Transcript Document 7373842

Strong
foundations
Early childhood care
and education
Presentation to the sixth
High Level Group on EFA
Cairo
15 November 2006
About the Report
Evidence and analysis for policy and action

Prepared by an independent team based at UNESCO Paris

Funded by nine bilateral donors, advised by an editorial board

Charts progress toward the six EFA goals

Assesses aid to education

Highlights effective policies and practices to accelerate progress

Draws attention to emerging challenges

Four reports since 2002:
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Overall trends
Gender
Quality
Literacy
1
Education for All Dakar Goals
and Millennium Development Goals
EFA Goals
1. Expand and improve comprehensive
early childhood care and education
MDGs
1. Eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger
2. Universal primary education by 2015
3. Learning and life skills programmes for
youth and adults
4. 50% increase in adult literacy rates by
2015
5. Gender parity by 2005 and gender
equality by 2015
6. Improving quality of education
2. Achieve universal primary
education
3. Promote gender equality and
empower women
4.
Reduce child mortality, and
other health goals
No country in need should be denied international assistance
2
EFA: Where do we stand?
Out of 125 countries, 47 have achieved the EFA goals.
Countries showing the greatest progress are in the lowest scoring group
Excludes many countries far from goals, e.g. those in conflict
Far from EFA
(EDI below 0.80)
Sub-Saharan Africa
Arab States
19
4
Central Asia
East Asia/Pacific
South and West Asia
2
3
N. America /West. Europe
Latin America/Caribbean
Central/Eastern Europe
Total
28
Intermediate position
(EDI between
0.80 and 0.94)
EFA achieved or close
(EDI between
0.95 and 1.00)
8
11
1
1
2
6
1
2
18
2
4
3
17
6
15
50
47
3
Education finance: A mixed picture
Number of countries where public expenditure on education as % of GNP has:
Decreased since 1999
7
Increased since 1999
14
Sub-Saharan Africa
0
4
5
Arab States
3
Central Asia
6
8
East Asia/Pacific
3
South/West Asia
12
2
Latin America/Caribbean
4
9
17
N. America/West. Europe
5
7
Central/Eastern Europe
41
65
4
Aid to basic education: On the increase
Total aid to basic education in low-income countries almost
doubled from 2000 to 2004
Total aid to education
Total aid to basic education
9.5
Other developing
countries
4.4
5.6
Low-income
countries
2.6
6.4
3.4
3.4
2000
1.8
2000
2004
Constant 2003 US$ billions
2004
5
More and more children are
starting school
1999
2004
Sharp increases in Grade
1 access in Sub-Saharan
Africa and South and
West Asia
Arab States
Central/East.
Europe
N. America/
West. Europe
East Asia/
Pacific
Central Asia
Enrolment is not
attendance
Sub-Saharan
Africa
Latin America/
Caribbean
South/West
Asia
80
100
120
140
Attendance is not
learning
Gross intake rate
in primary education (%)
6
77 million children still not in school
0,4
Central Asia
Central/Eastern
Europe
2
Latin America/
Caribbean
3
7
Arab States
East Asia/
Pacific
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Half in sub-Saharan
Africa

