Global Education Digest UNESCO

8/8/2019 Global Education Digest UNESCO

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global education digest 2004

Comparing Education Statistics Across the World

UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal, 2004


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UNESCO

The consti tut ion of the Unit ed Nations Educational, Scientif ic and Cult ural Organization (UNESCO)

was adopt ed by 20 countr ies at t he London Conf erence in November 1945 and ent ered int o eff ect on

4 November 1946. The Organizat ion current ly has 190 Member States and six Associate M embers.

The main obj ecti ve of UNESCO is to contribut e to peace and securit y in t he wo rld by promoti ng

collaboration among nations through education, science, culture and communication in order t o f oster

universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights and fundamental freedoms that are

affirmed f or t he peoples of the w orld, wit hout distinction o f race, sex, language or religion, by theCharter of t he United Nations.

To fulfill its mandate, UNESCO performs five principal functions: 1) prospective studies on education,

science, cult ure and communication fo r t omorrow s world; 2) the advancement, t ransfer and sharing

of knowledge through research, training and teaching activities; 3) standard-setting actions for the

preparation and adoption of internal instruments and statutory recommendations; 4) expertise

through technical co-operation to Member Stat es for their development policies and proj ects; and

5) the exchange of specialized inf ormat ion.

UNESCO is headquart ered in Paris, France.

The UNESCO Inst it ut e for Stat ist ics

The UNESCO Inst it ut e for Stati sti cs (UIS) is the stati st ical of f ice of UNESCO and is the UN deposit ory

fo r gl obal stat isti cs in t he f ields of educati on, science and t echnology, cult ure and communication.

UIS was established in 1999. It was created t o improve UNESCOs statist ical programme and to develop

and deliver the timely, accurate and policy-relevant statistics needed in todays increasingly complex

and rapid ly changing social, polit ical and economic environments.

UIS is based in M ont real, Canada.

Publ ished in 2004 by

UNESCO Instit ut e f or Stati st ics

P.O. Box 6128, Succursale Centre-Vi lle

Mont real, Quebec H3C 3J7

Canada

Tel: (1 514) 343-6880

Fax: (1 514) 343-6882

Email: [email protected]

http://www.uis.unesco.org

ISBN: 92-9189-007-3

UIS 2004

Design: JCNicholls Design

Print ing: St . Joseph Print Group

Phot o credit s: UNESCO: D.Roger, A.Abb, A.Jonqu ires, A.Gillet te, I.Forbes

Ref: UIS/SD/04-01


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3

FOREWORD

This digest is the second in an annual series produced by t he UNESCO

Insti tu te for Statisti cs (UIS). In our f irst issue we high lig ht ed the

import ance of data in inform ing t he development of education

poli cy wi th in count ries - a key step towards the achievement of

quality education f or all children t hroughout the w orld. The UIS

strives to help countries collect timely data of integrity which

meet t he dual requi rements of relevance to national pol icies and

compliance with international data standards. This will permit

regional and global pictures to be drawn and cross-national

comparisons to be made. Improving the quality of education

statistics takes time since many of the statistics can only be

collected as by-products of sound administrative systems which

are oft en under-resourced. Noneth eless, we believe that this

digest represents a sign if icant improvement since last year in terms

of coverage, t imeliness, international comparabili ty and validi ty. We

shall stri ve for continued improvements th rough our collaborationswith t he national stat isti cians - to w hom w e are very grateful - and

our partner agencies.

The digest utilises data from surveys and school assessments,

alongside statistics emanating from the administrative systems.

Data are repo rt ed f or the schoo l years 2000/01 and 2001/02, and

the accompanying CD-Rom (in English and French) also includes

selected data and ind icators for the t wo preceding school years:

1998/99 and 1999/2000. The UIS aims to incorporate other data

sources which would help to provide a fuller picture of the global

education system. We are also very interested in feedback on thisdigest so t hat we can improve i ts relevance to education researchers

and pol icy-makers.

In each issue of the digest , we include a topic of current import ance

in relation to global education statistics, and this time we look

beyond primary education to consider part icipation at lat er stages

of schoo lin g. The last decade has w it nessed substant ial g row th in


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educat ional par t ic ipat ion across th e w or ld ,

part icularly in Af rica and Sout h America.

Nevert heless, inequi t ies persist and are a cause

of concern in both developing or developed

coun tr ies. Alt hough a chil d t oday can expect t o

receive 9.3 years of schooling at primary and

secondary level, t here i s considerabl e variat ion

across the world. In high-performing countries,

another 2.5 years participation in t ertiary education

can be added, whereas in Af rica the average t ime

spent in tert iary education remains marginal. Thus

a child of school entrance age in Finland, New

Zealand or Norway can expect to receive a tot al of

over 17 years of education; almost double that in

Bangladesh or Myanmar, and f our t imes as much as

in Niger o r Burkina Faso.

The problem is even worse than i t appears at f irst

sight because school life expectancy overstates

the achievements in countries where children

repeat grades. More than 10% of pupils are

repeating grades in 35 countries at the primary

level and i n 38 count ries at the secondary l evel.

Thus considerable proportions of already scarce

resources are being spent on children who are

repeating g rades.

The analysis also shows that the expected years of

schooling are highly, but not perfectly, correlated

wi th t he national income of a count ry. Inequalities

in access to education occur within, as well as

between, countries and we address the key

quest io n as to whet her longer dura t i on o f

schooling translates int o greater part icipation rates.

It is important to assess countries progress in

relatio n, not only to the glo bal goals, but also t o

their professed national standards. We present

in fo rmat ion on the na t iona l s tandards fo r

comp ulsory education in order to judge the extent

to wh ich countries are meeting t heir ow n goals.

We hope that the range of arti cles in t he annual

digests will serve to st imulate more detailed

analysis of the data presented in order that we

may, together with our readers, strengthen the

foundat ions for evidence-based education policies.

Denise Lievesley

Directo r, UNESCO Inst it ut e for Stat ist ics


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CONTENTS

Foreword 3

Contents 5

Acknowledgements 6

Beyond Universal Primary Educat ion 7

Readers Guide 35

Stat istical Tables 39

1. Pre-primary educat ion: Enrolment and staf f 40

2. Pr imary educat ion : In take rates and total enro lment 50

3. Primary educat ion: Enrolment rates and staf f 60

4. Measures of progression, complet ion and 70

school life expectancy

5. Secondary educat ion: Enrolment 80

6. Secondary educat ion: St aff , t ransit ion rat es and 90

post-secondary non-tertiary enrolment

7. Tertiary education: Enrolment and staff 100

8. Number of foreign students in tertiary by hosting 110

country

9. Ter t iary educat ion: Graduates by f ield of educat ion 112

10. Education expendit ure: Spending as % of gross 122

domestic product and by nature

11. Education expendit ure: Sources as % of gross 132

domest ic product

Annexes

A. Glossary 143

B. Def init ions of Indicators 147

C. Internat ional Standard Classi f icat ion of Educat ion 149(ISCED97)

D. Regions 152


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ACKNOWLEDGEM ENTS

This Global Education Digest is based on data provided by the

count ries or t erritor ies covered in th is publication. We would like

to express our gratitude to all those statisticians who, in each

count ry and territ ory, took the time to respond to the UIS or UOE

questionnaires as well as our requests for clarification, for their

participation in regional workshops, and for their comments and

suggesti ons concerning the cont ent of th is publication. We w ould

also like to express our thanks to the international organizations,

in parti cular t he Unit ed Nations Statisti cs and Populat ion Divisions,

the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OECD), Eurostat and other specialised institutions,

that supplied additional inf ormation and stat isti cs to complement

those gathered direct ly by t he UIS.

The publication was coordinated by Rosario Garca Caldern and

Jens Johansen, under t he di rect ion of Alison Kennedy.

The overview chapter was prepared by Michael Bruneforth (lead

author) and Albert M ot ivans.

Special t hanks go t o the survey operations team that has worked t o

improve and revise the educati on database since the publication

of the f irst Global Education Digest: Catherine Blanger,

Marcela Chiang-Sam Garduo, Monica Githaiga, Tin Nam Ho,

Sirin a Kerim-Dikeni, Weixin Lu, Lucy Hong M ei, John Pacif ico,

Zahia Salmi, Ioulia Sementchouk, Anuja Singh and Sad Ould Voffal.

The production of the publication was coordinated by Katja

Frostell and the production of the CD-ROM by Brian Buffett. Other

impor tant input and cont ribut ions were provided by Sad

Belkachla, Csar Guadalupe, Ivan Guentchev, Adriano Miele,

Sawsan Nehme, Leticia Rubello, M amadou Thiam, Yanhong Zhang,

and ot her staff of the UIS.


