774 million adult illiterates
South/West Asia

• Number of illiterate adults increased in
  sub-Saharan Africa and Arab States
• 75 adult illiterates live in 15 countries
• 64 are women
• Direct assessments of literacy skills suggest
  even greater challenge

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
18
Gender gaps in literacy prevail
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Improving the quality of education

• On the average, only 85 of students reach the
  last grade of primary education in East Asia. Not
  all pupils who reach the last grade complete it.
• International and national learning assessments
  point to low learning outcomes in some countries
  in the region.
• There are still countries with high primary
  pupil-teacher ratios, particularly in public
  schools.
• Low levels of learning achievement are related to
  

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

20
Financial commitment to Education
21
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
22
The Way Forward
22
23
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
• 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 assessments

• 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

25
Attention to early childhood and 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
• 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

26
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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Contact information
www.efareport.unesco.org efareport_at_unesco.org
AIMS-UIS Unit, UNESCO Bangkok efa_at_unescobkk.org
aims_at_unescobkk.org www.unescobkk.org/efa
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