One-third in India,
Nigeria, Pakistan,
and Ethiopia

Drop of 20 million
since 1999, mainly
in South Asia
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60% never enroll,
31% enroll late, 9%
enroll but drop out
10
South/West
Asia
16
Sub-Saharan
Africa
38
0
10
20
30
40
Out-of-school children 2004, million
7
Belarus
Nicaragua
Ecuador
Guatemala
Colombia
Panama
Bolivia
Dominica
Costa Rica
Barbados
Nepal
Bangladesh
Lao P. D.
Myanmar
Survival rates to last grade (%)
Mongolia
Azerbaijan
Tajikistan
Kazakhstan
Mauritania
Morocco
Saudi
Algeria
Lebanon
Oman
Kuwait
0
Rwanda
Burundi
Lesotho
Madagascar
Ghana
Swaziland
Benin
Niger
Togo
Eritrea
Mali
Cape Verde
Cameroon
Mauritius
Too few pupils complete
primary school
In addition to increasing access, improving retention is a key
to reducing out-of-school children
100
80
60
40
20
Cohort completion rates (%)
8
Needed:
more trained teachers
 Slight improvement in pupil-teacher ratios in
most regions between 1999 and 2004
 Only slight increase in % of trained teachers
 Sub-Saharan Africa needs to recruit at least 1.6 million more
teachers to reach UPE by 2015
 Serious shortages in rural areas
 Too few female teachers in countries with low enrolment of girls
9
Secondary under pressure
Sub-Saharan Africa
30
South/West Asia
 Participation increasing, mainly
at lower secondary level
51
East Asia/Pacific
73
Arab States
 Large gaps between lower and
upper secondary in some regions
66
Lat. America/
Caribbean
86
Central Asia
90
Lower secondary
90
Total secondary
Central/East.
Europe
N. America/
West. Europe
Upper secondary
101
0
40
80
120
Gross enrolment ratio 2004 (%)
10
Progress towards gender parity
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About two-thirds of countries out of 181 with data have
achieved gender parity in primary education
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Only one-third of countries have achieved parity at the secondary level
Primary education
GPI in GER
1.1
1.0
Gender parity
0.9
0.8
0.7
Sub-Saharan Arab States South/West Latin America Centr./East. N. America/
Africa
Asia
Caribbean
Europe
West. Europe
Central Asia
East Asia/
Pacific
Secondary education
GPI in GER
1.1
1.0
Gender parity
0.9
0.8
0.7
1999
.
2004
Sub-Saharan Arab States South/West Latin America Centr./East N. America/ Central Asia
Africa
Asia
Caribbean
Europe
West. Europe
East Asia/
Pacific
11
Literacy remains elusive
D.R.Congo
Women illiterates
Men illiterates
Afghanistan
Morocco
One in five adults – 781
million – lack basic literacy
skills
Iran, Isl.
Rep.
Egypt
Brazil
The vast majority live in
South and West Asia, subSaharan Africa and East Asia
Indonesia
Ethiopia
Pakistan
Bangladesh
China
India
-
100
200
300
All adult illiterates 2000-2004 (millions)
12
Tackling disadvantage
Poverty keeps children out of school
Offsetting poverty and disadvantage
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Abolish school fees
Grants, scholarships and cash transfers for marginalized groups
Better opportunities for the disabled; mainstreaming
Incentives and community-based efforts to overcome need for child labour
Early childhood programmes
Mother tongue instruction
Second chances
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Bridging programmes for youth and adults lacking formal schooling
Youth and adult literacy programmes
Programmes in post-conflict situations
Policies to overcome barriers to education are in place in many
countries but need to be expanded
13
The ECCE imperative:
Young children under threat

Child born in developing world has 40% chance of living in extreme poverty

Poverty keeps millions of children out of school
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31% of children in developing countries moderately or severely stunted
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10.5 million under-5 children die each year, most from preventable diseases

High under-5 mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa and South/West Asia
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Each day 1,800 children infected with HIV
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Children in emergency, conflict and post-conflict situations highly vulnerable
14
ECCE: strong foundations
“Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care
and education, especially for the most vulnerable and
disadvantaged children”
Rights
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Development
Poverty reduction and the MDG health and education goals
Education
Future participation and achievement
Equity
Reducing social inequality
15
Thinking
comprehensively
Nutrition
Holistic programmes encompass:
 Nutrition
 Health and hygiene
 Physical and emotional development
 Social skills
 Education
16
Early childhood, nutrition and education
Nutrition and Education
Reinforce Each Other
 Iron, nutrition, deworming and
psycho-social stimulation impact on
learning
 Combining nutrition and education
has larger and longer-lasting impact
Early Childhood Participation
Improves Later Education
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Access to primary school
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Retention in primary school
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Lower repetition
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Better language development
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Higher achievement
17
Acting early pays off
‘It is a rare public policy initiative that promotes fairness and social justice and
at the same time promotes productivity in the economy and in society at large.
Investing in disadvantaged young children is such a policy.’
James Heckman, Nobel economics prizewinner