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BEYOND UNIVERSALPRIM ARY EDUCATION

I. Introduction

The demand for high quality and timely international data on

education systems has risen markedly in the last decade. At the

int ernatio nal level, this demand has been driven by the need t o

moni tor progress towards the international education targets found

in the Education f or All goals (EFA) and the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs), which relate to access to and complet ion of education ,

gender parity and good learning out comes for all children. At t he

national level, policy-makers increasingly require a range of

indicators that provide dif ferent types of informat ion about

educati onal access, quali ty and out comes that are comparable bu t

also sensit ive t o change in local cont exts (UNESCO Inst it ut e f orStat isti cs, 2003).

One of the key global education goals for governments is to

reach universal primary education(UPE), or pr imary education fo r

all, by th e year 2015. A principal aim o f prim ary education is to

equip ind ividuals wit h t he basic lit eracy and numeracy skill s th at

t hey need t o develop ind ividuall y and to f unction in society. To

achieve th is most count ries have adopt ed a curri culum of fi ve or

six years of primary schooling which is considered a sufficient

period t o att ain th ese objectives before making the t ransiti on t o

mor e diversif ied and speciali sed education at the secondary level.

At the same time, for many countries developing educational

systems beyond p rim ary schoo ling is essent ial. The expansion of

learning opportunities at the secondary level addresses key

constraints to sustainable development by promoting higher-level

skills and higher rates of return to both individual and societal


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secondary education , alongside prog ress tow ards

int ernational education targets. Most count ries in

the world have adopted national legal regulations

or policy statements that make at least some

secondary education compulsory for all children.

Assessing progress towards national standards

raises awareness of government commit ment s and

holds governments responsible for setting and

maint aining these standards.

The analyses presented here rely primarily on

stat ist ics and ind icat ors draw n f rom t he regular

reporting of administrative data from Member

States to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).

Data from complementary sources, such as inter-

nat ional household surveys and student assessment

programmes, are also presented in order to bett er

reflect school progression and learning out comes.

II. Diverse pat ter ns in part icipat ionand school careers

School life expectancy: A summary measure of

school participation

Parti cipat ion in schoo ling is typically represented

by an enrolment rate. These rates are usually

presented separately for each cycle of education

and can reflect both the capacity of education

systems (Tables 1, 3, 5, 7) and coverage of the

population (Tables 1, 3).

The indicator school l i fe expectancy (SLE)

provides anot her perspecti ve by combi ning t he

enrolment rates in pr imary, secondary andtertiary education w hile min imising t he structu ral

d i f f e rences be tween na t iona l educa t iona l

systems. The ind icator t rans lates cur rent

enrolment patt erns across education levels into the

number of years of schooling that, on average,

individuals can expect to receive. (For more

details on t he calculati on and int erpretati on of

SLE, see Box 1).

investments in education (Lewin and Caillods,

2001). Likewi se, an internat ional t ask fo rce on

higher educat ion in developing count ries suggests

that expanding educational oppor tunit ies can lead

to income growt h, skilled labour poo ls, expanding

choices and increasingly relevant skills that can

help promote development (IBRD/World Bank,

2000). As show n in a recent st udy of long -term

economic growth in a group of middle-income

coun t ries, f aster rates of g row th were associated

with increases in human capital, and countries

which experienced more rapid growth had more

developed secondary and tertiary systems at the

outset (UNESCO Inst it ut e f or Stat istics/OECD, 2003).

Mo reover, young people who do not continue t o

secondary education often face a high risk for

exclusion in l ater adu lt lif e and, in less developed

countries, low rates of secondary provision may

even dampen demand f or educati onal pr ovision

at t he primary level. This overview shows that n o

country meets the goal of universal primary

en r o lmen t w i t hou t some c r i t i ca l mass o f

secondary participation. Others have also noted

that n o count ry has reached UPE w it hou t at least

35% secondary net enro lment (Clemens, 2004).

This overview looks beyond pr imary educati on t o

the p rovision of low er and upp er secondary

education throughout the world. I t examines

secondary alongside of primary education in

terms of school life expectancy, a cumulative

measure o f par t i c ipa t ion tha t re f lec ts the

number of years that a child can expect to be

enrolled in school. Cumulative measures of

pa r t i ci pa t i on a r e impo r t an t because t hey

provide a wider perspective of progress and

highli ght pol icy links across dif f erent levels of theeducational system. They also f orecast p ot ent ial

levels of educational attainment in the future,

and th us, the st ock of human capit al among t he

population.

Additionally, this overview examines progress

to w ards nat io nal standards for compu lsory

educat ion, which of ten inc lude par t o f the


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Beyond Universal Primary Education

9

levels are more than f our t imes higher t han in t he

count ries with t he low est levels. Children in Burkina

Faso, Djibouti and Niger can expect to receive less

than four years of schooling compared to almost

13 years in South Africa and Tunisia. In Asia, the

range in school l if e expectancy among count ries is

also large: schooling in the countries with the

longest expectancy lasts on average twice as long

as in t hose wi th the shor test .

Some of t he most sig nif icant di ff erences are

found in the average amount of time spent in

tert iary educatio n. The average t ime t hat young

people can expect in t ertiary educati on (including

those who never study) is more than 30 times

Figure 1 shows the range of expected number of

years spent in primary, secondary and tertiary

educat ion in s ix

regions. Although t his

ind ica to r i s no t

avai lab le for many

countries, due to the

lack of t erti ary educa-

tion data, this figure

provides some idea of

the range of school

expectancy across the

wor ld . D i f fe rences

with in regions are cons iderable. In Af r ica,

countries with the highest school life expectancy

A child in Finland, New

Zealand or Norway can

expect t o r eceive over

17 years of educat ion,

a lmos t tw ice as much

as in Bang ladesh o r

Myanmar, or four t imes as

much as in N iger and

Burk ina Faso

School Life Expectancy (SLE) is defined as the total

number of years of school ing that a child at age 4 can

expect to receive in the future, assuming that the

probabilit y of enrolment in school at any parti cular

age is equal to t he current enrolment rate f or t hat

age. It indicates the average duration of schooling,

not the number of grades reached. It can also be

defin ed as the average number of years wh ich a child

is likely to spend in the educational system. Since

school l if e expectancy is an average, there is variat ion

in the number of years of schooling; e.g. there are

those childr en who never go to school and those who

spend up t o 14 years in t he system.

The concept of school life expectancy is very similar to

that of lif e expectancy. Life expectancy estimates the

average number of years a person could expect to live

if current mort ality t rends were to continue. In a similar

manner, school l if e expectancy predicts the number of

years of schooling children will experience, given

current rates of enrolment. Although it does not directly

forecast the educational attainment of the population,

since it includes repetit ion and drop-out , it can suggest

the potential educational attainment of the future

adult population.

The indicator has two import ant f eatures. First, it allows

comparisons of the size of the student population by

level of education using a common scale: the number

of school years. This allows for comparisons across

countries with different programme durations and

combinat ions of educat ion levels, e.g. primary,

secondary and tertiary. Second, the indicator allows

comparison of post-secondary programmes, where

programmes are more diverse and a common durat ion

period does not exist.

However, as with any average, school lif e expectancy

masks differences within the population. This is

important in countr ies where not all children participate

in school, especially at secondary and tertiary levels,

where participation is more limited.

Years spent repeat ing grades is also included in schoo l

lif e expectancy and should be taken into account when

interpret ing this indicator. Therefore, the indicator does

not represent the average number of grade levels

completed. In fact, in systems with high levels of

repetit ion at the primary level, the SLE fo r prim ary

alone can exceed the theoretical duration of the

primary cycle. School li fe expectancy expresses the years

spent in education, but not the number of grades

successfully completed, nor does it imply learning

achievement. The issue of repetit ion and it s impact on

school l if e expectancy indicators is discussed furt her in

a subsequent sect ion .

BOX 1. WHAT IS SCHOOL LIFE EXPECTANCY?


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greater in the ten countries with the highest

participation rates compared to the ten with the

lowest. In the high-performing count ries, more than

2.5 years of an average school career is due to

part icipation in tertiary studies. This is the case in

Argent ina, Bermuda, Canada, and t he United States

in the Americas; Israel, Japan and Macao (China) in

Asia; Finland, the Netherlands, Norw ay and Spain in

Europe; New Zealand in Oceania; and in 20 other

countries, not shown in Figure 1. An important

exception to this is Africa, where the amount oftime spent in tert iary education remains marginal

even in countries with longer school li fe expectancy.

