Education and Equity

8/9/2019 Education and Equity

1/140

INTRODUCTIONThe Investment Case EDUCATION AND EQUITY SUMMARY

EDUCATIONANDEQUITY

The Investment Case for

unite forchildren


2/140


3/140

EDUCATIONANDEQUITY

The Investment Case for


4/140ii

Report team

The Investment Case for Education and Equity was produced by UNICEFsEducation Section. It was prepared by Annababette Wils, PhD, an independentconsultant, and Gabrielle Bonnet, UNICEF Education Specialist, under thesupervision of Mathieu Brossard, Senior Adviser, Education, UNICEF.

Editing and design

This document was edited by Christine Dinsmore, copy edited by CatherineRutgers, and proofread by Natalie Leston, independent consultants. It wasdesigned by bro svenja .

Acknowledgements

The report was revised, enriched and reviewed by external experts including Luis A.Crouch, Chief Technical Ofcer and Vice President of the International DevelopmentGroup at RTI International; Birger Fredriksen, education development expert andformer Director of Human Development for Africa Region at The World Bank; KeithLewin, Professor of International Education and Development, University of Sussexand Director of the Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitionsand Equity (CREATE); and Liesbet Steer, Fellow at the Brookings Institutions Centerfor Universal Education.

It was also enriched thanks to the team in the Global Partnership forEducation Secretariat.

The report was also reviewed and enriched by comments and suggestions fromNICEFs regional ofces and from the Social Inclusion and Policy Section, theDivision of Data, Research and Policy, and the Education Section at the New Yorkheadquarters. Special thanks go to: Francisco Benavides, Regional Adviser,

Education, Latin America and the Caribbean; Nicolas Reuge, Education Specialist,West and Central Africa; Jingqing Chai, Chief, Public Finance and Governance,Social Inclusion and Policy Section; Nicholas Rees, Policy Analysis Specialist;Tapas Kulkarni and Binderiya Byambasuren of the Social Inclusion and PolicySection; Anna Azaryeva Valente, Education Specialist; the UNICEF Peacebuildingand Education team; Education Economist Luc Gacougnolle, an independentconsultant; Education Specialist Daniel Kelly, Consultant; and Blandine Ledoux,Education Specialist.

Acknowledgements


5/140

THE INVESTMENT CASE FOR EDUCATION AND EQUITY

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Support with messaging and related products was provided by Morgan Strecker,Education Specialist, Education Section; Samantha Mort, Senior AdviserCommunication, Ofce of the Executive Director, and the Division of Communication.Particular thanks in the division go to Paloma Escudero, Director; Edward Carwardine,Deputy Director; Kai Bucher, Consultant; Tara Dooley, Consultant; Elissa Jobson,Consultant; and Rudina Vojvoda, Consultant. The Division of Communication oversawthe editing, fact checking and publication of the report. Fact checking was providedby Hirut Gebre-Egziabher, Communication Specialist; Yasmine Hage, Consultant;and Ami Pradhan, Consultant.

For their continued support, review and guidance, special thanks also go to UNICEFsJordan Naidoo, Senior Adviser, Scaling Up and System Reconstruction, Education,and Josephine Bourne, Associate Director, Education.

Finally, communication and research advice and support were provided by Geeta RaoGupta, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, and, in UNICEFs Programme Division,Ted Chaiban, Director, and Maniza Zaman, Deputy Director.

For more information, please contact Gabrielle Bonnet at [email protected].


6/140iv

Contents

Acknowledgements iiForeword viAbbreviations and denitions viii

Introduction .... 1

1. A billion reasons for investing in education 3

1.1 The case for investment in education 6 1.1.1 Economic returns 6 1.1.2 Human development returns 10 1.1.3 The virtuous cycle of education: Inter-generational effects 13 1.2 An equity perspective: The case for investment per level of education 14 1.2.1 Economic benets by level of education 14 1.2.2 Human development benets by level of education 18

2. Crises at the foundation: Poor learning and high inequity 21

2.1 Increasing levels of access mask low levels of completion and learning 23 2.1.1 E = ISL: Intake and never entry 23 2.1.2 E = ISL: Completion and early dropout 24 2.1.3 E = ISL: Learning 26 2.1.4 Early foundations: Pre-primary education 27 2.2 Vulnerable and marginalized children suffer from high levels of exclusion 28 2.2.1 Inequality in intake to the rst grade of primary school 31 2.2.2 Inequality in dropout and completion 31 2.2.3 Inequality in learning 38

3. Barriers to education progress and learning 41

3.1 Funding gaps 43 3.2 Challenges with the education funding envelope 49 3.2.1 Domestic resources as a percentage of GDP 49 3.2.2 Priority given to education in government budgets 50

3.2.3 External funding to education 50 3.3 Equity in the allocation of education funding to different levels of education 54 3.3.1 Distribution of public education spending across levels of education 54 3.3.2 Unit cost by level of education 55 3.3.3 Concentration of education resources 57 3.3.4 Household expenditures 60


7/140


v

3.4 Equity in resource distribution to regions, schools and grades 63 3.4.1 Geographical distribution issues 63

3.4.2 Distribution across grades within schools 66 3.4.3 Distribution inequity in textbook allocation 66 3.5 Challenges with transforming resources into outcomes 68 3.5.1 Demand-side challenges 68 3.5.2 Financial inputs and learning outcomes 68 3.5.3 Actual instructional time 72 3.5.4 Support and supervision 73

4. Moving forward 75

4.1 Increasing overall funding to the education sector 77 4.1.1 Domestic resources and allocation to education 77 4.1.2 External aid to basic education 79 4.1.3 Support to education in humanitarian contexts 79 4.2 Using resources more equitably 80 4.2.1 Balancing the education budget by level of education with

an equity perspective 80 4.2.2 Targeting resources to reach the most vulnerable:

Equitable allocation to regions and schools 83 4.3 Using resources effectively to increase access, retention and learning 85 4.3.1 Interventions to increase access and survival 85 4.3.2 Interventions to improve learning 91

A call for action 95

Annex A . Human development benets of education 99Annex B . Age and dropout 104Annex C. Per pupil expenditures in secondary and tertiary vs. primary education 105Annex D. Geographical distribution of funding and teachers per child 107

Annex E . Reasons for not being in school 108Annex F . The SEE database 109Annex G . Interventions to increase access 111Annex H. Interventions to increase learning: Full intervention list and cost estimates 113Annex I. UNICEFs Strategic Plan 20142017 and results framework for education 117

References/bibliography* 121

CONTENTS


8/140vi

Education is a right and a crucial opportunity. It holds the key to a better life for abillion children and adolescents worldwide: a life with less poverty, better health and

an increased ability to take their future into their own hands. Education, particularlygirls education, is also one of the most powerful tools for creating economic growth,decreasing the likelihood of conict, increasing resilience and impacting futuregenerations with wide-reaching economic and social benets.

Progress towards education for all was unprecedented between 2000 and 2007 andresulted in a decline in the number of primary-school-age children from 100 millionto 60 million. In recent years, however, progress has stalled, leaving the mostvulnerable children excluded from education and learning. In 2012, nearly 58 millionchildren of primary school age and about 63 million adolescents of lower secondaryschool age were still out of school. Many of them live in conict-aficted regionsand emergency situations. Many are poor and live in rural areas. Many also facediscrimination because of ethnic origin, language, gender or disability. In addition,pre-primary education is underdeveloped, particularly in low-income countries, wherethe average gross enrolment ratio is 19 per cent.

Even more importantly, there is a learning crisis that urgently needs to be addressed.Evidence shows that even if children go to school, they often do not acquire the basiccompetencies due to the poor quality of education provided. It is estimated that 130million children do not learn to read or write despite reaching Grade 4. This failure tolearn puts children at a disadvantage at a very early stage, and disparities increase aschildren move through grades.