Most rigorous studies on benefits come from developed countries
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U.S. High/Scope Perry study of low-income African-American children
 higher IQ at age 5
 enhanced success at school
 higher earning at age 40
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High returns to programmes in India, Egypt, Colombia, Bolivia
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Returns greatest for poorest and most disadvantaged children
18
A diverse field
Ages 0 to 2
 Support to parents / Parental leave
 Organized / non-formal care and education
Ages 3+
 Pre-primary and non-formal education for 3+
Ages 0 to 8
 Informal provision
by parents or
extended family, at
home, family or
community settings
Providers
 Governments
 Private Sector (high private provision in Africa and Arab States,
relatively high in Latin America/Caribbean)
 NGOs
 Community-based organizations
19
Programmes for the under-3s
Many countries lack programmes addressing health, nutrition, care
and education of the under 3s, a critical period in the child’s life
World
Arab States
Central/East. Europe
Sub-Saharan Africa
East Asia/Pacific
South/West Asia
L. America/Carib.
Central Asia
N. America/W. Europe
0%
50%
100%
Countries with at least one formal
programme for children under 3 in 2005
(%)
20
Regional trends in pre-primary
A three-fold increase in pre-primary enrolments over 30 years
More than 1 in 3 children now enrolled but huge regional differences
Gross enrolments ratios
in pre-primary (%)
80
Developed/transition countries
70
60
Latin America/Caribbean
50
40
East Asia/Pacific
30
South and West Asia
20
Arab States
10
Sub-Saharan Africa
0
1971
1976
1981
1986
1991
1999
2004
21
Trinidad/Tobago
Poverty limits
access
Colombia
Viet Nam
Venezuela
India
Lesotho
Haiti
Mongolia
Nicaragua
Kenya
Cameroon
 Higher attendance
Philippines
for children from
Sierra Leone
Madagascar
richer households
Azerbaijan
Myanmar
Bolivia
 Lower attendance
Egypt
Senegal
among poor who
Rwanda
would benefit most
Uganda
Tajikistan
Lao PDR
Poorer households
U. R. Tanzania
Richer households
D. R. Congo
Niger
0
20
40
60
Attendance rates (%)
80
22
The gender factor
Gender
parity line
Arab States
 The gender gap in early
childhood programme enrolments
is small in most countries
Central/East.
Europe
Central Asia
 Programmes relieve older sisters
from caring for the youngest, a
common barrier to girls’ schooling
East Asia/
Pacific
South/West
Asia
 Programmes can promote
positive gender socialization
N. America/
West. Europe
Sub-Saharan
Africa
Latin America/
Caribbean
0.8
0.9
GPI in GER in
pre-primary education
1.0
1.1
23
Why the policy neglect?
Early childhood is still not a priority
in many developing countries
 Slow response to social and economic trends
 Role of the family vs role of the state
 Diversity of sector makes coordination difficult
 Child development research results not well known
 Lack of rigorous studies in developing countries
 Governments prioritize primary education
 International aid focuses on other education levels
24
Strong policies for young children
Policy Environment
 Top-level political endorsement
 A national early childhood
policy grouping multiple players
 A lead agency to coordinate
early childhood policies
 Integration in national
development plans and PRSPs
Policy Elements
 Staffing, training and standards
for all providers
 Explicit provision for
disadvantaged and vulnerable
 Partnerships: NGOs, private
sector and international agencies
 Financing: higher spending,
targeting and more aid
25
Quality: what is needed
The quality of interaction between carer and child is the
single most important determinant of programme success

Involving parents
 Parental education, including women’s literacy
 Community programmes supporting young children and families
 More engagement in formal programmes (parents as resource people)
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Continuity between home, ECCE and primary school
 School readiness and ready schools
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Better training and support for ECCE staff
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Minimum standards covering private and public providers
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Promoting inclusion
 cultural diversity and gender equality
 mother tongue learning
 children with disabilities and other special needs
26
Financing ECCE:
Finding the balance
How to allocate limited resources to children most in need?
Funding is public and private
Income targeting
Less than 10% of public education
spending goes to pre-primary
Geographical targeting
(remote areas,urban slums)
Even in OECD countries, parents’
share can run up to 60%
Targeting specific groups: disabled,
those in emergency situations
Universal coverage + extra support
to disadvantaged children (OECD)
A universal policy with targeted spending on most disadvantaged?
27
ECCE: A low priority for donors
Japan
EC
United Kingdom
Germany
Almost all donors allocate to pre-primary
France
Netherlands
less than 10% of what they give to primary
Denmark
UNDP
Italy
Canada
Bilateral donors give priority to centre-
Ireland
Belgium
based programmes for children from age 3
Luxembourg
Portugal
Norway
New Zealand
UNICEF
Australia
Finland
Spain
0
5
10
15
Aid to ECCE as
% of aid to primary education
28
Aid for EFA
Different donors, different priorities
Aid to basic education
Aid to education
Luxembourg
New Zealand
Switzerland
Ireland
Finland
Five donors
contribute 72% of all
bilateral aid to
education
Portugal
Italy
Austria
Greece
Denmark
Australia
Spain
Belgium
Several donors give
high priority to
education, but not to
the basic level
Sweden
Norway
Canada
Netherlands
EC
United States
United Kingdom
Germany
Japan
France
IDA
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
constant 2003 US$ billions
29
EFA: An aid gap remains
Required each
year to reach EFA
Current
aid
11.0
3.4
Aid in 2010 if
2005 pledges
met
5.4
Constant 2003 US$ billions
Role of the Fast Track Initiative?
30
Resolve and responsibility for
the EFA agenda
1. Comprehensive: all the goals matter
2. Urgency: stepping up political commitment
3. Inclusion: reaching vulnerable and disadvantged
4. Financing: higher spending on basic education
5. Early childhood: setting strong foundations
31
Contact Information
EFA Global Monitoring Report Team
c/o UNESCO
7, place de Fontenoy
75352 Paris 07
France
[email protected]
www.efareport.unesco.org