Tunisia and South Africa are the only countries in

the region where school lif e expectancy att ributable

to tertiary educat ion exceeds one year.

Data on tertiary education, however, are not available

for many countries. By looking at the expected

number of school years for

primary and secondary levels

a lone, i t is poss ib le to

improve coverage f rom

133 to 179 countries, which

represents almost 94% of the

worlds population.

On average, a child ent ering

school today can expect tospend 9.3 years in primary

and secondary education (see

Figure 2) . The average

number of years (weighted

by population) that a child

can expect to be enrolled at

primary and secondary levels

is above 12 years in Europe,

South America and Oceania,

and just o ver 11 years in

North America. Children inAsia can expect to spend less time in school; on

average, nine years.

Figure 2. Average school life expectancy in years by region, 2001

Source: UNESCO Insti tut e for Stat istics, Table 4.

Notes: Data for 38 countries refer to 2000, and for 7 countries to 1999.

Regional averages are weighted by the population of children approaching

primary school entry (5 years of age). Annex D provides the country groupings

used t o calculate regio nal averages.

Prim ary- Primary -Secondary Terti ary

Countries Population (%) Countries Population (%)

Africa 7.6 7.8 49 / 53 89.4 29 / 53 38.4

North America 11.2 14.3 27 / 31 95.4 13 / 31 86.2

South America 12.1 13.7 12 / 12 100.0 9 / 12 91.7Asia 8.9 9.9 47 / 50 99.2 38 / 50 90.0

Europe 12.4 15.4 37 / 44 99.4 37 / 44 99.4

Oceania 12.4 m 9 / 17 95.0 7 / 17 61.5

World 9.3 10.8 179 / 207 93.6 133 / 207 80.0

Average school lif eexpectancy (years)

Coverage

Primary - Secondary Prim ary - Tert iary

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Tunisia

SouthAfrica

Mauritius

Namibia

(19othercountries)

(29othercountries)

(25othercountries)

(7othercountries)

(5othercountries)

Angola1

Djibouti

BurkinaFa

so

Niger

Canada1

U.S.A.

Bermuda1

Neth.Antilles

ElSalvador

CostaRica

Argentina

Uruguay

Venezuela

Colombia

Israel

Macao

Japan

China

,HongKong

India1

LaoP.D

.R.

Bangladesh

Myanm

ar

Finland1

Norway1

Netherlands1

Denmark1

Romania1

Macedonia

,FYR

1

Albania1

Moldova

NewZe

aland

TongaNiue

Samoa

Vanuatu

Averageschoollifeexpectancyinyears

Primary and secondary education Tertiary and post-secondary non-tertiary education

Africa NorthAmerica SouthAmerica Asia Europe Oceania

Figure 1. How long can children expect to stay in education, from primary to

tertiary education?

Average school lif e expectancy in years for count ries wit h t he longest and shortest expectancy by region, 2001

Source: UNESCO Instit ute f or Stat istics, Table 4.

Notes: Count ries are sort ed in descending order wit hin a region. Some OECD/EU count ries are excluded due to

inclusion of adult education. For each region the number of countries with data, though not shown, is indi-

cated on the horizontal axis.

1) Data refer t o 2000.

Overal l , a chi ld today can

expect to spend on average

9 .3 yea r s i n p r ima r y and

secondary education


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Schoollife

e

xpectancy

in

years


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12

Tertiary education has almost no impact on the

overall school life expectancy in Africa. However,

tert iary education adds over one year to school li fe

expectancy in Asia and South America, and over

tw o years in Europe and Nort h America.

Figure 3 provides national data on the number of

years that children can expect, on average, to spend

in primary and secon-

dary educat ion. The

map reveals dramatic

differences across and

within geographic . The

majority of countries

with a short average

dura t ion o f p r imary

and secondary education are found in Af rica, wi th

an average of 7.5 years. In ot her w ords, current ly

a chil d in Af rica wi ll receive on average 4.5 years

less of basic schooling t han a child in Europe or the

Americas, irrespective of the quality of education.

These differences are further exacerbated when

including tertiary education in the comparison.

Furthermore, the gap grows even more when

adjusting for the high rates of repetit ion f ound in

many Af rican count ries.

In a small number of Af rican count ries, school li fe

expect ancy exceeds 11 years: Bot sw ana, Cape

Verde, Gabon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malawi,

Mauri t ius, Namibia, Seychelles, South Af rica, Tunisia

and Uganda. At the other end of the spectrum,

there are countries with less than five years of

school life expectancy, namely Angola, Burkina

Faso, the Central African Republic, Djibout i, Erit rea,

Mali, Niger and the United Republ ic of Tanzania.

In Asia, the range extends from four count ries wit h

levels of school expectancy

exceeding 12 years to countries

with less than seven years (e.g.

M yanmar and Pakist an) . The

lowest school life expectancy in

the world of just over tw o years for

the 2001/02 school year is for

Afghanistan. It is not able that t he

variation in the expected number

of years of schooling among the

47 countr ies in t he Asian region is

smaller than in other developing

regions and more similar to t hat of

Europe or the Ameri cas.

Figure 4 plot s the expected number

of school years of countries against

the level of national wealth, as

measured by Gross Domestic

Product (GDP) per capita. The

expected number of school years in

A child in Africa can expect

to receive, on average, 4.5

fewer years of schooling

than a child in Europe or

the Americas

Viet Nam

UzbekistanUganda

Tajikistan

Nepal

Malawi

Lesotho

Djibouti

Cameroon

Bolivia

Angola

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000

GDP per capita in US$ PPP

Averageschoollifeexpectancyinyea

rs

low-middlelow income middle-high high

Sources: UNESCO Instit ute f or Stat istics, Table 4 . World Bank 2003.

Coverage: 147 countries, 94% of the w orld population (including high-income countries not shown).

Notes: Only countries wit h a GDP per capita under US$ PPP 19,000 are shown. Countries are classified by income

group s on th e basis of GDP per capita in US$ converted using purchasing pow er parit y (PPP). Countries are

group ed by i ncome quart iles. The GDP per capita of low -income countr ies is below US$ PPP 2,055, low-

middl e income count ries fall bet ween US$ PPP 2,055 and 5,415, high-mid dle income count ries fall bet ween

US$ PPP 5,415 and 11,010 and high-income count ries exceed th is value. This groupi ng d iff ers from the

World Bank method , wh ich is based on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita in US$ converted using

market exchange rat es.

Figure 4. How does the expected duration of schooling relate to national

wealth?

Average school li fe expect ancy for pri mary and secondary edu catio n and GDP per capit a in US$ PPP, 2001

Only two low-income countries

achieve 11 years of education,

but almost every high-income

count ry does


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13

primary and secondary education is positively

related to the level of national wealth. While out

of the 37 low-income count ries only tw o count ries,

Malawi and Uganda, have a schoo l li fe expectancy

of at least 11 years, all but two high-income

count ries exceed this level.

Among low-income countries, the average duration

of schooling is less than seven years for 21 out of

37 countries. Only five countries (Cameroon,

Malawi, Nepal, Tajik istan and Uganda) exceed the

global average duration of nine years.

Figure 4 also f eatures count ries that do no t fo llow

this patt ern. Some count ries have achieved high

levels of schoo l l if e expectancy despit e low levels

of national wealth, while others fail to keep

children in schoo l f or as long as one w ould expect

given t heir n ational income level. For example,

Angola and Djibouti have similar

levels of per capita income as

Bolivia, Lesotho, Uzbekistan and

Viet Nam; however, the average

duration of schooling in the former

group (4 years or less) is not even

half the level of t he latt er group

of coun t ries (10 years and mor e).

There is little doubt that national

wealth partly determines levels of

investment in human capi ta l ,

indicated here by the duration ofschooling. However, the level of

national income does not com-

pletely account for the current

school li fe expectancy. Several ot her

variables enter the equation in

determining school lif e expectancy.

It may take years, if not decades,

unti l the youth educated today fully

contr ibute to the prosper ity of their country

(Hanushek, 2002). Therefore, comparing current

education indicators with national income does

not directly show the return on investments in

educat ion . Nevertheless, it can shed l igh t on how

count r ies d i f fer in terms of invest ing the i r

availab le resources.

Changes in school participation

The period f rom 1990-2001 w it nessed substant ial

g r o w t h i n p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n e d u c a t i o n . A

comparison of school life expectancy levels in

1990 and 2001 reveals

increased part ic ipa-

t ion in p r imary and

secondary education

in every region of t he

world (see Figure 5).

