- Why are our schools behind others?
That the level of education in South Asia, especially school education, lacks considerably than many other regions in the world is no secret. That the same region enjoys a youth bulge in terms of demography is also quite evident, but the current level of education, especially at the primary and secondary levels– the formative years for a child in terms of developing cognitive capacities for better learning– continues to keep that bulge more of a liability than an asset; is a reflection of lacklustre performance of educational policy of the region as a whole. This situation has negative repercussions for social cohesion, equitable economic growth, and the quality of democracy; and hence, indicators regarding these also lag behind many other regions of the world.
In this regard, a recent study by the World Bank Group Ready to learn: before school, in school, and beyond school in South Asia ‘argues that to improve, South Asia’s education systems must focus on three critically important principles. First, countries must give all children a head start through adequate and effective investments in early childhood development. Second, countries must adopt an outcome-oriented approach and align education systems at every level toward learning. Third, countries should leverage the region’s untapped resources— women, information and communication technology, and non-state players (WIN)— to strengthen their education systems.’
The Report highlights key challenges– which should be addressed by policymakers in the region in a more focused and effective way
The Report points out that while the South Asian region overall has shown progress over the previous decade in terms of school education, yet two main concerns remain: ‘First, there remains a large percentage of school-age children out of school. The challenge is especially stark in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which have yet to make primary education universal. In both countries, girls are far less likely to attend school than boys, a colossal waste of potential. Second, the region accounts for approximately 20 million children who are “learning poor”; that is, 10-year-olds who cannot read and comprehend an age-appropriate paragraph. Without being able to read, young people are unlikely to thrive.’
South Asia as a whole is faced with the challenge of increasing enrolment, where according to the Report ‘over 35 million school-age children are not in school in South Asia, either because they have never enrolled or because they have dropped out. This out-of-school cohort includes girls, migrant children, and children living in conflict areas. These children are less likely to enter the labor market or to sign up for vocational training courses. Along with dropouts from school, these young children grow up to become part of the more-than-40-million 15-to-29-year-olds who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET).’
Sadly, the two bigger countries in the region, India and Pakistan, particularly have not fared well in terms of children out of school, or programmes pertaining to skills development. In their case particularly, the Report points out that ‘The likelihood of not being in school or in skills development programs is higher among older children, particularly among older girls in Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. A key reason is that barriers to education and vocational training may be greater for older girls. In societies and communities where girls’ mobility is restricted, more opportunities need to be provided for girls to continue education and skills training. Even though they are not in school, many of these young people are not working either. This is likely because many activities performed by girls at home are not recorded as “work” in household surveys. In short, they are neither learning nor earning.’
With regard to the primary and secondary school education, the following statistics are quite revealing of the profound challenge at hand, once again particular for India and Pakistan, whereby ‘The share of primary school–age children attending private schools in 2015 was about 19 percent in rural India and 25 percent in rural Pakistan, but 45 percent in urban India and 54 percent in urban Pakistan. In India primary school–age boys were 15 percent more likely than girls to attend private school, and secondary school–age boys were 20 percent more likely. In Pakistan, there was no significant gender gap in private primary school attendance, but secondary school–age boys were 15 percent more likely than girls to attend private schools (Gandhi and Béteille 2018)… Nearly 45 percent of students in Afghanistan and 25 percent in Pakistan do not continue to secondary school. Although Bangladesh, India, and Nepal have made substantial progress recently, nearly 15 percent of their student population is without access to secondary schools.’
According to the Report the region as a whole is facing a learning crisis, since ‘over one-third of the students do not have grade-level competencies.’ Among the steps recommended in the Report, include firstly, improving early childhood education, whereby ‘countries must (1) increase public spending; (2) improve regulation and ensure age-appropriate activities; and (3) strengthen system capacity. With nearly 50 percent of children below the age of 5 at risk of not meeting their development potential, the moral and economic argument for supporting early childhood development is strong.’
Secondly, the Report recommends aligning early level education systems with learning, whereby it points out ‘In schools, for skills development and higher education systems to align toward learning, five things are essential: ensuring all children are in school; creating a better measurement of outcomes; addressing the low capacity to deliver; minimizing coordination failures across ministries; and ensuring accountability for outcomes.’
Another important focus of the Report is with regard to improving the effectiveness of teachers in South Asia. The Report highlights key challenges– which should be addressed by policymakers in the region in a more focused and effective way– and include ‘Unlike countries with strong school systems, countries in South Asia have yet to build an effective cadre of teachers. Across the region, countries lack the preconditions to make teachers effective in the classroom. Many teachers lack both adequate content knowledge and effective teaching skills. Teachers are especially ill equipped to help poorly performing students learn, instead often blaming poor learning outcomes on underperforming students…
[Moreover], teaching suffers from poor professional norms, which makes educating South Asia’s children even more difficult. Relative to high-performing school systems across the world, the quality of teaching in South Asian countries is diminished by high rates of teacher absence and little system-level response to manage those absences; high prevalence of teacher-centered tasks inside classrooms; teachers offering private tutoring for pay outside the classroom; and political interference with teacher selection and deployment.’