Prepared while the international community works on the post-2015 developmentagenda, the Investment Case for Education and Equity examines the challengesfacing education today, including the growing school-age populations in the worldspoorest countries. Sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the largest number ofout-of-school children in the world, will have to provide basic education to 444 millionchildren between the ages of 3 and 15 in 2030, 2.6 times the numbers enrolled today.

Foreword


9/140


vii

The report establishes three essential ingredients to revive progress in increasingthe number of children who can go to school and learn: more funding for education,

an equitable approach to resource allocation and more efcient spending onquality education.

More funding is required from governments and donors, including a greater provisionof resources to education during and in the aftermath of conicts and emergencies.Increased education nancing is also more than a humanitarian act: It is an investmentin strong economies and in more peaceful, resilient and equitable societies.

Challenges in the education sector will not be addressed solely by increased funding.Policies that allow for the equitable targeting of resources and improve the efciencyof overall education spending are needed. With limited resources and a long way togo before every child has access to education and learning, it is essential to identifyand support country-specic, cost-effective policies and interventions. Making sounddecisions will require strong evidence and better data. Given the magnitude of thelearning crisis, we need strengthened learning assessment systems, particularly forthe early grades, and strong accountability structures to improve the way in whichinvestments are transformed into actual learning.

Providing these ingredients will be challenging. But it is necessary if we want toprovide a billion children with their birthright: learning. Because todays investmentin education is tomorrows success.

Anthony LakeExecutive Director, UNICEF

Challenges in the education sector will notbe addressed solely by increased funding.Policies that allow for the equitable targetingof resources and improve the efciency ofoverall education spending are needed.

FOREWORD


10/140viii

Abbreviations and denitions 1

BREDA: Regional Bureau for Education in Africa (UNESCO)

Completion: participation in all components of an educational programme, including nalexams, if any, irrespective of the result of any potential assessment of achievementof learning objectives

Completion rate: proportion of a student cohort that completes a given level of education.Completion rates are often approximated using a proxy: the gross intake ratio to the lastgrade of the level considered, e.g., primary or lower secondary education ( see below ).

CONFEMEN: Conference of the Ministers of Education of French-speaking countries

Dependency ratio: proportion of primary-school-age children in the total population

DHS: Demographic and Health Survey

EFA: Education for All

GDP: gross domestic product, the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in theeconomy, including distributive trades and transport, plus any product taxes and minusany subsidies not included in the value of the products

GER: gross enrolment ratio/rate, the number of students enrolled in a given level of education,regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the ofcial school-age populationcorresponding to the same level of education; for the tertiary level, population is the5-year age group starting from the ofcial secondary school graduation age

GMR: Global Monitoring Report (Education for All)

GPE: Global Partnership for Education

GPI: gender parity index, the ratio of female to male values of a given indicator

Gross intake ratio to the rst grade of primary education: total number of new entrants in Grade 1 of primary education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the population at the

ofcial primary school entrance age

Gross intake ratio to the last grade of primary (resp. lower secondary) education: total number of newentrants in the last grade of primary education, regardless of age, expressed asa percentage of the population at the theoretical entrance age to the last grade of

primary education

Humanitarian funding: humanitarian funding relates to funding for interventions to help people who arevictims of a natural disaster or conict meet their basic needs and rights; tracking ofhumanitarian funding by the United Nations Ofce for the Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs 2 includes consolidated appeals, response to natural disasters, bilateral aid andall other reported humanitarian funding

1 Denitions of statistical indicators are, when possible, from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics Glossary, www.uis.unesco.org/Pages/Glossary.aspx.2 Financial Tracking Service, http://fts.unocha.org/pageloader.aspx?page=emerg-globalOverview&year=2014.


11/140


ix

ABBREVIATIONS AND DEFINITIONS

IIEP: International institute for Educational Planning

Income quintiles: the division of households into ve income groups, the quintiles, from lowestincome to highest income such that 20 per cent of the population is in each group

MICS: Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys

ODA: ofcial development assistance, the ows of ofcial nancing administered with themain objective of promoting the economic development and welfare of developingcountries, and which are concessional in character with a grant element of at least25 per cent by convention, ODA ows comprise contributions of donor governmentagencies, at all levels, to developing countries and to multilateral institutions, andODA receipts comprise disbursements by bilateral donors and multilateral institutions

OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

PASEC: Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems (in CONFEMEN countries)

Ple de Dakar: an education sector analysis unit set up within the UNESCOs International Institutefor Education Planning

PTA: parent-teacher association

SACMEQ: Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality

SEE: Simulations for Equity in Education

UIS: UNESCO Institute for Statistics UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientic and Cultural Organization

UNICEF: United Nations Childrens Fund

UNRWA: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East

Survival rate: percentage of a cohort of students enrolled in the rst grade of a given level or cycleof education in a given school year who are expected to reach a given grade, regardlessof repetition; survival is different from completion in the sense that it only considersstudents who started the rst grade of the level or cycle of education, while completionconsiders all children

WHO: World Health OrganizationWIDE: World Inequality Database on Education www.education-inequalities.org; produced by

the EFA GMR and UNESCO, gathering DHS and MICS data from more than 60 countries


12/14010

Introduction


13/140


1

INTRODUCTION

The international community is currently working onthe post-2015 development agenda. The proposedgoals and targets are not yet fully dened, but thegeneral outline is known including a continuationof the unnished Education for All (EFA) agenda, anemphasis on equity and a focus on learning. The

proposals also encompass an increased emphasison the provision of secondary education for anincreasing number of primary school leavers, and thegoal to equip children and youth with skills that areadapted to the needs of the labour market in a fast-changing and increasingly globalized economy. Mostof these issues are covered in this document.

Recent history has shown that considerable progressin achieving education for all can be made withconcerted efforts, as enrolment rates have climbed,particularly in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and

South Asia, which had very low levels of access inthe early 2000s. According to the UNESCO Institutefor Statistics (UIS Data Centre), between 2000 and2012, the percentage of out-of-school children amongprimary-school-age children has declined from 40per cent to 22 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa and from20 per cent to 6 per cent in South Asia.

Still, in 2012, 57.8 million primary-school-agechildren were out of school (about 121 million if lowersecondary is included). Access to education remainsunequal. In addition, the pace of progress in accessto education has slowed down, and the number ofout-of-school children of primary school age worldwidehas declined, on average, by a mere 1 per centannually between 2007 and 2012. In contrast, thedecline was 7 per cent a year between 2000 and 2007.The percentage of out-of-school children in conict-affected countries rose from 42 per cent in 2008 to50 per cent in 2011 (GMR 2013).

Progress is also affected by the challenges countriesface as they increasingly need to enrol harder-to-reachgroups of children than those who rst beneted fromthe gains made in access to education. This means thatin order to enrol out-of-school children, not only is therea need to invest more, but there is also a need to do

things differently. Furthermore, there must be more ofa focus on learning, not just access.

Chapter 1 examines the wide-reaching impact ofeducation, economically and socially. One key messageis that not all education levels are equally important both from an equity perspective and as a meansto maximize the benets of education in developingcountries.

Chapter 2 analyses which children remain excludedfrom education, considering access, completion

and learning.

Chapter 3 explores the barriers to education,including education funding levels (domestic resourcesand external aid), how it is distributed and howefciently it is used. Finally,

Chapter 4 recommends ways of addressing thechallenges highlighted in Chapter 3, including improveddata and increased, more equitable and cost-effectiveinvestment.

In order to enrol out-of-schoolchildren, not only is there a needto invest more, but there is also aneed to do things differently.


14/1402

UNI C E F / B A NA 2 0 1 4 - 0 0 6 0 6 / Ma wa


15/140

Pre-primary students at Shilchari Para Kendra in Rangamati,south-east Bangladesh.

3

1. One billion

reasons forinvesting

in education


16/140


17/140


18/140

1 Pupils at Alula Alternative Basic Education Centre in Ethiopia.The school is in the Afar region and now serves as a primary school.

