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Five years after Dakar: Overview of progress and

challenges in EFA

Nicholas BurnettEFA Global Monitoring Report

Ministerial Round Table on Education for AllUNESCO, 7 October 2005www.efareport.unesco.org

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• Charts progress towards the six Dakar goals agreed to by 164 countries in 2000

• Monitors international commitments to education

• Highlights effective policies and strategies, allows for comparisons between countries

• Draws attention to emerging challenges

• Analyses administrative data collected by UNESCO Institute for Statistics

• Reports on:• Overall challenges (2002)• Gender (2003/4)• Quality (2005)• Literacy (2006, launch on 9 November 2005)

(Prepared by an independent team housed at UNESCO)

The Education for All Global Monitoring Report

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Education and literacy:an imperative for development

• Rights that permit access to other rights• Human capabilities: widening choices• Gender equality: empowering the disadvantaged• Economic growth and poverty reduction: higher productivity,

higher incomes• Improved health, lower fertility and HIV/AIDS prevention• Social cohesion and participation• Sustainable development

EFA is necessary but not sufficient for achieving equitable human development

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Education and HIV/AIDS:Knowledge causes behaviour to change

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

HIV

pre

vale

nce

(%)

No schooling

Primary

Secondary

HIV prevalence in rural Uganda (%) by education category, 1990-2001 (individuals aged

18-29)

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Education for AllDakar Goals and Millennium Development Goals

Goal 2: Achieve Universal primary education(Target 3: Completion of full primary schooling by all children by 2015)

Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower women(Target 4: eliminate gender disparity preferably by 2005 and no later than 2015)

1. Expanding early childhood care and education

2. Universal primary education by 2015

3. Equitable access to learning and life skills programmes for young people and adults

4. 50% improvement in adult literacy rates by 2015

5. Gender parity by 2005 and gender equality by 2015

6. Improving quality of education

MDGsEFA Goals

LITERACY IS AT THE CORE

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• Globalisation and knowledge economies

• Sustained economic growth in the South

• Promises of increased aid

• Inequality worsening

The shifting EFA context

Big trends:

• Over 30 civil conflicts, all in low-income countries• Natural disasters – Indian Ocean tsunami• HIV/AIDS: child orphans, teacher shortage and

absenteeism• Fertility still high in regions with greatest EFA

challenge• Rapid expansion of secondary education

Education under stress:

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Expanding secondary education

The number of secondary school students has risen four times faster than that of primary school students since

1998Gross enrolment ration in secondary education (%)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

World ArabStates

Central andEasternEurope

CentralAsia

East Asiaand thePacif ic

LatinAmericaand the

Caribbean

NorthAmerica

andWesternEurope

South andWest Asia

Sub-SaharanAfrica

1990

2002

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Overall progress

Countries far from meeting the goals, including 16 in sub-Saharan Africa

The EFA Development Index covers 123 countries and incorporates the four most “quantifiable” EFA

goals

28

49

46

EDI

0.95-1.00

0.80-0.94

less than 0.80

Countries have achieved the goals or are close to doing so

Countries in intermediate position.

In these countries, quality of education is an issue, especially in Latin America, and adult literacy in the Arab States.

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• Slow global progress: in the majority of countries, GER in pre-primary education is still below 50%

• Children from disadvantaged backgrounds more likely to be excluded

• Attendance rates considerably higher for urban children than those living in rural areas

• Theme of 2007 EFA Global Monitoring Report

A strong influence on future school performance, a positive impact on girls’ enrolment in

primary

Early childhood care and education

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Universal primary education• Sharp enrolment increases in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

• About 100 million children still not enrolled in primary school -- 70% in Sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia

• 67 countries at risk of not achieving UPE by 2015 -- in 23 net enrolment ratios are declining

• Over 80 countries still charge fees

Out-of-primary school children by region (in millions), 2002

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Central Asia Latin Americaand the

Caribbean

NorthAmerica and

WesternEurope

Central andEasternEurope

Arab States East Asiaand thePacif ic

South andWest Asia

Sub-SaharanAfrica

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• Considerable progress in countries with lowest gender parity index

• 94 countries will miss 2005 gender parity target

• Disparities at primary level in over 60 countries are nearly always at the expense of girls

• At secondary level, boys under represented in 56 countries

Gender Parity

Gender parity index (F/M), 2002

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

Sub-Saharan Africa

Arab States South/WestAsia

Central /EasternEurope

Latin America/Caribbean

Central Asia

East Asia/Pacific

N. America/ W. Europe

primary

secondary

Gender parity

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0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2

World

South/West Asia

Arab States

Sub-Saharan Africa

East Asia/Pacif ic

Centr/East. Europe

Latin America/ Caribbean

N. America/West. Europe

Central Asia

Gender parity

Gender parity index (F/M), 2002

771 million adults without literacy, 75% live in 12 countries, 64% are women

Literacy and adult learning

D. R. Congo1.2%

Morocco1.3%

Brazil1.9%

Nigeria2.9%

Bangladesh6.8%

China11.3%

India34.6%

Pakistan6.2%

Rest of the world

25.0%

Iran, Isl. Rep.1.4%

Ethiopia2.8%

Indonesia2.4%

Egypt2.2%

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Literacy: what direct testing shows