Expected years of schooling are

re lated t o nat ion al income but

wealth i s not the only determinant

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Asia(41/50)

SouthAmerica(11/12)

NorthAmerica

(14/31)

Africa(39/53)


Median

20011990

25% of countrieshave shorterexpectancy




Figure 5. How has participation in education evolved in the last decade?Distr ibut ion of countri es by average school lif e expectancy for primary and secondary educati on, by regio n, 1990 and 200

Sources: UNESCO Institu te f or Statistics, Table 4 (f or 2001), UNESCO Stat istical Yearbook, 1998 (GER for 1990).

Coverage: 105 countri es, 57% of t he world pop ulati on. Coverage of countries by region in parant heses. Only count ries

whi ch allow direct compari son despite changes in coverage and classif ication b etw een 1990 and 2001 are

included. The European and the Oceania regions are excluded because of the limited number of countries

providing comparable data.

Notes: School life expectancy is estimated on the basis of gross enrolment ratio to allow for comparison with data for

1990, whi ch are based on gro ss enrolm ent r atio.

Data refer to: 2000 for 7 countries and 1999 for 4 countries.

The last decade wit nessed

subs tan t ia l g rowth ineducational participation

across the world


15/154


14

Count ries in Af r ica

and South America

had the greatest

increase in participa-

tion. In both regions

the median school

life expectancy rose

by about 1.5 years.

In Africa and Asia, it appears that countries

laggin g behind m ade the g reatest prog ress over

the decade. In South Amer ica, the overa l l

increase in the years of schooli ng since 1990 was

accompan ied by g rea te r var ia t ion among

count r ies. In Sout h America, thi s dif ference

betw een countr ies increased by m ore t han a year.In Asia and North America, the trend w as towards

a more even distri but ion among countries, where

th e dif ference lessened betw een those count ries

w it h t he low est school l if e expectancy and those

with t he highest.

Several factors can lead to changes in enrolment

rates and thus affect school life expectancy. Theseinclude changes in repetit ion rates, where a

reducti on in repeti tion can lead to f ewer average

years of school ing. In this case, a decrease in school

life expectancy would actually reflect a positive

t rend a more effi cient educati onal system.

Figure 6 provides data on school life expectancy

in Af rica. In three out of four Afr ican count ries

providing data, school life expectancy increased

by more than 0.3 years from 1990 to 2001. A

number of count ries show dramatic growt h, forexample, an i ncrease of more t han t wo years in

Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Mali, Maurit ania, Morocco,

Rwanda and Tunisia; more than three years in

Benin and Guinea; and overfour years in Malawi and

Uganda. Improvements

wer e no t ed no t on l y

among count r ies tha t

started from low partici-

pat ion rates, such as Mali

and Gu inea, bu t a lso

among countr ies where

rates of participation w ere

already high in 1990, such

as Cape Verde and Tunisia.In contrast , some count ries

showed lit tle or no change,

such as Burundi, t he Cent ral

African Republic, Ghana

and Kenya, and other

countries have fallen below

1990 levels. The number of

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Congo

Namibia

Zimbabw

e

SouthAfrica

Mauritius

Botswana

Tunisia

Swaziland

Algeria

Egypt

CapeVerde

Kenya

Lesotho

Zambia

Cameroon

Ghana

Morocco

Uganda

Comoros

Malawi

Rwanda

Tanzania2 2

Cent.Afr.

Rep

.

Burundi

SierraLe

one1 1

Sudan

Senegal

Angola

Benin

Chad

Mozambique

Mauritania

Djib

outi

Guinea

Ethiopia

BurkinaFa

so

Niger

Mali


20011990

Figure 6. How has participation changed in Africa since 1990?

School lif e expectancy f or pr imary and secondary educatio n in selected countr ies, 1990 and 2001

Sour ces: UNESCO Instit ut e fo r Stat istics, Table 4 (fo r 2001), UNESCO Stat istical Yearboo k, 1998 (GER fo r 1990).

Notes: The countries are ordered in descending school lif e expectancy for 1990.

1) Data refer to 2000.


The greatest increase in

participation took place in

Af rica and Sout h America,

where the median school

li fe expectancy increased by

1.5 years

The average duration of

schooling increased by over

two years since 1990 in at

least 11 Af rican count ries


16/154


15

years of schooling that children in Zambia and

Zimbabwe can expect in 2001 is one year less

t han it was in 1990. The most dramati c sit uati on

is found in the Congo, which had the highest

level of primary t o secondary enrolment in Af rica

in 1990. Schoo l li f e expectancy dropp ed by over

four years between 1990 and 2001.

Figure 7 presents the

change in the absolut e

numbers of pr imary

and secondary s tu-

dents between 1998

and 2001. The change

in t he abso lu t e number s o f s t uden t s

re f lec ts t rends in supp ly and demand fo r

educat ional services. Monit oring and forecasti ng

changes in t he number of student s is import ant in

order to e f fec t ive ly

manage the expansion

or contraction o f educa-

tional systems. Figure 7

presents the relat ionship

betw een t he percentage

change of primary and

t ha t o f seconda r y

students. Countries are

d i v i d e d i n t o t h r e e

groups accord ing to

1998 data: those that

are far f rom reaching

UPE, wi th net enrolment

rates below 80%; those

w i t h n e t e n r o l m e n t

rates above 80% but

below 95%, and those

that exceeded 95%, the

benchmark f or UPE.

Th e maj o r i t y o f

countries experienced

growth at both educa-

tion levels; up to a 45%

increase at the primary

level and up to a 60%

increase at the

secondary level. Lower rates of change at the

pr imary leve l were o f ten re la ted to la rger

absolut e change in t he number of stu dent s.

Increases in primary enrolment typi cally occurred

in t andem w it h increases in secondary enrolment .

This held true for countries with low levels of

primary enrolment as

we l l as fo r those

nearing UPE. Meeting

demand for pr imary

educat i on can spur

greate r demand fo r

schoo l i ng a t t he

secondary level. The

costs of expanding educational opportunity go

beyond meet ing UPE goals and imply t he creation

of additi onal opport unit ies at the secondary level.

-20

0

20

40

60

-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50

% change in primary enrolment

%c

hangeinsecondaryenrolment

Net enrolment rate: 95%Net enrolment rate:


17/154


16

Repet it ion and school lif e expectancy

School lif e expectancy (like gross enrolment rati os)

captur es th e volume

rather than the distri-

but ion of school years.

Thus it is import ant t o

also assess indicators

tha t measure the

efficiency of a school

system, in particular, the number of years accrued

through the repetition of grades.

Figure 8 presents the percen tage o f pup i ls

current ly repeating grades in p rimary compared

to secondary schoo-

l ing , and i l lus t ra tes

substanti al dif f erences

b e t w e e n t h e t w o .

Repet i t ion does not

exist in 23 out of 161

count r ies fo r wh ich

data are available at t he prim ary level, and in 24

out of 158 coun t ries at t he second ary level, since

policies of automatic promot ion t ypically do not

allow gr ade repetit ion. Overall, the proport ion of

repeaters does not exceed 5% at either level fo r

70 in 147 count ries report ing data fo r bot h levels.

For those countr ies with small or moderate

overall repetit ion levels, the p roport ions tend to

b e s l i g h t l y h i g h e r f o rsecondary students.

Additionally, Figure 8 shows

dramat ica l ly h igh levels ,

especial ly f or many Af r icancount ries. In 35 count ries, more

than 10% of students currentl y

enrolled in primary education

are repeaters. At the secondary

level this occurs in 38 countr ies.

Whil e repeating grades is more

common in secondary educa-

t ion, the higher proport ions

are in primary education. In

Gabon, Madagascar and

Rwanda, one in three studentsin p r imary educat ion is a

repeater.

The percentage of repeaters can

be translated in to the expected

number of years repeating a

grade, which is related to the

school li fe expectancy indicator.

Rwanda

Gabon

Madagascar

Comoros

Sao Tome and Principe

Chad

Congo

BurundiGuinea-Bissau

Mozambique

Togo

Nepal

Brazil

GuineaBenin

Lao People's Democratic Republic

Lesotho

Burkina Faso

Eritrea

Montserrat

Swaziland

Malawi

Algeria

Guatemala

MauritaniaSenegal

Cape Verde

Namibia

Bhutan

Netherlands Antilles

Morocco

Iraq

DjiboutiPeru

Tunisia

Uruguay

South Africa

Lebanon

Niger

Aruba

EthiopiaMacao

ZambiaDominica

Mauritius

Kuwait

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

% of repeaters in primary education

%o

frepeatersinsecondarye

ducation

Above this line:higher % of repeaters

in secondary

Below 5% at both levels:70 of 147 countries

Below this line:higher % ofrepeaters in

primary

Source: UNESCO Instit ute for Statistics, Tables 3 and 6.