6

1.1 The case for investmentin education

1.1.1 Economic returns

Among the most often cited rationales for educationis its impact on gross domestic product (GDP) percapita, individual earnings and poverty reduction. This

relationship has been well analysed for decades,and now, there remains little doubt about educationscausal role.

The existing literature shows three main ways toestimate economic returns to education: (1) macro-estimated cross-country regression models, whichassess the association between one additional year ofeducation on average and national economic income(GDP per capita or GDP per capita growth); (2) use ofthe rates of return, which compare the additional costs

and earnings associated with an increase in individualsnumber of years of education; and (3) estimation of theassociation between average years of education and

poverty incidence.

Education and national economic income

The evidence that education is a driver of nationaleconomic growth has been extensively studied and iswell accepted. Starting with Schultz in 1961 and Beckerin 1964, many economists have studied educationsrole in rising incomes, including Romer (1994), Mingatand Tan (1996), Heckman and Klenow (1997), Topel(1999), Bils and Klenow (2000), Bassanini and Scarpetta

UNI C E F / E T HA _2 0 1 4 _0 0 0 7 6 / Os e


19/140


20/140

5 A girl pays attention during class at school in Sierra Leone. Educatinggirls is an investment in their futures, but it is an investment that alsopays development dividends.

8

GDP per capita; this is a median number among thestudies presented in the table. Using this estimate,if a country such as Guinea, which had an averagenumber of 3.3 years of education per person in 2012,progressed to the education level of a country suchas Kenya, where the average was 9.0 years, then its

GDP per capita could double.

In addition, Patrinos and Psacharopoulos (2013) inLomborg (2013) demonstrated that there is a correlationbetween increasing the education level in a country,measured by average years of education, anddecreasing income inequality, as measured by theGini coefcient. 5 Using data for 114 countries inthe 19852005 period, they showed that one extrayear of education is associated with a reduction ofthe Gini coefcient by 1.4 percentage points.

Rates of return (private)

Rates of return are typically estimated by comparingthe increase in individuals labour market earnings(benets) from the completion of an additional yearof education with its increased costs. 6

Adults with higher education levels have, on average,higher incomes. Globally, the average private returnfor one additional year of education was found to bea 10 per cent increase in income, according tocomputations from more than 800 surveys in 139countries. The returns are generally higher in low- ormiddle-income countries than in high-incomecountries. It is also noteworthy that returns are higherfor women than for men. Over the years, privatereturns to education have modestly decreased,suggesting that the world demand for skills has been

increasing as world skill supply has also increased(Montenegro and Patrinos 2014). Nevertheless, theyremain high a strong argument for educationinvestment, particularly in developing countries.

UNI C E F / S L R A 2 0 1 3 - 0 3 5 5 / A s s el i n


21/140


9

1

More inclusive education with

equitable educational opportunitiesfor all has the potential to be animportant driver of inclusive growth.

P e r c e n

t p o p u

l a t i o n

l i v i n g

o n

l e s s

t h a n

$ 2 / d a y

Average years of education age 2534

Guatemala

SudanCambodia

BurundiLiberia The Democratic Republic of the Congo

United Republic of TanzaniaZambia

R2 = 0.66248

Rwanda

0 4 8 10 1262 140

20

40

60

80

100

Central AfricanRepublic

FIGURE 1: Relationship between the percentage of the population living on less than US$2 a day and the averageyears of education among the population aged 2534

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators,http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators,accessed October 2014.

0.30 (relatively high income equality, such as inGermany or the Netherlands) as compared to whenit is 0.60 (relatively low income equality, such as inHonduras or Zambia), even if the economy in bothsituations is growing at the same pace. These ndingssuggest that there should be a focus on inclusive

economic growth where all segments of society haveequitable opportunities: Inclusive growth is not justinherently fairer, but also a more effective investmentfor countries on the path of development. More inclusiveeducation with equitable educational opportunitiesfor all has the potential to be an important driver ofinclusive growth.

5 Gini coefcient is a commonly used measurement of inequality.6 This is usually known as the Mincerian method (see Mincer 1974).

Education, poverty and equity

Higher levels of education are associated with lowerpoverty rates. For example, the Education for All (EFA)Global Monitoring Report 2013/4 noted that the impactwould be 171 million fewer people living in poverty

(on $1.25 a day) if all students in low-income countrieslearned basic reading skills (UNESCO 2014).

Figure 1 shows the correlation between averageyears of education for young adults aged 2534 andpoverty incidence, measured as the percentage ofthe population living on less than $2 per day in termsof purchasing power parity. On average, for eachadditional year of education among young adults,poverty rates were 9 per cent lower.

In addition, Ravallion (2001) used data from 47

developing countries to show that for any given rateof economic growth, poverty reduction is signicantlyassociated with greater income equality. Povertyreduction is 75 per cent faster if the income Gini is


22/14010

1.1.2 Human development returns

While education benets are often measured ineconomic terms, such as increased income andreduced poverty, even further-reaching effects are

found in the health and social areas. Educated peopleand the children of educated parents tend to behealthier, more empowered regarding their own livesand their society, and socially more tolerant andresolution-seeking. Many of the observed socialimpacts are linked to womens education, hence, theimportance of girls education for future social welfare.

Child mortality, prenatal care and family formation

Educations association with health outcomes issignicant. The Lancet recently published the most

comprehensive review of child mortality, which wasnanced by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.Using more than 900 censuses and surveys, the study(Gakidou et al. 2010) found that around half of theunder-ve mortality reduction from 19702009 can betraced to increases in the average years of educationof women of reproductive age. In 2009, there were8.2 million fewer deaths of children under age 5 thanin 1970, even with a much larger population, and 4.2

TABLE 2: Percentage of pregnant women who see a health-care professional for prenatal care, by percentage pointincrease for those who completed primary education

Source: Data derived from education sector analysis country reports (World Bank 2007b, 2008a, 2009, 2010a, 2010b, 2010C, 2010d Ple deDakar 2010b, 2013; United Republic of Tanzania and Ple de Dakar 2011).

million of those averted deaths were attributable tohigher levels of education.

Prenatal care is one factor related to this remarkableoutcome. Education is linked to the likelihood that apregnant woman will see a health-care professional

for prenatal visits, whereas the likelihood is lower ifshe has no education. In 10 African countries withavailable data, the percentage of unschooled womenwho see a health-care professional for prenatal careranges from only 31 per cent in Burkina Faso upto 92 per cent in Malawi. In many of these countries,the rates were signicantly higher for women whocompleted primary education with the highestincrease in Chad, as shown in Table 2.

After they are born, children of more educated mothersare more likely to receive vaccines, see a doctor if

they are sick, receive rehydration if they have diarrhoea,sleep under insecticide-treated nets and benetfrom other health-related practices. Education alsodelays childbirth, which improves health outcomesof pregnancy for both the mother and the child.Furthermore, as Figure 2 shows, womens educationis correlated with decreases in overall fertility rates.Women with primary education have, on average,0.7 fewer live births than women with no education.

Country Women with no education Women who completedprimary education

Percentage point increasein prenatal care

Chad 36% 78% 42

Sao Tome and Principe 46% 83% 37

Central African Republic 58% 81% 23

Congo 75% 90% 15

Mali 80% 95% 15

Benin 84% 99% 15

Mauritania 84% 93% 9

United Republic of Tanzania 73% 81% 8

Burkina Faso 31% 36% 5

Malawi 92% 95% 3


23/140


11

1

7 The mortality rates for the more-educated men are only 13 percent lower.8 HIV and AIDS knowledge is measured using a composite index thatscores the respondents answers to questions about the pandemics.The increase is, on average, 30 per cent in DHS and 78 per cent in MICS.9 IFC International, DHS STATcompiler data extraction, July 2014.

