Transcript Keeping the Promise: The Importance of Investing in both Primary and Secondary Education May Rihani Senior Vice President and Director Academy for Educational Development March 2008

Keeping the Promise:
The Importance of Investing in both
Primary and Secondary Education
May Rihani
Senior Vice President and Director
Academy for Educational Development
March 2008
Overview of Gains in Primary Education
• The EFA Global Monitoring Report shows that
primary school enrollment increased by 36% in
sub-Saharan Africa and 22% in South and
West Asia between 1999 and 2005.
• Governments in 14 countries abolished
primary school tuition fees, a measure that has
favored access for the most disadvantaged.
Increase in Education Spending as
Share of GNP
• In most countries where primary school
enrollments rose sharply, their education
spending as a share of their GNP increased.
• Public expenditure on education increased by
over 5% annually in sub-Saharan Africa and
South and West Asia, the two regions farthest
from achieving Education for All.
Why focus on both Primary and
Secondary?
• Despite huge gains in primary enrollment,
reaching a world average of 83.8% in net primary
enrollment, large numbers of students do not
continue on to secondary school.
• The rate of secondary enrollment drops to 59.3%
• In sub-Saharan Africa, only 17% of girls are
enrolled in secondary school.
Sub-Saharan Africa, where 25% or fewer girls are
enrolled in secondary school, 2002/2003
Sources: UNESCO Global Education Digest, 2005, and
EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2006
Why Fewer Girls at Secondary?
Barriers and challenges:
• Economic constraints: The direct financial cost plus
the “opportunity cost,” in particular for rural girls
• Cultural constraints: Distance and safety concerns
• Educational constraints
– Only the best-performing children are allowed to continue
– Lack of adequate number of female teachers, which impacts
the participation of girls
• Inequity constraints: Girls face behavioral inequities in
the classroom and a lack role models
Why investing in girls’ secondary education
is Imperative
• Primary education’s benefits are not sufficient to move
nations socially and economically forward in a
meaningful way
• Given globalization, benefits of primary education are
a necessary but not sufficient condition
• The benefits of secondary education enable girls to
make a quantum leap in terms of their social roles,
decision making, and empowerment
What are these benefits?
Main benefits of girls’ secondary education
I. HEALTH
• Girls’ secondary education decreases infant
mortality
– Research shows that where only half as many girls
as boys go to school, these gender gaps are
negatively related to children’s mortality
– Research also shows that infant mortality is one
quarter lower where girls are educated as much as
boys
Main benefits of girls’ secondary education
I. HEALTH (con’t)
• Postponement of marriage and reduction of
family size
– A study of Brazil finds that illiterate women have an
average of six children each, while literate women
have an average of 2.5 children each
• Higher rates of children’s immunization
– A multi-country study shows that educated mothers
are about 50% more likely to immunize their
children than uneducated mothers
• Improvement in children’s and family nutrition
Secondary education is related to lower
fertility rates and unwanted pregnancies
Girls’ secondary education and teen birthrates for selected countries, 1995
Source: Population Action International, 1998
Top seven
countries in
girls’ secondary
education
Bottom seven
countries in
girls’ secondary
education
Gross secondary enrollment rates for girls
Births per 1,000 girls, 15-19 years old
Girls’ Secondary education is associated with
lower children’s stunting
120%
Gross % of girls
enrolled in secondary
school
100%
80%
Gross % of children
younger than 5 with
severe stunting
60%
40%
20%
0%
Burkino
Faso
Burundi
Chad
Guinea
Mozambique
Countries with fewer girls in secondary school
Niger
Argentina
Bahrain
Barbados
Countries with more girls in
secondary school
Marriage, sexual relations, and parenting
No education
Married by age 20
Primary education only
100
87
95
92
87
72
72
65
58
56
62
55
75
81
77
73
70 69
57
48
47
42
18
M
al
aw
i
0
20
14
uin
ea
25
35
28
18
Zi
m
ba
bw
e
31
Ta
nz
an
ia
45
39
Ni
ge
ri a
50
70
68
59
Zi
m
ba
bw
e
41
0
Et
hi
op
ia
60
54
Ta
nz
an
ia
Ta
nz
an
ia
25
68
100
56
Eg
yp
t
M
al
aw
i
uin
ea
G
Et
hi
op
ia
50
Gave birth by age 20
78
68
Et
hi
op
ia
Percent of women
Ni
ge
ri a
19
72
91
86
85
82
75
0
90 87
88
25
Ni
ge
ri a
29
24
G
100
Eg
yp
t
32
25
43
38
M
al
aw
i
Percent
of women
50
uin
ea
53
Ever had sex by age 20
60
Zi
m
ba
bw
e
61
G
75
Eg
yp
t
Percent of women
Secondary education only
85
81
Main benefits of girls’ secondary education
II. MITIGATION OF HIV/AIDS
• Half of the more than 40 million people living
with HIV and AIDS are women and girls
• A study of Zambia finds that AIDS spread
twice as fast among uneducated girls
compared to educated girls (Vandermoortele &
Delamonica, 2000)
Main benefits of girls’ secondary education
II. MITIGATION OF HIV/AIDS (con’t)
• Secondary school creates a valuable window
of opportunity since it captures girls when self
esteem and self confidence can be most
important
• When secondary school introduces the “fourth
R,” “Responsibility,” which includes life skills
and relevant quality curriculum, then girls and
boys can learn healthy behaviors
Main benefits of girls’ secondary education
III. EDUCATION
• The existence of secondary schools in a
catchment area tends to increase primary school
enrollment and quality
• Ensuring that all students are within a reasonable
distance of an affordable middle school increases
parental commitment to schooling
• Parents’ involvement in school leads to higher
quality education
Main benefits of girls’ secondary education
IV. SOCIAL BENEFITS
• Secondary education equips students with
critical thinking skills, increasing civic
participation and democratic change
• Secondary education reduces the risk of
human trafficking by increasing economic
opportunities and making children less
vulnerable to outside influences
Main benefits of girls’ secondary education
V. ECONOMIC BENEFITS
• Primary and secondary education can become
a tool for poverty alleviation
• With secondary education, girls and women
are empowered to access additional work
opportunities
• Girls’ secondary education produces health
benefits that have positive economic impacts
on families
Vicious Cycle
High infant
and child mortality
Very low % of
girls’ participation
in secondary
education
Mothers with low
functional and
analytical literacy
Large number
of pregnancies
High material
mortality
Heavy economic
opportunity cost to
women and families
Virtuous Cycle
Higher level
of socio-economic development
because all members of
society are educated
and engaged
High low % of
girls’ participation
in secondary
education
Low infant
and child mortality
Educated mothers
with functional and
analytical literacy
Fewer
pregnancies
Lower material
mortality/higher
economic
productivity
Women are
empowered to
access additional
opportunities and are more
highly engaged in their
communities
and countries
Heavy economic
opportunity cost to
women and families
Investment in Secondary Education
•
The 2006 EFA Global Monitoring Report states that in
2002 developing countries spent 15.5% of total
government expenditures on education
•
91.8% of total public educational expenditures were
spent on primary education
•
The Strategic questions would be:
1. Should public expenditures on education be increased? and
2. Based on the gains that are reaped as a result of girls’
secondary education, should public expenditures on
secondary education be increased?
THANK YOU