Coverage: 147 countries, 61% of the world population.

Note: Countries with over 10% of repeaters in at least one level are labelled.

Figure 8. How do students progress through the system?

Percentage of repeaters in prim ary and secondary educatio n, 2001

School l i fe expectancyoverstates educational

outcomes by inc lud ing

grade repetit ion

The p r opo r t i on o f

repeaters does not exceed

5% at either primary or

secondary levels in 70 out

of 147 count ries

In 35 countries, more than

one in ten pupi ls currently

enrolled in primary educat ion

is repeati ng a grade


18/154


17

Figure 9 presents school life

expectancy excluding repeti ti on

and the total number of years

th at ch i ldren can expect to

repeat grades. In 23 countries

children can expect to spend,

on average, more than one year

of their schooling repeating a

grade. In Algeria, Brazil, Gabon,

Rwanda and Togo , chi ldren can

expect to spend two or more

years repeat ing grades.

Furthermore, in Gabon and

Rwanda children can expect to

spend about a third of their t ime

in schoo l repeating a grade.

In mo st count ries, repeating

grades is more common at the

pr imary level. However, in

Algeria, Aruba, Brazil, Macao, South Africa, Tunisia

and Uruguay, most of the grade repetition takes

place in secondary education. In Cape Verde, Congo

and Gabon, repetit ion at the secondary level adds

up t o more than 0.6 years per child, on top of high

propor tions of repeaters in primary.

Even low levels of grade repetit ion can cumulate to

a substantial number of years over the course of

both primary and secondary cycles. For example,

w ith 9% of secondary pupils repeating a grade in

France, an average of 0.7 years are devoted to

grade repetit ion. This is equivalent to more t han

one in two children repeating a year as they pass

through t he secondary education cycle.

The cost of repeti ti on is substant ial. A recent study

est imates that among 15 count ries in Lat in America,

representing over 90% of repetit ion in the region, the

total resources needed is equivalent to

US$ PPP 11.1 billion a year (Bruneforth, M otivans

and Zhang, 2004). The majority of these costs, over

US$ PPP8.3 bill ion, are faced by Brazil, but the share

of costs attributed to repetition is also high in

Argentina and Mexico. In Brazil, t he cost is equal t o

providing one year of school for almost 10 million

secondary students or 2 mil lion universit y student s.

III. Universal Primary Education and

beyond: How long do all children stay

in school?

Since school l if e expectancy provides only the average

number of years of schooling, i t can mask dif ferences

within countries. Countries may share a similar

average school life expectancy, yet in one almost all

children stay in school f or the full duration, while in

another some children stay much longer in school

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Gabo

n

Rwan

daBr

azil

Algeri

a2

Cong

o

Como

ros

Cape

Ver

de

Leso

tho1

Benin

Nepa

l

Tunis

ia

Swaz

iland

Monts

errat

Moza

mbiqu

e

Nami

bia

South

Afric

a1

Urug

uay

Arub

a

Burun

di1

Leba

non

Maca

oPe

ru

Beliz

e1


Years spent repeating primary

Years spent repeating secondary

Years spent in primary and secondary (excluding repetition)

Figure 9. How many school years are expected to be spent repeating grades?

Average school lif e expectancy excluding repeti tio n, and years expected to be spent repeating grades, primary and

secondary education , 2001

Source: UNESCO Insti tut e fo r Stat istics, Table 4. Expected years repeating based on Tables 3 and 6.

Notes: Only countries where the expected t ime repeating over the school career exceeds one year are included. Countries

are sorted in decreasing order of the total time children can expect to repeat grades in primary and secondary

education.



Children in at least 23 countries

can expect to spend more than

one year of th eir education

repeating a grade


19/154


18

than the normal duration while others drop out

early. In assessing how many years of schooling

governments provide,

on average, to each

child, it is also impor-

tant to address the

issue of whether al l

children stay in school

for a common duration. To better understand

access and progression through the educational

system, other types of indicators are needed.

The provision of universal education

Based on the national aggregates of admin istrative

data, it is dif f icult to assess the number of years thatindividual children stay in education. Household

survey data can provide some indication, but only

in terms of older age cohorts who represent the

output of the education system of a decade or so

earlier. One measure of

the current systems

coverage is the number

of s ing le-year age

gr oup s (7-year-old s,

8-year-olds, etc.) where

at l east 85% o f t he

popul ation i s enrolled. Although t he benchmark

for universal participation is a net enrolment

r a t e e q u a l t o 1 0 0 % , t h e c o m b i n a t i o n o f

available population and enrolment data do not

always allow for such precision. Therefore a

lower t hreshol d (85%) is used as a benchmark i n

t his analysis, keeping i n min d th at governments

still need to provide access for children who

remain out of school, who are often the most

diff icult to reach.

Figure 10 ranks count r ies by t he num ber of

single-year age cohorts at which the enrolment

rate exceeds 85% against

school life expectancy.

Not surpr is ing ly , the

number of expected years

of schooling is correlated

wi t h enro lment ra tes.

However, there is also ala rge var ia t ion in t he

distribution of education.

In Swazil and and Oman,

for example, ch i ldren

s tay in schoo l fo r an

average of 9 to 10 years.

However, this level of

expec ted years o f

schooling is achieved

Burkina Faso

Djibouti

Saudi Arabia

Oman

Myanmar

Moldova

Papua New Guinea

Lao P.D.R.

Kenya

Swaziland

Bangladesh

Nicaragua

Grenada

Un.Arab Emirates

GuatemalaMongolia

Kuwait

Italy

Armenia

Paraguay

MalawiSamoa

Vanuatu

Azerbaijan

Mauritius

St. Lucia

Cambodia

Tajikistan

DominicanRep.

Tonga

JamaicaUkraine

BoliviaTunisia

Turks &CaicosIs.

Malaysia

Uruguay

Brazil

BelarusKazakhstan

Argentina

St.Kitts&Nevis

EstoniaSlovakia

Iceland

Netherlands

PolandJapan

Finland

Norway

CzechRepublic

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Number of single-year age groups with age-specific enrolment ratios of at least 85%

Avera

geschoollifeexpectancyinyears

Figure 10. Does a longer duration of schooling translate into more universal education?

Average school lif e expectancy in years for pri mary and secondary education and t he number o f single-year age groups wit h net

enrolment rates of at least 85%, 2001

Source: UNESCO Institute f or Statistics, Table 4.

Coverage: 126 countries, 37% of the world population.

High enrolment rates do

not ensure completion

o f u n i v e r sa l p r i m a r y

education

Count r ies w i t h simi l ar

levels of coverage differ

considerably in how long

they keep all children in

school

In some countries a smal

p ropor t ion o f ch i ld ren

b e n e f i t f r o m a l o n g

education, w hile in ot he

count r ies, enrolment is

more equitably dist ribut ed

among children


20/154


19

wit h near universal (85%) enrolment in only t wo

years of t he off icial school-age population in

Swaziland and never in Oman. Compared to

these two count r ies, Armenia, Azerbai jan,

Cambod ia and Vanuatu have a simi lar nu mber

of expected school years bu t succeed in keepin g

age-specif ic enrolment rates above 85% fo r 6 t o

8 years of th e schoo l-age populat ion . Thus, in

some countries a small proportion of children

benef i t f rom a long educat ion, whi le in the

other countries, enrolment is more equitably

distr i but ed among children.

Figu re 10 also suggests that there is a relat ionship

between the duration of school life expectancy

and reaching 85% coverage for at least s ix

grades. No countr y w it h a school lif e expectancy

of less t han 8.5 years succeeds in enro ll ing more

than 85% of children in school for at least six

consecut ive age cohor t s.

A range of t arget s and standard s have been set,

both globally (e.g. Education for All, M illennium

Development Goals) and regionally (e.g. 75%

seconda r y en r o lmen t f o r 32 coun t r i es

National educati on systems vary in terms of the struc-

ture of programmes, where the duration of primary,

lower and upper secondary cycles can differ. These

dif ferences make compar ison di ff icult since one count ry

may have a nationally-defined primary cycle of three

years while another count ry has a cycle of eight years.