The effects for secondary education are even greater,as women with secondary education have, on average,2.3 fewer children than women with no education.

Adult health, life expectancy and HIV/AIDS

Educations inuences are felt long after youth andcontinue through all age groups. Extensive research inindustrialized countries has shown a consistent declinein mortality levels with education (KC and Lentzner2010) that has been linked to behavioural, psychologicaland contextual differences among education groups.In developing countries, a smaller set of studies alsoreveals a consistent correlation between adult healthand education. In Bangladesh and Viet Nam, forinstance, studies found signicantly higher mortalityamong older adults with no education compared withtheir more-educated counterparts (Mostafa and van

Ginneken 2000; Hurt et al. 2004; Huong et al. 2006).In addition, in a cross-national study, de Walque andFilmer (2011) found that in developing countriesoutside Africa, the mortality rates for women with atleast primary education are 36 per cent lower thanfor women with less than primary education. 7 In Africa,the mortality rates of adult women with primaryeducation are 14 per cent lower than for women withless than primary education.

One of the more complex effects of education hasbeen regarding HIV/AIDS, in particular, in sub-SaharanAfrica. Early in the epidemic, more-educated adults,particularly men, had higher rates of HIV/AIDS mortalitybecause their higher socio-economic status gavethem access to more partners than less-educated men.

Over the years, this has changed. Thanks to animproved understanding of the disease and the spreadof antiretroviral medications, more educated adultsadapted their behaviour, and their HIV and AIDSmortality rates today are lower than those of less-educated men (de Walque and Filmer 2011). Anotherstudy reveals that, on average, people who have atleast completed a lower secondary education had 50per cent more knowledge about HIV and AIDS thanpeople with no education (Majgaard and Mingat 2012). 8 Moreover, more-educated young adults tend to havemore tolerant views of people with HIV/AIDS. 9

FIGURE 2: Total fertility rates of women in 48 low- and middle-income countries, 20082012, by level of education

Source: Authors computations based on Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and STATcompiler.

T o

t a l f e r

t i l i t y r a

t e

N i g e r

N i g e r i a

L i b e

r i a

U n i t e d R e

p u b l i c

o f T

a n z a n i a

U g a n d a

M a l a w i

B u r u n d i

M o z a m b i q u e

C a m e r o o n

K e n y a

B u r k i n a F a s o

M a d a g a s c a r

T i m o r - L e s t e

B o l i v i a

G h a

n a

G u y a n a

S i e r r a

L e o n e

C t e

d I v o i r e

S e n e g a l

E t h i o p i a

G u i n e a

B e n i n

G a b o n

L e s o t h o

R w a n d a

H a i t i

G u a t e m a l a

S a o T o

m e a n d P r i n c i p e P e

r u

Z i m b a b w e

P h i l i p p i n e s

P a k i s t a n

C o l o m b i a

T a j i k i s t a n

A l b a

n i a

H o n d u r a s

P a r a g u a y

C a m b o d i a

N e p a l

E l S a l v a d o r

E g y p t

J o r d a n

B a n g l a d e s h

I n d o n e s i a

M a l d i v e s

K y r g y z s t a n

J a m a i c a

A r m e n i a

9876543

12

0

No education Primary Secondary or more


24/140


25/140


13

1

Disability

Not surprisingly, disabled children may have fewereducational opportunities ( see Chapter 2 for greateranalysis on disability and education ). But there isalso some evidence that suggests that less education

itself leads to higher disability rates, for example,through lower access to health care, higher-risk jobsor unsafe health-related behaviours. In the majorityof cases, adults with disabilities were not disabled aschildren. Adult disability prevalence rates in low-and middle- income countries, for instance, are farhigher than childhood disability, on average, about18 per cent compared with about 5 per cent for children(WHO and World Bank 2011). For disabled adultswho were not disabled as children, education-leveldifferences suggest that the lack of educationsomehow has an impact on disability.

In this context, KC and Lentzner (2010) looked into theeducation disability gradient in low-income countries,using World Health Surveys from 70 countries.They found that for adults over age 30 in Africa, theodds of being disabled for women and men with noeducation is 1.9 and 1.8 times higher, respectively,than for women and men with secondary educationand higher. In Asia, women with no education were3.8 times more likely to be disabled than womenwith secondary education and higher, and men werealmost twice as likely to be disabled. In the mostextreme case, in Latin America, women with noeducation are 4.7 times more likely to report beingdisabled than women with secondary education.

Empowerment and civic engagement

Higher education levels lead to higher empowermentand civic engagement. The EFA Global MonitoringReport 2013/4 (UNESCO 2014) presents a numberof study results that highlight the importance ofeducation for empowerment and civic engagement,including the understanding of and support fordemocracy, participation in civic life, tolerance forpeople of a different race or religion, and concern forthe environment and adaptation to climate change(see Box 1 ).

Resilience and social cohesion

Education is crucial for fostering more cohesivesocieties and mending the social fabric that may havebeen damaged by years of conict and violence.

Education can help children, communities and systemsbecome resilient against conict and disasters bybuilding capacities and skills that will enable them tomanage and resolve tensions and conict peacefully(UNICEF 2014). Education can also help addressthe inequalities that generate conict. Education is

arguably the single most transformative institutionwhen it is equitable, of good quality, relevant andconict-sensitive. It is central to identity formation,promotes inclusion and contributes to state building.Most importantly, equity in education leads to conict-risk reduction: In 55 low- and middle-income countries,where the level of educational inequality doubled, 10 the probability of conict more than doubled, from 3.8per cent to 9.5 per cent (UNESCO 2014).

1.1.3 The virtuous cycle of education:Inter-generational effects

One of the most important effects of education is itsimpact on future generations.

At the individual level, education provides people withan increased likelihood to break the cycle of poverty.Children of more educated mothers, for instance,are more likely to attend school. Research found thataround 2003, for 16 sub-Saharan African countries,on average, 68.0 per cent of children of uneducatedmothers attended school, 87.7 per cent of children ofmothers with six years of education attended school,and 95.5 per cent of children of mothers with 12years of education attended school (Majgaard andMingat 2012).

At the national level, education leads to economicgrowth, which provides countries with more resourcesto educate children. It also leads to lower birth rates,which makes it easier (by creating a smaller youthcohort) to accommodate all children in schools. In thiscontext, a national increase in education creates betterconditions to educate further generations. Progresstowards inclusive education also leads to benets suchas faster poverty reduction and declining risks of conict,which create better conditions for future generations.

10 Looking into years of education by ethnicity, religion and region ofresidence.


26/140

5 Children aged 36 learn through creative play and art at a preschoolin Nicaraguas North Atlantic Autonomous Region. Studies indicatethat pre-primary school can increase primary school enrolment andimprove learning outcomes.

14

Investing in education overall has importanteconomic and human development returns. However,questions remain, particularly when there areresource constraints: How to balance investment atthe various levels of education to achieve the highesteconomic and human development returns? Are thereturns higher for primary, secondary or tertiaryeducation? In a context of budget constraints, analysismakes the case for prioritizing investment in qualityprimary and lower secondary education in the poorest

countries and in upper secondary and tertiary educationin higher-income countries.

Because of data limitations, this section does notcover pre-primary education. However, it has beendemonstrated that pre-primary education has thepotential to increase primary school intake, improvelearning (Jaramillo and Mingat 2008) and providesignicant private and social economic returns(Heckman and Masterov 2007).

1.2 An equity perspective: The case forinvestment per level of education

1.2.1 Economic benets by levelof education

Contribution to national income (economic growth)

Several studies have investigated the macroeconomicreturns to different levels of education (primary,secondary and tertiary) using the same method as theone used to estimate the impact of one additional year

of education on national income ( see Section 1.1.1 ).Table 3 synthesizes two of these studies, by Mingatand Tan (1996) and Brossard and Foko (2006), whichused past series of education and macroeconomicsdata. Both studies show that the contribution of

UNI C E F / NY HQ2 0 1 2 - 1 4 3 5 / Dor mi no


27/140


15

1

TABLE 3: Impact of enrolment rates per level of education on per capita GDP growth

Note: The coefcients that are signicant at the 10% threshold are followed by an *, by ** at the 5% threshold, and *** at the 1% threshold.Source: (1) Mingat and Tan 1996, and (2) Brossard and Foko 2006.

