Transcript Whither Secondary Education in Africa?

Whither Secondary Education
in Africa?
Steven Obeegadoo
An Overview
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Why the interest in Secondary Education?
From UPE to UBE
The State of Play & Challenges Ahead
Policy Directions
The Funding Dilemma
Pointers for the future
Multiplying Synergies
Why the surge of interest in
Secondary Education?
 An educated and skilled people: The prerequisite for
entry into the Age of Knowledge
 Education as a Right and pathway to a better life:
Expectations run high!
 Universal Primary Education is working: What next if not
Secondary Education?
 Lessons of Experience and Research Findings: Added
Value of Secondary Education
Source: Pole de Dakar, 2005
Impact on Human Development
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Making literacy permanent
Improving individual health behaviour
Lowering fertility rates
Improving school attendance
Impact of Secondary Education:
The Job Market
Integration into the Labour Market is better for
lower secondary than for upper secondary
education.
Economic Returns
Where resources are scarce, public funding of
the higher levels of the educational system
cannot be priority. Access to these levels may
call for flow regulation
UPE to UBE: What is at stake?
Increasing awareness of the need to move beyond Universal Primary
Education (5-6 yrs) to provide to the African youth Universal Basic
Education (8-9 yrs) by expanding and diversifying Secondary
Education. Distinguish:
Lower Secondary (final phase of basic education): A core curriculum for
all.
Upper Secondary: Diversified pathways including Vocational
• Progress towards UPE and underlying socio-economic
transformations imply Lower Secondary Education can no longer be
denied to the masses: The transition from old fashioned narrow
elitist to inclusive mass basic education has started and cannot be
stopped.
• Traditional elitist system was premised on exclusion of the many
and selection of privileged few for higher studies and university.
• The implications for Lower Secondary Education in Africa are
profound and far reaching: Providing educational opportunities for all
requires revisiting the objectives, structure, procedures and
management of the system.
From Elitism to Mass Basic Education
Providing Lower Secondary Education
c
to all: not a technical but political issue.
Opting out of elitism cannot but be controversial: There will
be winners and losers
Need for careful political management of reforms:
Consensus building, effective communication and
advocacy.
Success depends first and foremost on political will and
commitment sustained over time.
The State of Play: Numbers Up…
UPE is working!
 Primary enrolments
(up by nearly 20m)
GER
1998: 80%
2002: 91%
NER
56%
64%
 Secondary Enrolment Ratio between 1998 and 2003 consequently
gained 13 points for Lower Secondary and 7 points for Upper
Secondary
…But Quality Down
 High Unit Costs : inefficient resource allocation
 Pupil/Teacher ratios 22:1(1990)
29:1(2004)
 Poorly prepared secondary graduates
Change in Secondary Gross Enrolment Ratios
between 1998 and 2002 (Source: UNESCO, 2006)
From UPE to UBE
Progress towards UPE
High Primary Completion Rates
Extension of Secondary Coverage and Shift in Lower
Secondary Student Profile
Drop in Lower Secondary Retention Rate and Drop in
Lower to Upper Secondary Transition Rates
Rise in number of school leavers/drop-outs at Lower
Secondary level
The Challenges Ahead
A demographic time bomb? Population is set to double in
30 years!
Aged 12 -18:143m(2005)
169m(2015)
184m(2020)
 If secondary enrolment growth rates to be maintained,
enrolments must double by 2015!
 If primary to secondary transition rates to be kept
constant, enrolments must triple by 2015 !
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The economy must grow and national wealth increase to
fund the expansion of secondary education.
• Uneven economic development limits Job market
absorptive capacity for secondary graduates:
• After stagnating in the 1980s and 1990s,GDP growth
has averaged more than 3% p.a since 1998
Policy Directions:
Access and Equity
• For 100 students in Lower Secondary, only 13
from the poorest!
• For 100 boys in Lower Secondary, only 80 girls!
Extend coverage by targeting the excluded:
-Locate schools in the rural areas
-Abolish fees or offer scholarships
-Address indirect financial obstacles
-Address cultural obstacles to female enrolment
Policy Directions:
Quality and Quantity
Expansion cannot mean only quantity but
also quality: More of the same will not do!
Hence, to expand secondary Education is to
reform Secondary Education…
The objective of providing Lower Secondary
Education to all is to equip all African youth with
the skills and knowledge for the World of Work
and for lifelong learning. To fulfill such an
objective, African secondary schools must be
effective schools……for all!
No Trade-offs as between Quantity and Quality
Policy Directions:
Curriculum and VET
• Objective: Education of the larger number for –
 The World of Work and Lifelong Learning
 Individual Development and Citizenship
• New Lower Secondary Curriculum: Core curriculum
(Languages, Maths, ICT and Science) founded on
generic skills and key competencies:
 Literacy and Numeracy
 Communication skills
 Team Work skills
 Problem-solving skills
 Reasoning and Critical Skills
 Learnability and Autonomy
Vocational Education and Training (VET) to be offered as
flexible programmes after lower Secondary.