The Int ernational Standard Classif ication of Education

Systems (ISCED97), last revised in 1997, provides a

f ramework f o r improv ing the comparab i l i t y o f

education indicators. Applying t his framework helps

to ensure that basic data on students, teachers, costs,

etc. can be compared across count ries.

Each level of education is def ined in ISCED97 as fol lows:

Primary education (ISCED 1) gives students a sound

basic education in reading, w rit ing and m athemat ics,

along with an elementary understanding of other

subj ects such as history, geography, nat ural science,

social science, art and music. In some cases, religious

instructi on i s feat ured. This level consists of education

provided for children, the customary or legal age of

entrance being no t youn ger th an five years, or olderthan seven years. This level covers in principle six

years of full-time schooling.

Lower secondary education (ISCED 2) consists of

programmes that are usually of a more subject-

orient ed patt ern t aught by more specialised t eachers,

in add it ion to having several teachers conduct classes

in their f ield of specialisation. Source: UNESCO Insti tu te for Statistics/OECD (2003), UNESCO IBE CD-ROM, 2001.

BOX 2. M APPING NATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM S TO AN INTERNATIONAL STANDARD

Upper secondary education (ISCED 3) is considered to be

increasingly specialised and requiring a more qualified

teaching staf f than that at lower secondary. The entrance

age to this level is typically 15 or 16 years. These

programmes typically require the completion of about

9 years of ful l - t ime educat ion f or admission or a

combinat ion of education and other experience.

An example of how a national education system is mapped

to the international classification is given below, using

Chile as an example. Note that in order to allow greater

comparability across countries, a standard of six years is

typically set for ISCED level 1 education. Thus, the mapping

of the system implies the reallocation of stat istical data on

students, teachers, and expenditure from two years of

the second cycle of basic educat ion (grades 5-6) together

wi th the first cycle of basic education (grades 1-4) to create

the int ernat ionally standardised ISCED level 1.

ISCED Mapping for Chile

Age in years Nat ional Programme Grades ISCED Level

4 - 5educacin preescolaro parvularia

6 -9educacin general bsicaprimer ciclo 1-4 1 (primary)

10-11educacin general bsicasegundo ciclo

5 - 6

12 -13 7 -82 (lowersecondary)

14 -15 educacin media 1. Ciclo3 (uppersecondary)16-17 educacin media 2. Ciclo

0 (pre-primary)


21/154


20

parti cipati ng in t he Summ it of th e Americas).

There are a lso const i tu t ional or leg is la t ive

s t a n d a r d s r e l a t e d t o t h e p r o v i s i o n o f

compul sory education at t he natio nal level.

There is str ong evidence t hat uni versal pr imary

e d u c a t i o n a n d a t t a i n m e n t o f s e c o n d a r y

e d u ca t i o n b r i n g s a

range o f soc ia l and

economic benefits to

individuals and soci-

eties. Access to basic

educati on is crit ical f or

t h e e l i m i n a t i o n o f

extreme poverty and

i s a f u n d a m e n t a l

human righ t. Wi th t hese issues in m ind , nation al

governments have committed themselves to

achieving the six Education for All (EFA) goals

a n d t h e e d u c a t i o n - r e l a t e d M i l l e n n i u m

Development Goals (MDG), as adopted by the

United Nations.

There are inherent tens ions in t rans lat ing

nation al data to an int ernational standard. The

app l i ca t i on o f t h e I n t e r na t i ona l St anda r d

Class i f icat ion of Educat ion ( ISCED97) the

framework for the comprehensive statist ical

descript ion o f n ation al education and learning

systems, enables the calculation of indicators

that allow policy-makers to make comparisons

between countries, but it also produces results

t h a t m a y d i f f e r f r o m n a t i o n a l l y -d e f i n e d

indicators (see Box 2). International indicators

also require comparable populat ion data in

order t o compute many of the i ndicato rs, again

a possible source of differences with national

indi cator s. Internatio nal comparabi lit y is vit al to

BOX 3. WHAT IS MEANT BY COM PULSORY EDUCATION?

Compulsory education is mandat ed by constit ut ional

or l egislat ive law. These laws require t hat chil dren

wit hin a certain age range are enrolled in school,

even though t hese laws may not always be str ictly

en f o rced . The m odern s t anda rd (e . g . t heConvent ion on t he Right s of the Chi ld) v iews

compulsory educatio n as an o bligati on p rimarily of

the State itself, and thus, implementation is best

achieved by making education available, ensuring

i t is of a h igh qual i t y to at t r act learners, and

legislatively guaranteeing it results in a sufficient

budgetary commitment b y the stat e.

Constit ut ional pledges wh ich guarantee the right to

education may or may not mention compulsory

school ing, but th is is of ten in the form of an

aspiration. Wit hout implementing legislation, t his

aspiration rarely translates into reality. For thepurpose of th is overview, how ever, these aspirations

indi cate an intended policy standard and theref ore

serves as a benchmark by w hich t o judge prog ress of

countries towards national targets.

Examples of compulsory schooling regu lat ions include

India, where the 93rd Constit uti onal Amendment Bill

seeks to make free and compulsory education a

fundamental right for children in t he 6-14 age group

within the Federal Constitution. According to the

legislative f ramework prevailing in Greece, primary and

lower secondary education are compulsory, provided

that the pupil i s not more than 16 years of age.

Kenyas draf t constit ut ion guarant ees education as a

basic human right and off ers the oppor tun ity f or all

children to learn. Section 58 stat es that: Every person

has the r ight to a basic educat ion, including

pre-primary, prim ary and secondary education. It

adds: The government shall instit ut e a programme

to implement the right of every child to free and

compulsory pr imary educat ion . Kenya a lso

in t rodu ced t he Ch i ld r en s Act in 2001 wh ich

guarant ees fo r free and compulsory education.

Other Af rican count ries that have explicit legislation

on educat ion as a basic right are Alger ia, Cameroon ,Liberia, Libya, Mali and Sout h Af rica. The extent to

wh ich government s actu ally meet t hese guarantees

is addressed in t he fo llow ing secti on.

There are a number of count ries that do not have any

regulations related to compulsory schooling. These

include Bahrain , Cambodia, Gambia, Malaysia, Oman,

Singapore and Solomon Islands.

Assuring universal primary

educa t i on r ema ins a

p r i o r i t y , b u t m e e t i n g

fu rt her learning needs of

young people is also hi gh

on t he agenda


22/154


21

ensur ing accura te

and reliable compa-

r isons , needed to

m o n i t o r g l o b a l

p r og r ess t owa r ds

development goals

and for benchmar-

king count ries.

Both the EFA and MDG

goals set universal

primary education as

the key target, even

though they a lso

include targets that go

beyond the provisionof primary education.

For example, the third

EFA goal commits

countries to ensure

tha t the learn ing

needs of al l young

people and adults are

met through equitable

access to appropriate

learning and life skills

programmes, and the f if th EFA goal commitscount ries to eliminating gender disparit ies in primary

and secondary education by 2005, and achieving

gender equality in education by 2015(UNESCO,

2000 ) . S im i l a r t a r ge t s a r e f ound i n t he

Millennium Development Goals, to eliminate

gender d isparit y in primary and secondary education

preferably by 2005 and in all levels of educat ion no

later than 2015.

For the increasing number of count ries reaching or

nearing universal par-t ic ipat ion in pr imary

educat ion and those sti ll

far from the goal, inter-

natio nal comparisons

must look at other levels

of education t hat are

implicit in the interna-

tional education targets.

Nat ional t arget s as expressed by compulsoryschooling regulat ions

Most governments set

standards concerning

the legal or o f f ic ia l

minimum duration of

formal schooling which

define the age range for

compulsory school att en-

dance. These standards

are typically enforced by legislation or consti tutionallaw (see Box 3).

Figure 11 presents the distri but ion of count ries by

region in terms of the i ntended coverage of

compulsory education. Four in f ive countries

worldw ide have regulations that define compulsory

educati on as extending beyond primary schooling.

Typically, lower secondary education is part of

Africa

primary

some lowersecondary

full lowersecondary

South America

full lowersecondary

at least some

uppersecondary

some lowersecondary

Asia

primary

some lowersecondary

full lowersecondary

at leastsome uppersecondary

Europe

full lowersecondary

at leastsomeupper

secondary

some lowersecondary

Oceania

full lowersecondary

at leastsomeupper

secondary

North America

primary

full lowersecondary

at leastsome uppersecondary

at least someupper secondary

some lowersecondary

Figure 11. Which levels of education are compulsory?

Propor tio n of countri es where compul sory education covers only pr imary education and wh ere it covers some secondary by region, 2001

Source: UNESCO Instit ute for Statistics, Table 2.