Low-income countries Middle-income countries High-income countries

(1) (2) (1) (2) (1) (2)

Primary education 0.033*** 0.028* 0.031* 0.016 12 -0.010

Secondary education 0.034 0.003 0.070*** 0.047*** -0.008 0.012

Tertiary education -0.129 0.047 -0.100 0 0.062** 0.021*

education varied greatly according to the economiccontext and levels of education. It supports the idea

that education expansion must take into accountavailable productive sector opportunities to ensurethe efcient use of resources.

In low-income countries, the expansion of primaryeducation contributes the most to national incomegrowth. It is estimated that 10 additional percentagepoints in the primary enrolment rate is associatedwith an increase of between 0.2 and 0.3 percentagepoints in GDP per capita annual income growth (inreal terms), a signicant increase as the averageannual growth has been 0.8 per cent during the periodconsidered. The availability of a critical mass ofindividuals having completed primary education hasbeen decisive. 11 In middle- and high-income countries,the post-primary education levels (secondary inmiddle-income countries and tertiary education inhigh-income countries) contributed the most to growth.

For low-income countries, primary education formsthe bedrock of development and the foundation forfurther income growth. However, as income levelsincrease, the importance of higher levels of education

also increases. For countries with full or nearlyuniversal primary completion, lower secondaryeducation becomes the level where the highest returnscan be reaped. In addition, the importance of uppersecondary and technical and vocational educationand training is heightened as todays rapidly growingeconomies depend on the creation, acquisition,distribution and use of knowledge, and this requiresan educated and skilled population. There is a needfor carefully balanced, contextualized investment inthe different levels of education.

Private and social economic returns

There are two types of rates of return that assess thecost-benet ratio of years of education: the privaterates of return and the social rates of return. Both usethe same estimation of the benets (the increase inindividuals earnings) but the costs that are considereddiffer. For the private rates of return, only the costsincurred by individuals are considered (these includetuition or other school costs as well as lost earningswhile studying). For the calculation of the social rateof return, the public cost of education is added tothe individual costs. Consequently, for a given country,the private rate of return is always higher than thesocial rate of return.

Figures 3 and 4 show average private and socialeconomic returns by level of education for low-incomecountries and the world as described by Psacharopoulosand Patrinos (2004) for years between the 1960s and

11 Conversely, the weak rates of primary enrolment rates haveconstituted a serious handicap to the economic growth of thelow-income countries.12 The lack of impact of primary enrolment on per capita GDPgrowth in these countries is, at least partly, due to a lack of variancein enrolment rates, as in most cases universal primary enrolmentis achieved.

Particularly in budget-constrainedcontexts, tertiary education is

subsidized to the detriment ofnancing quality primary educationfor the most marginalized children.


28/140


29/140

A girl raises her hand to answer a question at Alula AlternativeBasic Education Centre in Ethiopia. For some girls, as they get older,the chance that they will nish school decreases.


17

1

FIGURE 3: Private economic rates of return inlow-income countries and world average, by level ofeducation (%)

FIGURE 5: Probability of being among the poorest households (%), by the educational attainment of the head

of the household

FIGURE 4: Social economic rates of return inlow-income countries and world average, by levelof education (%)

Low-income countries

World

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Primary Secondary Tertiary

Low-income countries

World

0 5 10 15 20 25

Primary Secondary Tertiary

Source: Psacharopoulos and Patrinos 2004.

Source: Education sector analyses of countries (Ple de Dakar 2010b, 2012b, 2013; World Bank 2005, 2007b, 2009, 2010c, 2010d, 2011c, 2011a;United Republic of Tanzania and Ple de Dakar 2011; Ple de Dakar et al. 2013).

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

No education Primary Lower secondary Upper secondary Tertiary

P r o

b a

b i l i t y o

f b e

i n g

i n l o w

i n c o m e c a

t e g o r y

Benin,lowest

40%

Chad,lowest

40%

Comoros,lowest

20%

Congo,lowest

20%

Cted'Ivoire,lowest

40%

Guinea,lowest

40%

Mali,lowest

60%

Mauritania,lowest 60%

SaoTomeand

Principe,lowest

40%

SierraLeone,lowest

40%

UnitedRepublic ofTanzania,

lowest 20%

Gambia,lowest

40%


30/14018

1.2.2 Human development benetsby level of education

Various human development effects can be analysedby level of education. This section presents a selection

and summary of benet-to-cost ratios for differenthuman development outcomes and a selected measureof womens empowerment.

Table 4 shows the average benet-to-cost ratios forvarious human development outcomes in sub-SaharanAfrica as computed by Majgaard and Mingat (2012).These ratios represent the relative benet of oneadditional year of education within a level and havebeen normalized so that the ratio for primary educationis 100. The measured human development outcomesinclude basic health outcomes, poverty-related

outcomes and measures of social knowledge.

The cost-to-benet ratio for primary is higher than forboth lower-secondary and upper-secondary education.There are two exceptions: With regard to the age atrst birth (in the childbearing category, not detailed inthe table), it is 40 per cent more cost-effective to investin lower secondary education than primary education.Lower secondary education is also a more cost-effective

TABLE 4: Benet-to-cost ratios for different types of human development outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa

a. Average for age at rst birth, months between consecutive births, number of live births by approximately age 30, and percentage foruse of any contraceptive method.b . Prenatal consultations, tetanus vaccines and vitamin A supplementation during pregnancy and delivery assisted by skilled personnel.c. Children sleeping under mosquito nets, fully vaccinated by age 2, under-ve mortality rate and percentage of children enrolled in school.

Source: Authors computations based on Majgaard and Mingat 2012.

Social outcomes Primary (6 years) Lower secondary (4 years) Upper secondary (2 years)

Childbearing a 100 44 11

Prenatal health b 100 26 5

Child health and development c 100 27 6

Risk of poverty (%) 100 28 5

Knowledge about HIV/AIDS (index) 100 20 3

Use of media (radio, television,newspapers)

100 60 17

Average of all dimensions 100 34 8

investment than primary education to increase the useof newspapers (use of media category, not detailed inthe table). The cost-benet ratio for lower secondary isalways higher than that for upper secondary by at leasta factor of three. ( See Figure A.1, Annex A, for detailsof per-country results that formed the basis of Table 4. )

Education and womens empowerment

Education is also linked to empowerment, particularly

for girls. Women with higher education are much morelikely than uneducated women to be able to make theirown choices in life concerning their spouse, numberof children, working outside the home and makingimportant household decisions. For instance, women inIndia who had at least a secondary education were 30percentage points more likely to have a say in choosingtheir husband than their peers with less education(UNESCO 2014).

For low-income countries, primaryeducation forms the bedrock ofdevelopment and the foundation forfurther income growth.


31/140

3 This 13-year-old girl in Bangladesh hopes to become a doctor oneday. She has already overcome the threat of a child marriage and hasbeen able to continue her studies. But child marriage is a danger thatcan impede girls efforts to nish school.

19

FIGURE 6: Percentage of women who condone a husbands beating

Note: For Belize, the value for secondary education refers to secondary or higher. Values for tertiary education were not available for Afghanistan.Source: STATcompiler extraction from most recent Demographic and Health Surveys (Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea); weighted extractions withStata; and MICS reports (Afghanistan, Belize, Viet Nam).