Policy Directions:
Assessment and Certification
• Eschew traditional selective approach (Pass or
Fail Examinations) in favour of recognition and
certification of positive achievement throughout
schooling.
• Shift from content-based to competencies-based
assessment
• Deliver a Record of Achievement/ Statement of
Competencies at the end of Basic Education.
• Develop a functional National Qualifications
Framework to ensure portability of qualifications.
Policy Directions:
Teacher Training
• UPE by 2015 requires 3m new teachers.
• Teacher training requires secondary educational
opportunities.
• Effective teachers require:Subject knowledge
Pedagogical competencies
Motivation
• How to ensure cost effectiveness in Teacher
training?
• Pedagogical training to reflect requirements of
basic education for all.
Policy Directions:
Managing Secondary Education
• Empower schools but train effective and
accountable school leaders:
“Management at service delivery
level by providers”
• Role of Central Authority:
Policy Making and Planning
Quality Assurance
General Supervision
Support Services
The Funding Dilemma:
Policy Options
Expanding Secondary Education is expensive:
Unit costs LGSE 3 times more than Primary. Unit
costs UGSE 6 times more than Primary. Unit
costs TVET 12 times more than Primary
If Secondary Enrolments rise, unless Unit costs
decrease, public spending will also have
increase.
Should Transition Rates be
regulated?
• Primary to Lower Secondary:
Drop-outs represent self-regulation
Regulation as policy only if UPE distant.
• Lower Secondary to Upper Secondary:
Job market constraints and low social
returns may justify policy management of
student flows.
Can governments spend more???
Additional Funding
Increase in
Education Budget
User Fees
Tapping Other
Local Sources
Community
Foreign Assistance
Private
PPP’s
Spending not more but better!!!
• Re-allocate funds within Education Budget
• Target efficiency gains in spending:
Policy Options
•Integrate LSE into PE
•Larger class sizes
•Less subject options
•Gainful use of assets
•Shift system/all yr round
•Contractual Teachers
•Reduce repetition rates
•Target benefits/subsidies
•Manage schools better
•Improve procurement
•Monitoring/Accountability
•DEOL
Pointers for the future
• Distinguish Lower Secondary (Core curriculum for all)
from Upper Secondary (Diversified pathways)
• Facilitate access for all to 9-year basic education
inclusive of Lower Secondary to promote:
Individual Development
Citizenship
Employability and entrepreneurship
Learnability
• Expansion and diversification of Secondary education is
unique to each country e.g Choice of integrating Lower
Secondary into Primary or developing General Lower
Secondary as progressive Post Primary for all.
Pointers for the future
Expansion of Secondary Education must be
better managed than UPE was, but African
knowledge base for policy development is
weak:
• Develop evidence-based indicative action
frameworks
• Propose affordable and effective models of Post
Primary education for Africa.
• Facilitate policy dialogue
Source: Pole de Dakar, 2006
Context and Education Policy for
Lower Secondary Education:
Countries with less than 1200 US $ per
capita
Best performers countries
(JSE completion rate >= 30%)
Other countries
(JSE completion rate < 30%)
Average
Range
Average
Range
Primary completion rate
66%
59%-73%
48%
27%-73%
State Revenues as % of GDP
21%
15%-27%
19%
8%-40%
Current expenditure on education as % of State revenues
20%
10%-30%
19%
7%-31%
Current expenditure on secondary education as % of total current
expenditure on education*
38%
33%-52%
33%
11%-51%
Current expenditure on lower secondary as % of total current
expenditure on secondary education*
58%
44%-74%
56%
45%-74%
23%
17%-29%
34%
8%-63%
27
16-46
28
11-46
% of pupils in private schools
20%
0%-71%
24%
6%-49%
% of repeaters
11%
0%-30%
16%
0%-37%
Context
Mobilisation of resources
Education service delivery mode of organisation
Unit cost (in % of GDP per capita)
Pupil-Teacher Ratio (all secondary)**
Pointers for the future:
• African Secondary Education requires more
funding for more efficient spending:
 Donor Countries/Organisations must renew and
honour financial commitments .External funding
must carry predictability.
 African Governments must prioritise secondary
education and ensure earmarked funds are
effectively and efficiently spent on education.
Multiplying synergies for secondary
education in Africa
• WORLD BANK:
SEIA 2003-2007
Regional Conferences, Thematic Studies,
Participative Research for capacity building
• UNESCO/BREDA: Regional Workshops, Pole
de Dakar regional reports, proposed Pool of
expertise on Post Primary
• ADEA: Research and Analysis, Policy Dialogue,
Working Group on Post Primary
• Bilateral Partners: e.g Norway’s NPEF……
‘Human history becomes more and more a
race between education and catastrophe’
(H.G.WELLS)
Can Africa afford to waste the talents of its
children?
THANK YOU