Coverage: 192 countries, 98% of the w orld populat ion. Countries that do not have regulations on compulsory schooling are not included.

Note : Data for 13 countr ies refe r to 2000.

In most count ries nat ional

standards for compulsory

schooling extend beyond

primary education. These

standards should also be

used to assess progress

Even before countr ies

reach or near universal

primary education, inter-

nat ional comparisons must

monitor participation at

subsequent levels of

education


23/154


22

compulsory education (in three-quarters of the

coun t r i es ) , and i n

o thers , compu lsory

educa t i on i nc ludes

some or all of upper

secondary education

(see Table 2).

Compulsory education in all count ries of Sout h

America, Europe and Oceania includes some

secondary education. In a minority of countries

in Af rica (20 out of 49), Nort h America (6 out o f

30) and Asia (13 out of 45), compulsory education

is represented by the primary cycle. In other

words, the majority of countries within each

region i nclude some secondary educat ion as partof compu lsory school ing.

Many nat ional systems, especially in South America

and the Arab states, do not distinguish between

pr imary and lower secondary per se. They

combine both levels into a single unit, typically

referred to as basic education, which lasts for

about n ine years . For the purposes o f

int ernational comparisons, th is would be defined

as covering both primary and lower secondary

education (ISCED levels 1 and 2).

In many countries, the standard set by governments

off icially requires parti cipation in upper secondary

education. This is the case in a small number of

coun t r ies in Af r ica, such as Gabon , Liber ia,

Seychelles and Tunisia, and in more than half o f t he

count ries in Nort h America, Europe and Oceania.

Fulfilling national standards participation in

compulsory education

Given that secondary education has become

more generally accepted as a minimu m standard

for educational participation, do governments

meet their own standards? It is important to

assess whether governments, as signatories to

international declarations and legal covenants,

guarantee a minimum of primary education to

ever y ch i l d . I t i s a l so o f imp o r t ance t h a t

governm ent s ensure the part ic ipat ion of al l

children until the end of the compulsory period,

which they have obl igat ed themselves to achieve.

In order to show how countries meet intended

nat ional s tandards,

Figure 12 groups them

by h ighest level o f

compulsory schoo lin g

and ranks them by the

average net enro lment

rate for t he last tw o years of compulsory education.

The fi rst group of countr ies represents those that do

not set the bar very high compulsory education

includes only primary or some lower secondary

education. These standards, while low, seem

realist ic for certain countr ies, some of which are st ill

distant f rom meeting t he goal of universal primary

education. These countries are found throughout

the world and include some that have met their

own standard: Cape Verde, Maldives, Panama and

Sao Tome and Principe; and some that are st ill very

far f rom reaching the i r own standard:

Guinea-Bissau and Niger, where not even half of

the school-age children are enrolled in the last tw o

grades of primary education. Wit h standards that

include some lower secondary, Malawi, the

Phil ippines and Suriname meet t heir own standards,

but Ghana and Papua New Guinea fall w ell short .

The second group of countr ies sets the bar higher

completion of lower secondary is considered

compulsory for all school-age children. Many

count ries are able t o meet t his standard, especially

those in Latin America, the Caribbean, Cent ral and

Eastern Europe. Some of these count ries may movetowards raising the standard to upper secondary in

the near fu ture. Those countr ies that have set t he

bar higher t han they are currently meeting include

Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Eritrea, Madagascar and

Mauritania.

In the last group of countries, upper secondary

educat ion is considered th e nor m. The most

In the majority of count ries,

compulsory schooling

includes some secondaryeducation

At least half of all count rie

do no t mee t the i r own

standards for compulsory

education


24/154


23

CapeVerde

SaoTome&Principe

Mauritius

Jamaica

Zimbabw

e

Trinidad&Toba

go

SyrianArabRep

.

Lesotho

Nicaragua

LaoP

.D.R.

Myanm

ar

Bangladesh

Saudi

Arabia

Burundi

Ethiopia

Niger

Malawi

Philippines

Belarus

Ghana

Papua

New

Guinea

Compulsory education ends with: primary education some lower secondary education

0

20

40

60

80

100

Brazil

Mon

tserrat

Argentina

Australia

China

,HongKong

Croatia

Dominica

nRep

.

MacaoFi

ji

Egypt

Kuw

ait

Algeria

Jordan

N

amibia

Tajikistan

Mongolia

Pa

lestine

Paraguay

Co

lombia

Ecuador

Mauritania

Djib

outi

Compulsory education ends at complete lower secondary education

0

20

40

60

80

100

Hungary

Israel

Japan

Czech

Republic

Sweden

Slovakia

Ukraine

Spain

Poland

Bahamas

Uruguay

Niue

Neth.

Antille

s

Germany

St.Lu

cia

U.S.A.

Tunisia

Kazakhstan

Azerbaijan

Mexico

Venezuela

Barbados

Brit

.Virgin

Isl

Moldova

Qatar

Bhutan

Anguilla

Armenia

Maldives2

Panama1

Equat.Guinea1

Iraq2

Swaziland

1

Honduras1

Un.ArabEmirates 1

Zambia1

Benin2

Chad1

Guinea-Bissau2

Suriname1

Kenya

1

Vanuatu

1

Latvia

1

Lith

uania1

Malta

1

Switz

erland

1

Macedonia

,FYR

1

B

olivia

1

Albania

1

C

yprus1

Estonia

1

Slo

venia1

Chile

1

Korea

,Rep

.1

Bu

lgaria

1

Botswana1

Cuba1

Tonga1

G

reece1

South

Africa

1

Romania

1

Belize1

Y

emen

2

G

uinea1

Indo

nesia2

Mozam

bique1

Togo

2

Guatemala1

Madag

ascar1

E

ritrea1

Burkina

Faso1

Dominica1

France1

Seychelle

s1

Austria1

Canada1

Finland1

Norway

1

Ireland

1

UnitedKingdom

1

Luxembourg1

New

Zealand

1

Bermuda1

Iceland1

Peru

1

Samoa

1

Netherlands1

Guyana2

Costa

Rica1

Grenada

1

Liberia

2

St.Vinc&Grenad.

St.Kitts&Nevis

11

Compulsory education ends with at least some upper secondary education

Net enrolment rate 90% and above Net enrolment rate below 90%

Averagenetenrolmentrateinlasttwo

yearsofcompulsoryeducation

A

veragenetenrolmentrateinlasttwo

yearsofcompulsoryeducation

Averagen

etenrolmentrateinlasttwo

years

ofcompulsoryeducation

0

20

40

60

80

100

Figure 12. Which countries keep children in school until the end of compulsory education?

Average net enrolment rate for the last two years of compulsory education by level of compulsory education, 2001

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

Coverage: Countries for w hich enrolment data by single year of age are available.

Notes: 1) Data refer to 2000.

2) Data refer t o 1999.


25/154


24

developed countries belong t o t his group, t hough

some o f them, such as Germany, the Netherl ands

and the United Stat es, fall w ell short of meeting

the standard. The net enrolment rate in the last

two years of upper secondary is below 50% inseveral Caribbean count ries and A rmeni a.

Among these three groups, more than half of the

count ries do not reach their national targets in terms

of school participation. This is reflected by enrolment

rates at the end of compulsory education that fall

below 90%. In at least one-third of all countries,

universal part icipat ion in compulsory education is far

from being attained, most notably in the 11 count ries

where only one in two children are enrolled near the

end of compulsory schooling.

Monitoring the goal of universal primary

education

School lif e expectancy does not ind icate the extent

to which children attend in education because the

unit of analysis is years of education. There is no

question that every child should enter and complete

the fu ll cycle of primary educat ion. Indicators such

as intake rates, primary net enrolment rates and

completion rates together help to evaluate howwell education systems manage to achieve this goal.

These indicators reveal that many countries are st il l

far f rom reaching the in ternat ional goal o f

universal primary education.

The apparent intake ratio reflects the general

level o f access to the f i rs t year of pr imary

education. It covers all entrants regardless of

age, including bot h lat e and early entrant s int o

schoo l i ng , i . e . ch i ld r en t ha t en te r p r imary

education at a younger or older age than def inedby the system. An apparent i nt ake ratio o f 100%

does not ensure UPE but is a prerequisit e.

Of the 155 countries reporting data for 2001 (or

2000), 37 still show apparent intake ratios below

95%, indicating t hat at least 1 in 20 children never

start school. Since the apparent int ake ratios typically

overstate the proportion of a cohort that enters

school, the real number of non-starters will be even

higher. In seven countries (Burkina Faso, Central

Af rican Republ ic, Congo, Djibout i, Erit rea, Mali and

Niger), ratios fall below 66%, implying that one in

three children do not ent er school (see Table 2).