In Africa, the percentage of female respondents witha favourable view of genital mutilation/cutting declineswith education. In Mauritania, for example, 79 per centof unschooled women aged 1549 viewed femalegenital mutilation/cutting favourably in 2007, but only

41 per cent of those with lower secondary educationand 21 per cent of women with tertiary education did(Ple de Dakar 2010b; also see Figure A.6, Annex A).

Finally, as shown in Figure 6, women with lesseducation are more likely to view their husbandsviolence as an appropriate punishment for what is seenas undesirable behaviour for a wife, particularly incountries where the overall level of education is low.

% o

f w o m e n

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

B e l i z e 2 0 1

1

C a m

e r o o n 2 0 1

1

V i e t n a m

2 0 1 0 2 0 1

1

E t h i

o p i a

2 0 1 1

A f g h a

n i s t a n

2 0 1 0 2 0 1

1

G u i n e a 2 0 1

2

No education

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

UNI C E F / B A NA 2 0 1 4 - 0 1 3 1 5 / P

a ul


32/14020

UNI C E F / NY HQ2 0 1 4 - 0 1 6 7 / Noor a ni


33/140

7 A 12-year-old girl helps out at a recycling warehouse in Turkeywhere her mother and sister work. Her family ed Syria because ofconict in the country. She attended Grade 6 in Syria but does notattend school in Turkey.

2. Crises at the

foundation:Poor learning

and high

inequity

21


34/140

1 A row of boys at Senos Franco-Arabic School in the Niger.The school allows students the opportunity to learn in French andArabic. It was constructed to accommodate students displaced in2012 by ooding in Niamey.

22

Large numbers of children are still out of school, andaccess to school remains inequitable, with entiregroups of vulnerable and marginalized children excludedfrom education. In addition, it is increasingly clearthat what children learn in school in many developingcountries falls far short of their potential and far belowwhat children in more developed countries learn.

Overall, when considering both access and learningchallenges, it is estimated that 250 million childrenworldwide have failed to learn how to read or write,

or to do basic mathematics (UNESCO 2014). This isdue to exclusion at various stages of education:They were denied access to education, they did notcomplete their education or, despite attending school,the low quality of the education they received did notenable them to learn.

UNI C E F / P F P G 2 0 1 4 P - 0 8 7 7 / L ync h


35/140


23

2

It takes many steps for a child to reach the end ofbasic education and acquire the necessary skills andknowledge to succeed. These steps can however bedivided into three basic elements. First, the childmust enter school, or intake, which will be called I.Second, a child entering school must navigate throughall the grades and complete his or her education. Theprobability that a new entrant in Grade 1 will reach theend of primary or lower secondary education is thesurvival rate, which will be called S. Third, the child

must have the opportunity to learn, which will be calledL. The probability that a child will have the full benetsof her or his education, or E, is equal to the productof the percentage of children who enter school (I) timesthe proportion among entrants who reach the end ofprimary or lower secondary education (S) times theprobability of receiving a full learning experience (L), or:

E=ISL

These three dimensions are illustrated in Figure 7:Some children never enter school, more nevercomplete their education, and among those whocomplete, only a fraction will have learned the basicsexpected at that level.

2.1 Increasing levels of access mask lowlevels of completion and learning

Primary-school-age population

Accessing primary school

Completing basic education

Learning

FIGURE 7: The learning pyramid: Intake, completionand learning

It is increasingly clear that whatchildren learn in school in manydeveloping countries falls far shortof their potential and far belowwhat children in more developedcountries learn.

2.1.1 E = ISL: Intake and never entered

To begin his or her education, a child has to step intoa school as a student. Although there is a largevariability in available gures, and available data maylack reliability, it can be estimated that the rststep in school is denied to millions of children. Morespecically, UIS estimates that, out of 650 millionchildren of primary school age today, approximately

28 million never take that rst step ( see UNICEF andUIS 2005 for a description of the methodology forcomputing never entry ).

Never enrolling in or attending school, referred to hereas never entry, is the most absolute form of educationexclusion. Among the children who never enter school,57 per cent are in sub-Saharan Africa (UIS and GMR2014), and in some countries, such as Burkina Faso,Mali and the Niger, never entry affects more than 40per cent of the school-age population.

Never entry is also an important issue in somecountries (e.g., Yemen) in other regions. In countrieswhere never entry is moderate at the national level,it may be still large in certain population groups (e.g.,Haiti, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Nepal).This will be discussed in more detail in Section 2.2.

Conict is a major source of education exclusion, andapproximately two thirds of the countries with thehighest never-entry rate are fragile or conict-affected(see Figure 8).


36/14024

FIGURE 8: Percentage of children who never entered school, among countries where these rates were higher than10 per cent

Source : Data computed from household surveys, 20062011.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

10% 11%

14%

19% 20% 20%

22% 23% 23%

27%30%

34%

40%

45%

49%

Y e m e n

D j i b o u t i

E t h i o p i a

S i e r r a

L e o n e

B e n i n

G a m b i a

C e n t r a l A f r i c a n R e

p u b l i c

C t e

d I v

o i r e

G u i n e a - B i s s a u

S e n e g a l

L i b e

r i a

G u i n e a

B u r k i n a F a

s o

N i g e r

M a l i

In absolute value, countries such as India, Nigeria orPakistan, despite having lower never-entry rates,have large numbers of children who never enter schoolbecause of the size of their school-age population.

2.1.2 E = ISL: Completion and earlydropout

Once a child has entered school, the next step isreaching the end of primary school, however survivalrates in primary education are extremely low inlow-income countries, with only 57 per cent of thoseentering school reaching the last grade of primaryeducation. This has not improved signicantly between

1999 (55 per cent) and 2011 (UIS Data Centre). Out ofthe 650 million primary-school-age children, UIS estimatesthat among those who begin school, as many as 92million 14 never reach Grade 4. In total, including childrenwho never access school, approximately 120 millionchildren have never reached Grade 4, let alone nishedprimary or lower secondary education. According to theWorld Inequality Database on Education (WIDE), lessthan one child in two completes four years of educationin Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Senegal.

Figure 9 considers completion, i.e., the probability thata child will reach the end of the education level, amongcountries with recent household surveys. 15 In additionto the countries mentioned above, only one child in twoor less completes primary education in Cte dIvoire,

Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique,Rwanda and Uganda, and less than one child in twocompletes lower secondary education in 28 countries.

Note that comparatively higher primary completionrates do not automatically translate into high lowersecondary completion rates. For example, Belize hasa completion rate of 86 per cent (the second highestof the countries in Figure 9) in primary education, yetits lower secondary completion rate is only 42 percent meaning that a full half of all primary completersin Belize drop out before the end of lower secondary

education. Many countries still do not have thecapacity to accommodate large numbers of learnersin lower secondary education, and transition ratesfrom primary to secondary are low.

14 The EFA Global Monitoring Report 2013/4 (UNESCO 2014, 191)estimates that 250 million children are not learning how to read; ofthose, 120 million, including non-entrants, will not reach Grade 4.This 92 million estimate is based on subtracting the 28 million whowill not enter from the 120 million who will not reach Grade 4.15 WIDE, DHS and MICS dating from 2007 and beyond.


37/140

FIGURE 9: Primary and lower secondary/basic education completion in 28 countries with low completion rates

Source : WIDE, accessed October 2014.

B a n g l a d e s h

S u r i n a m e

G a b o n

S w a z i l a

n d H a i t i

S i e r r a L e

o n e

B e l i z

e

C o n g o

C a m e r o o n

L a o P e

o p l e s D e m o c r a t i c

R e p u b l i c

C a m b o d i a

I r a q

C t e d ' I v o i r e

L e s o t h o

M a l a w i

S a o T o

m e a n d

P r i n c i p e

B h u t a n

M a u r i t a n i a

L i b e

r i a

A f g h a

n i s t a n

U g a n d a

E t h i o p i a

M a d a g a s c a r

S e n e g a l

R w a n d a

U n i t e d R e

p u b l i c

o f T a n z a n i a

M o z a m b i q u e

B u r k i n a

F a s o

0

20

40

60

80

100Primary completion rate

Lower secondary/basic education completion rate


25

2

5 A secondary school student writes on the chalkboard at her school in the Niger. Secondary education offers girls greater opportunities in life.But girls with a secondary education also contribute to the health and prosperity of their families, communities and countries.