• CONVENTIONAL statistics: based on indirect assessments (official census figures rely

on self-assessments or years of schooling)

• DIRECT assessments give policy-makers a more accurate picture of needs

Several countries (eg. Brazil, Botswana, China, Lao PDR, Morocco, U.R. Tanzania) have conducted direct assessments. All show that individuals overestimate their literacy skills

• Direct assessments suggest that the global literacy challenge is much greater

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• Drop-out: in 41 out of 133 countries with data, less than two-thirds of primary school pupils reach the last grade

• Large classrooms: pupil-teacher ratios on the rise in countries where education has expanded rapidly.

• Lack of teacher training and poor teacher conditions of service hinder learning in many low-income countries.

• Instructional time: few countries reach recommended 850-1,000 hours/year

In many low-income countries more than one third of children have limited reading skills even after

four to six years in school

Education quality

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Reading scoresChanges between Sacmeq 1 and 2

Mauritius

Kenya

Average

Zanzibar (U.R. Tanzania)

ZambiaNamibia

Malawi

400

420

440

460

480

500

520

540

560

SACMEQ I 1995-1996 SACMEQ II 2000-2001

Mea

n sc

ores

in re

adin

g

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Argentina

Brazil

Chile

Indonesia

Peru

AustraliaAustria

Belgium

Canada

Czech Rep.Denmark

Finland

FranceGermany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

JapanRep. of Korea

Mexico

Norway

PolandPortugal

Spain

SwedenUK

USA

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

0 10 000 20 000 30 000 40 000 50 000 60 000 70 000 80 000 90 000

Cumulative education expenditure per pupil (PPP US$)

Ave

rage

com

bine

d lit

erac

y sc

ore

Students in countries that invest more in education tend to have better literacy skills. In high-income states, the impact

of additional resources is less clear

National resources: finance and quality

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• 6% of GNP recommended on education spending not reached in majority of countries

• Public spending on education as share of national income increased between 1998 and 2002 in two-thirds of countries with data

• Education spending insufficient in countries where access and quality remain a top challenge (under 4% in in the majority of countries in Central Asia, South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa).

• Literacy typically receives less than 1% of national education budgets

• Efficiency of spending is an issue

Public spending: making education a national priority

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• 60% bilateral aid still going to post-secondary education.

• Total estimated annual external aid to education required to reach UPE of reasonable quality by 2015: $7 billion

• Bilateral and multilateral aid to basic education = $2.1 billion.

• New pledges could increase aid to $3.3 billion. A large funding gap remains.

• Aid is not going to regions where EFA challenge is greatest and countries with lowest EDI index.

• Fast Track Initiative: a key coordinating mechanism endorsed by G8 but resources so far raised are very small compared with requirements.

International commitments

The Dakar Pledge: No country seriously committed to

education will be thwarted by lack of resources

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• Strong leading role by government – political commitment at highest levels to all EFA dimensions, including literacy and ECCE

• Act on obstacles to education – especially fees

• Recognize critical role of teachers: numbers, women teachers, training, conditions of service

• Build literate societies to encourage literacy for all

• Education as a societal project – engage civil society

• Assure policy continuity over time

EFA: Policy pillars

A holistic strategy is essential: all the goals, for children, youth and adults

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• Clear frameworks: Coordinate public, private and civil society programs

• Literacy educators: Adequate pay, professional status and training

• Budget for youth and adult literacy programs: integrate literacy into education sector planning

• Curricula that build on learners’ motivations and demands

• Language policy: start in mother tongue, smooth transition to learning in regional and official languages

Literacy: A three-pronged approach

1. Universal quality basic education for girls and boys

2. Scale up youth and adult literacy programs

3. Develop rich literate environments

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Setting Priorities for Action

1. All 6 EFA goals, plus lower secondary and literate environments

2. UPE: eliminate fees, inclusion policies

3. Gender parity: renew commitment

4. Quality at all levels: teachers, school health and nutrition

5. Literacy: move up on agenda, individual skills and literate societies; a lead government responsibility

6. Public finance: continue to increase, address inefficiency

7. Aid: double to basic education, focus on need, analytical and knowledge support

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Accelerating the pace of change

• 100 million children out of school

• Girls: highly unequal chances

• Education quality too low

• 771+ million adults without literacy skills

• Rights denied

• Human potential lost

• Economic growth slowed

• Poverty persists

• Societies less participatory

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EFA Global Monitoring Report

EFA Global Monitoring Report Teamc/o UNESCO

7, place de Fontenoy75352 Paris 07

France

efareport@unesco.orgwww.efareport.unesco.org