The fact that childr en start pr imary education

does not automatically ensure that they will

r ece ive a fu l l cyc le o f p r imary educat ion .

Drop-ou t ra tes can be h igh , espec ia l l y in

developing countries.

The net enrolment rate expresses the enrolment of

the official age group for primary education as a

percentage of the corresponding populat ion. Net

enrolment rates of 100% indicate universal primaryenrolment , but do not necessarily ensure un iversal

complet ion of the primary cycle.

Figure 13 shows the distribut ion of national primary

net enrolment rates for each region. Of the 170

countries reporting data, one in seven countries

have a primary net enrolment rate of less than

70%. This ind icates that up t o three in ten pr imary-

school-age children are out of school, if they are not

st i l l i n pre-pr imary educat io n or a l ready in

secondary education. More than one-quarter ofcount ries report net enrolment rates somewhere

between 70% and 90%, which indicates a high

level of enrolment although the goal of UPE

remains a challenge. One-third of all countries

report that more than 95% of children at the

eligible age are enrolled in primary education.

In eight of the countries reporting data by age,

less than half of the children at the officially-

def ined school age are enro l l ed in pr imary

education. All eight are foun d in A fri ca and allexcept one are among count ries w it h t he low est

l evel o f na t i on a l i ncome . I n o t he r w o r ds,

one-fif th of all low -income count ries that report

data by age reflect net enrolment rates below

50%. Net enrolment rates exceed 70% in just

one third of the 33 reporting countries in the

group with the lowest national income. Low

levels of enrolment, below 70%, are uncommon


26/154


25

among t he other groups. Only one count ry,

Djibouti (lower middle-income), has a net

enrolment rate below 50%, and rates are

below 70% in Ghana (low er middle-income)

and Saudi A rabia (high-income).

This digest presents a set of internationally

s tandard ised measures of pr imary

completion, includ ing ind icators such as the

survival rate to grade 5 (see Table 4) and

age-speci f ic net enro l ment rates. The

UNESCO Institute for Statistics is working

together with the World Bank to improve

the comparabilit y of the primary complet ion

rate across countries. While these measures

are essent ia l t o mon i to r ing s tudent

progression, they still only represent an

indirect measure of good learning outcomes.

Participation in secondary education

One aspec t o f pa r t i c i pa t i on and

progression in education is reflected by

the size of the cohort which moves from

primary to lower secondary educat ion.

Transition rates show the percentage of

childr en leaving t he last grade in pri maryeducati on in a schoo l year to cont inue their

st udies at t he low er secondary level in t he

fo llow ing year. The diff erence between t he

transition rate and 100% represents the

proportion of students who leave school

aft er the last g rade of prim ary education ,

some of t hem wit hout completing.

Figure 14 presents transit ion rates by regio n and

shows that in the vast major i ty of countr ies

almost all stu dent s who l eave primary educatio ncontinue their studies at the lower secondary

level. These f igu res exclude entr ants int o l ow er

secondary techn ica l p rogrammes wh ich

underst ates tr ansit ion rates in t en count ries. In

Europe, all count ries except Ireland and M alta

report transit ion rates above 94%. In Asia and t he

Americas, t ransit ion rates are above 90% in half

of th e count ries and over 80% in another quarter

of the count ries.

The picture is very

different in Africa. Half

o f t he ch i ld ren who

reach the last grade of

primary school do not

continue to secondary

education in one in four

Just one-quarter of African

countries reach transition

rates similar to those of

three-quarters of count rie

in the rest of t he world

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Oceania(10 / 17)

Europe(35 / 44)

Asia(43 / 50)

South America(12 / 12)

North America(27 / 31)

Africa(43 / 53)

%o

fcountriesinregion

%o

fcountriesinregion

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

World(170 / 207)

High(39)

Upper-middle(35)

Lower-middle(38)

Low(32)


27/154


26

countries. For another quarter of the countries, at

least one in three students drops out before entering

secondary education. Only one-quarter of the

countries reach transit ion rates simi lar to those found

in other regions (exceeding 95%). These include:

Botswana, Ethiopia, Namibia, Seychelles and South

Af rica (see Table 6).

In short, the chance that a child leaving the end

of primary education continues to secondary

school ing is more t han 80% in almost all countr ies

in t he wo rld. The dramatic exception is found i n

Af r i can count r ies, where t wo- t h i rds o f the

count ries fall below th is level.

The h igh rates oftransition from primary

to lower secondary

educat ion in mos t

count ries signi fy th at

t h e en d o f p r i m a r y

education cannot be

considered as the typical exit point from the

schoo lin g system. In f act , in most count ries those

pupils who do not cont inue aft er primary school

are at m uch greater risk of social exclusion lat er

in l if e. Therefore, effor ts to ensure an adequate

education for all children must consider low er

secondary educat ion .

Across the world, the most typical exit point from

schooling occurs at the end of lower secondary. The

next most typical exit points are during or upon

completion of upper secondary education. Thus, it is

important to examine participation in lower and

upper levels of secondary education separately, as

combining lower and upper secondary oft en hides

import ant di ff erences between t he tw o levels.

Participation in lower secondary is common in all

regions, with the exception of Africa. Africa is the

only region where the completion of primary

education marks a typical exit point , and it usually

coincides wi th the end o f nat ional ly-def i ned

compulsory education (see Box 4). In

all other regions, Oceania, Europe,

Asia and the Americas, half or

almost half of the countries report

gross enrolment ratios above 90%.

Of the 37 count ries in Europe, only

Bulgaria and Moldova report gross

enro lment rat ios below 90%.

Despite the high overall levels of

participation, a few countries reportgross enrolment rat ios below 50%:

Papua New Guinea (31%) and

Vanuatu (39%) in Oceania;

Afghanistan (13%), Cambodia

(33%), Myanmar (42%), Pakistan

(35%) and Timor-Leste (41%) in

Asia; and Guatemala (44%) in the

Americas (see Table 5).

0

20

40

60

80

100

Oceania(5 / 17)

Europe(25 / 44)

Asia(37 / 50)

South America(11 / 12)

North America(25 / 31)

Africa(39 / 53)

Transitionrate(%)

Median

25% of countries

have lower rates

75% of countries

have lower rates

90% of countries

have lower rates

10% of countries

have lower rates

Figure 14. What proportion of students leaving primary progress to

lower secondary education?

Transition rates from the last grade of primary to lower secondary general education by region, 2000

Source: UNESCO Instit ute for Statistics, Table 6.

Coverage: 142 countri es. Transition rat es are underesti mated f or countr ies where t echnical education begins at the

low er secondary l evel.

Notes: In order to calculate transition rates for 2000, data are needed for t he years 2000 and 2001. Data for 25

countries refer to 1999.

High t ransit ion rates show

that the end of primary

educa t ion cannot be

considered a typical exit

point

Participation in lower secondary is

common in most countries in al

regions, wit h the exception of Afr ica


28/154


27

Only eight count ries of those

reporting data in Africa have

a gross enrolment ratio which

exceeds 90%: Algeria, Cape

Verde, Egypt, Libyan Arab

Jamahir iya, Maur i t ius ,

Seychell es, South Af rica and

Tunis ia . At the other

extreme, gross enrolment

rat ios are below 25% in

Burk ina Faso , Burund i ,

Central African Republic,

Chad, Niger, Rwanda and

t he Un i t ed Repub l i c o f

Tanzania. These are among

the lowes t leve ls o f

participation in t he world.

En r o lmen t r a t i os d r op

drastically between lower

and upper secondary levels

in all regions (seeFigure 15).

The on ly except ion is

Europe, where ratios remain high. However, rat ios

for Europe are diff icult to compare and interpret

because of the inclusion of adult education in

secondary enrolment in some countries. In all other

regions, the median value for t he gross enrolment

ratio drops by 20 to 32 percentage point s, down t o

72% in North America, 76% in Oceania, 64% in

Sout h America, 62% in Asia and dow n to 20% in

Africa. In some countries enrolment ratios fall

sharply. In Albania, Algeria, Cape Verde, China,

Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico and Sri Lanka the

gross enrolment ratio drops fr om 90% or h igher

at t he low er secondary level t o less than 50% at

the upper secondary level.

Interpreting education indicators becomes more

dif fi cult beyond the end of compulsory education.

This holds true for gross enrolment ratios which

include student s of all ages, but even more so f or

net rates which measure only

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