UNI C E F / UNI 1 6 4 9 2 4 / T er d j m

a n


38/140

1 These students attend a government school in a remoteregion of Bangladesh where monsoons and civil unrest havedisrupted life. In areas where conict and disaster are common,education can offer a normalizing inuence.

26

2.1.3 E = ISL: Learning

Even if children complete primary education, it isnot certain that they will develop the expectedcompetencies not even the minimum standards inliteracy and numeracy. UIS estimates that approximately130 million children among those who reach Grade 4do not learn to read. Hence, the total number ofchildren who do not learn to read is 250 million out of650 million of primary-school-age children, or close to40 per cent of the total.

Failure to learn starts early. A growing number ofassessments of reading and numeracy ability in theearly grades of school show that many second and

third graders have not even mastered basic letter,number or word recognition. A series of Early GradeReading Assessments and Early Grade MathAssessments showed that overwhelming proportionsof pupils were not mastering even the most basicskills (letter and number recognition, phonetics, single-digit addition) in the rst years of school. A GlobalPartnership for Education (GPE) working paper (Abadzi2011), showed that, on average, students of Fast TrackInitiative 16 countries tested for reading uency could

16 The Fast Track Initiative is now the Global Partnership for Education.17 The ASER Centres website is found at www.asercentre.org;Uwezo, www.uwezo.net.

read 12 words per minute in Grade 1 and 23 per minutein Grade 2, when a speed of 45 words per minute isconsidered the minimum for reading comprehension.The ASER and Uwezo 17 assessments, which have rootsin India but are now implemented in a larger number ofcountries, show similar results.

Figure 10 shows the proportion of children amongthose who were tested in primary education (Grade4, 5 or 6), who have learned the basics of reading andmathematics for countries where this proportion isbelow 50 per cent. Among these, there are many

countries from sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle Eastand North Africa, South Asia and Latin America. Thisdoes not mean that there are not other countrieswith acute learning issues, as information on learningremains too limited and is rarely comparable, even atthe regional level.

UNI C E F / B A NA 2 0 1 4 - 0 0 6 2 7 / Ma wa


39/140


27

2

FIGURE 10: Proportion of children who learn the basics of reading (left graph) and mathematics (right graph) amongchildren who were tested, for selected countries

FIGURE 11: Average pre-primary enrolment rates,by income group

Source : WIDE, student surveys for 20072012, retrieved in October 2014.

Source : UIS Data Centre, accessed October 2014.

T o g o

C o m

o r o s

C o n g o

C t e

d ' I v

o i r e

B u r k i n a F a

s o

M

o r o c c o

S e n e g a l

B u r u n d i

I n d i a

Y e m e n

C t e

d ' I v

o i r e

I n d i a

M

o r o c c o

T o g o

Z a m b i a

C o n g o

C o l o m b i a

M a l a w i

C o m

o r o s

P a k i s t a n

B u r k i n a F a

s o

14%

22%

33%

11%

17%

24%

29%31%

33%

37% 38%40% 41%

44% 46%

33% 34%

38%

45% 46%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

38%

2.1.4 Early foundations:Pre-primary education

Pre-primary education is a key EFA goal agreedupon in Dakar in 2000. It provides children with earlydevelopment and learning opportunities, whichincrease their likelihood to succeed in furthering theireducation. The EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007(UNESCO 2007) indicated that children who haveattended early childhood development programmeshave lower chances of dropping out of primary schooland better exam results. Yet, according to the UISData Centre, pre-primary gross enrolment ratios inlow-income countries are only 19 per cent on average,while they are around 50 per cent for lower middle-

income countries, 69 per cent for upper-middle-incomecountries and 86 per cent for high-income countries.

Countries with low pre-primary enrolment rates oftenhave low primary completion rates. There are someexceptions, however, such as Kyrgyzstan, for whichpre-primary gross enrolment was only 25 per cent in2012 even though the country is close to reachinguniversal completion for primary education.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Low-income

countries

19

50

69

86

Lower-middle-income

countries

Upper-middle-income

countries

High-income

countries


40/14028

2.2 Vulnerable and marginalized childrensuffer from high levels of exclusion

Exclusion of children at each step of education intake,completion or learning leads to low levels of learningin most developing countries. Cumulatively, 250million children do not acquire literacy skills, but notall children are similarly affected. Failure at any step of

the process hits the poorest, most marginalized andvulnerable children hardest. UIS (2012) found that thechildren from the poorest quintile of households werefour times more likely to be out of school comparedwith those from the wealthiest households (40 per centversus 10 per cent). When multiple exclusion factorsexist, the average numbers of years of educationcan decrease to virtually zero. No country can achieveuniversal primary education and high levels of learningwithout bringing all segments of its population toschool and providing them with quality education.

Figure 12 shows the average years of education fordifferent subgroups in 33 low-income countries. Thedimensions of inequity include: wealth (poorest andwealthiest 20 per cent of the population), urbanand rural location, sex and what is identied as themost deprived group (e.g., the poorest rural girlsfrom a specic ethnic group). This is the group withthe lowest level of education. In most countries,each dimension has an impact, with poverty generallybeing the most determining factor of exclusion.

1 This third-grade student writes on the chalkboard in her school inLiberia. In later grades, girls are at risk of dropping out of school andbecoming excluded from educational opportunities that provide themwith the skills they need to lead productive lives.

UNI C E F / NY HQ2 0 1 1 - 1 7 8 2 / P i r oz z i


41/140


29

2

FIGURE 12: Average years of education at age 2327 for 32 low-income countries, by subgroups*

N i g e r

S o m a l i a

M a l i

C h a d

B u r k i n a F a

s o

A f g h a n i s t a n

G u i n e a

G u i n e a - B i s s a u

B u r u n d i


p u b l i c

E t h i o p i a

B e n i n

M a d a g a s c a r

C o m o r o s

R w a n d a

M o z a m b i q u e

S i e r r a

L e o n e

G a m b i a

L i b e

r i a

M y a n m a r

U n i t e d R e

p u b l i c

o f T a n z a n i a

B a n g l a d e s h

D e m o c r a t i c

R e p u b l i c

o f t h e

C o n g o

C a m b o d i a

N e p a l

M a l a w i

U g a n d a

T o g o

H a i t i

K e n y a

T a j i k i s t a n

Z i m b a b w

e

K y r g y z s t a n

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Average

Poor ruralgirls

Poor ruralboys

Poor urbanboys

Wealthiestrural girls

Wealthiestrural boys

Wealthiesturban girls

Wealthiest

urban boys

Most deprivedgroup

A v e r a g e y e a r s o

f e

d u c a

t i o n

The most educated group tends to be wealthy males(mostly urban), followed by wealthy females; whereaspoor rural females or particular ethnic groups are theleast educated. In the worst cases, these subgroupshave nearly zero years of average education, e.g., in

Chad, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nepal, theNiger and Somalia. The most excluded ethnic groupstend to be nomadic, such as the Peulh/Pulaar or Fulain Benin, Burkina Faso, the Gambia and the Niger. Ofthe 33 countries, only in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan andZimbabwe do the least-advantaged groups achieve, onaverage, six years or more of education. They are alsothe countries with the highest average number of yearsof education.

Source : Data from WIDE, accessed June 2014.

* The most deprived group may be related to income,location, gender or ethnicity.

Wealth is a major issue affectingchildrens likelihood of droppingout of school.


42/14030

Source : GMR 2010b. www.unesco.org/new/leadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/GMR/html/dme-4.html

Box 2: Unequal education outcomes: The example of Cambodia

UNESCOs Deprivation and Marginalization in Education database(GMR 2010) published tree graphs of education access in differentcountries. Here, we present one for Cambodia. The graph providesan acute image of inequality in school outcomes linked to factors ofmarginalization: poverty, rural residence and female sex, showingthe compounding impact of these factors on education outcomes. InCambodia, the average number of years of education was 6.0 years,based on education for young adults 1722, but for wealthy childrenit was 8.2 years and for poor children it was 3.4 years. When locationand gender are considered, disparities are even higher. On average,rich urban boys went to school for 9.2 years, while poor rural girlsonly went to school for 2.7 years.

Education inequity in Cambodia

A V E R A G E N U M B E R O F Y E A R S O F S C H O O L I N G

0.5 years0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Extreme education poverty

Education poverty

Richest 20% (8.2 yrs)

Urban (8.6 yrs)

Rural (7.8 yrs)

Urban (3.8 yrs)

Rural (3.4 yrs)

Female (5.5 yrs)

Poorest 20% (3.4 yrs)

Male (6.5 yrs)

Rich, urban boys (9.2 yrs)Rich, urban girls (8.1 yrs)Rich, rural boys (8.2 yrs)

Rich, rural girls (7.5 yrs)

Poor, urban boys (4.1 yrs)

Poor, urban girls (3.6 yrs)Poor, rural boys (4 yrs)

Poor, rural girls (2.7 yrs)

MaleFemale

Cambodia6 years


43/140


31

2

2.2.1 Inequality in intake to the rstgrade of primary school

Inequality starts with never entry. As shown in Figure13, never entry is virtually absent among children

from the wealthiest 20 per cent of households, exceptin a few countries such as Burkina Faso, Cte dIvoire,Mali and the Niger. On the other hand, the never-entryrates for children of the poorest quintiles are extremelyhigh in some countries, most of them in West Africa.In Guinea, 62 per cent of children from the 20 per centpoorest households will never enter school, nine timesthe percentage for children of the 20 per cent wealthiesthouseholds (7 per cent).

Figure 13 shows 28 countries where average never-entry rates exceeded 3 per cent. 18 Countries with the

lowest average rates of never entry tend to havelower inequality levels than countries with high averagerates of never entry. Other groups with high never-entry rates are rural children, nomadic or ethnicminorities (both often predominantly poor) and, insome countries, girls.

18 Adapted from the 2012 GPE Annual report (2012).19 The estimate is retrospective, namely using the 17- to 22-year-oldswho had reached the last grade of primary school among those whostarted rst grade.

80%

60%

0%

20%

40%

U g a n d a

H a i t i

K e n y a

Z a m b i a

R w a n d a

G h a n a

M o z a m b i q

u e

N e p a l

T i m o r - L e s t e

M a d a g a s c a r

C a m e r o o n

L a o s

T o g o

Y e m e n

D j i b o

u t i

E t h i o

p i a

S i e r r a

L e o n e

B e n i n

G a m b i a


p u b l i c

C t e

d ' I v o

i r e

S e n e g a l

G u i n e a - B i s

s a u

L i b e r i a

G u i n e a

B u r k i n a F a s o

N i g e r

M a l i

Never entry poorest quintile Never entry wealthiest quintile Average

% c

h i l d r e n w

h o n e v e r e n

t e r e

d

FIGURE 13: Percentage of never entry, by wealth quintiles

Source : Data computed from household surveys, 20062011.

2.2.2 Inequality in dropoutand completion

Wealth is a major issue affecting childrens likelihoodof dropping out of school. Figure 14 shows an estimate

of the survival rate to the last grade of primaryschool for children from the wealthiest 20 per cent ofhouseholds and children from the poorest 20 per cent 19 in 28 countries for which post-2010 data sets wereavailable. Among the wealthiest children, more than95 per cent of school entrants reach the end of primaryeducation in just 12 of these countries. Between 80per cent and 95 per cent complete primary educationin nine countries, and below 80 per cent in six.

These numbers are troubling enough, but the values forpoorer children are far worse. In Ethiopia, for instance,

only 7 per cent of the poorest 17- to 22-year-olds who


44/14032

started school had reached the end of primary; inMalawi, Mozambique, the Niger, Rwanda and Uganda,the gure was less than 25 per cent. The averageshare of the poorest school entrants reaching the lastprimary grade in these 28 countries is only 53 per cent.Again, countries with high average survival rates, such

as Indonesia and Peru, also tend to be more equitablein terms of completion than those with low averagesurvival rates.

Figure 15 illustrates the average survival rates betweenthe last grade of primary education and the lastgrade of lower secondary education in 28 countries.In Mozambique and the United Republic of Tanzania,for the wealthiest quintile children, around one primarycompleter in two and one in three, respectively,makes it to the end of lower secondary education.In both countries, however, less than 1 in 30 among

the children of the poorest quintile does. In the LaoPeoples Democratic Republic, 78 per cent of primarycompleters from the wealthiest quintile nish lowersecondary education, while only 9 per cent of thosefrom the poorest quintile do.

High levels of inequity at all levels of educationcombine, creating vast differences in lower secondarycompletion rates. In Mozambique and the UnitedRepublic of Tanzania, a third of the wealthiest childrencomplete the lower secondary level of education,but in Mozambique less than 1 in 200 of the poorestchildren does and 1 in 70 does in the United Republicof Tanzania. In the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic,75 per cent of the wealthiest children completelower secondary education, but only 3 per cent of thepoorest do. Inequalities are also severe in Honduras,where 87 per cent of the wealthiest children completelower secondary education vs. 20 per cent of thepoorest children.

Perhaps a more striking view of the difference betweeneducation progress for the wealthiest and poorestsegments of society is how the current educationlevels and rates of progress translate into a populationsachieving universal completion. Even in countriesthat have relatively high levels of education, such asViet Nam, universal completion of lower secondaryeducation for the poorest income groups would not

7 This young girls education has been interrupted by two yearsof violence in the Central African Republic. In November 2014 shehoped to return to school and to a more peaceful future.

UNI C E F / P F P G 2 0 1 4 P - 0 8 3 6 / L oga n


45/140


46/14034

20102020203020402050206020702080

21002090

211021202130

Poorest girlsPoorest boys

Richest girlsRichest boys

Viet Nam Indonesia Mongolia Timor-Leste Cambodia Lao PeoplesDemocratic

Republic

Y e a r o

f a c

h i e v e m e n

t o

f u n

i v e r s a

l l o w e r

s e c o n

d a r y e

d u c a

t i o n

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

GPI poorest quintile

GPI wealthiest quintile

Average GPI

A f g h a

n i s t a n

M o z a m b i q u e

B u r k i n a F a

s o T o

g o

B u r u n d i

S e n e g a l

C t e

d ' I v

o i r e

D e m o c r a t i c R e

p u b l i c o f C o n g o

U g a n d a

C a m e r o o n

N e p a l

N i g e r i a

S i e r r a

L e o n e

T a n z a n i a

B h u t a n

L a o P e

o p l e s D e

m o c r a t i c R e

p u b l i c

E t h i o p i a

M a c e d o n i a

I r a q

R w a n d a

C a m b o d i a

C o n g o

Z i m b a b w

e

G a b o n

G h a

n a

M a l a w i

H a i t i

S e r b i a

B o s n i a

& H e r z e g o v i n a

A r m e n i a

P e r u

K a z a k h

s t a n

I n d o n e s i a

V i e t

N a m

C o l o m b i a

B a n g l a d e s h

S w a z i l a

n d

B e l i z e

S u r i n a m e

H o n d u r a s

FIGURE 16: Expected year of achievement of universal lower secondary education, by income and gender

Date post:	01-Jun-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	sofiabloem
View:	213 times
Download:	0 times

Education and Equity

Documents