EDUCATION

ENROLMENTEARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATIONQUALITY OF EDUCATION

For every childHealth, Education, Equality, ProtectionADVANCE HUMANITY

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TrendsThere is no doubt that East Asia and the Pacific hasdone more than any other region to increase accessto education over the past 30 years. In 1970, therewere over 50 million primary school-aged childrenin this region who were out of school, a figurethat has been reduced to less than 7 million today.Efforts at expanding access to primary educationconstitute a pillar on which the economic develop-ment of the region has been based, and provideshope for continued prosperity, national development,peace and security. However, without attentionbeing paid to educational quality and to curriculumrelevance, children will continue to drop out beforecompleting their basic education and long termnational development will be undermined.

When we analyze who is being left behind and why,we can see continuing trends of disparity affectingspecific groups of children. The graph below showsthat while within the East Asia and Pacific regionthe primary net enrolment rate (NER) stands atover 95 per cent, there are tremendous differencesbetween and within countries. In the graph below,we have shown for each country the national primaryNER and the range of sub-national rates rangingfrom highest to lowest. For example, while LaoPeople’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has a nationalNER of 80 per cent, the provincial NERs within thecountry range from a low of 56 per cent in one provinceup to 97 per cent in the highest, while in China,the range is from 91 per cent to 100 per cent – aroundthe national average of 98 per cent.

National net enrolment rates – with sub-nationaldisparity between high and low regionsIt is extremely difficult to obtain data on specificallywhich children are not being enrolled in school.

We must rely on extrapolation, qualitative reportsand common sense to determine who is beingexcluded. Of course the lack of clear data on exclusion,is itself an indication of the shortage of attentionthat is paid by governments to the plight ofmarginalized children. Educational statistics arerarely disaggregated by ethnic minority, by languagegroup (Viet Nam being a notable exception), byreligious affiliation or by socio-economic status.This lack of data on the children being left behindmakes it extremely difficult for governments to takeconcrete and effective steps to address factorsthat create disparities. Regionally, we find five coregroups of children who are being denied their rightto basic education: ethnic minorities; children inremote areas; migrant children; children of internally-displaced people; and the disabled.

There are currently over 60 million children in theregion who do not enrol in secondary school.Moreover, when we look at average gross enrolmentand compare this to sub-national figures, as wedid above for primary net enrolment, we find evengreater levels of disparity. In the Philippines, forexample, regional secondary gross enrolment ratesrange from 31 to 97 per cent. Given the expandedeconomic and social opportunities that secondaryeducation provides for young people and the harmreduction that regular secondary school attendanceprovides, such disparity between sub-nationalareas is of particular concern. In every country ofthe region, the enrolment gap between boys andgirls that is found in primary education is morepronounced in secondary. Gender roles and genderstereotyping are also prominent in many secondaryschool systems and can be seen in the differingsports, clubs and extra-curricular activities that areavailable to boys and girls.

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Note: Papua New Guinea uses the gross enrolment rate (GER) figureSources: Cambodia: Education Management Information System, 2003-2004; China: Essential Statistics of Education in China 2003; Indonesia: National Socio-economic Survey 2002;Lao PDR: MDG for the Lao PDR, Ministry of Education (2002/3) Annual Report; Malaysia: Education for All 2000 Assessment, 2000; Mongolia: Ministry of Science, Technology,Education and Culture/National Statistical Office. Statistical Yearbooks, 1998; Myanmar: Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey 2003; Philippines: Department of Education, Culture andSports. Annual Report 1998, 1999; Papua New Guinea: Department of Education, State of Education in PNG report, March 2003; Thailand: Ministry of Education. Regional EducationReport, 1998; Timor-Leste: Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey 2002; Viet Nam: Viet Nam Millennium Development Goals, Closing the Millennium Gaps, November 2003

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School fees and the direct and indirect costs ofschooling have a tremendous effect on enrolmentand completion. In countries with school fee systemsand policies in place, many children are denied theirright to basic education for lack of money. Thereis a fine balance between the responsibilities offamilies to support their children’s education and theresponsibilities of the state to remove all barriers toparticipation in school. In many Pacific Island Statesand Papua New Guinea, the school fee issue isparticularly critical and is resulting in large numbersof youth dropping out, especially in the later yearsof schooling when fees are typically at their highest.While, in terms of enrolment, gender disparities dodiffer between matrilineal and patrilineal societies,differences are usually found between boys’ andgirls’ enrolment and completion rates, especially inthe higher grades and in countries with school feepolicies in place.

Ethnic minorities, often living in remote areas, facemany obstacles to ensuring their children’s right toeducation. The first and foremost of these is thelanguage of instruction. If families see their childrenstruggling with basic comprehension, learning froma teacher with whom they cannot communicateand textbooks they cannot understand, there is littleincentive for regular attendance, and even lessincentive to enrol younger children in school whenelder siblings have dropped out as a consequenceof language issues. Bilingual education and the use

of mother tongue instruction are proven means ofensuring that ethnic minorities complete their basiceducation, acquire the national language and becomemore productive members of society. Both Chinaand Cambodia are investing in bilingual programmesthat allow ethnic minority children to commencepre-school in their mother tongue and spendthe first few years of primary school learning thenational language as a subject, while at the sametime studying math, social studies and reading in theirown language. By grade 4, these students are ableto make the transition into learning core subjects inthe national language, with the option of continuingto study their mother tongue as a subject. Thisapproach has required investments in textbook andmaterials development, in the recruitment andspecial training of ethnic minority teachers, and inadvocacy and awareness raising for communitiesand leaders on the long-term benefits of bilingualeducation. By depriving ethnic minority children oftheir right to learn, governments run the risk offurther fragmenting society, increasing existingdisparities and fomenting discontent.

Children of families who, for one reason or another,have moved away from their home often facedifficulties in achieving educational success. In thecase of the resettlement of whole communities,children often face psychological adjustmentswhich accompany such shifts, including the lack ofcommunity support networks, the loss of status, andfamily economic difficulties which can conspire topull them out of school. Internally displaced peoplewho have been forced to shift due to internal conflictor natural disasters are often unable to accesseducation or make the adjustments necessary tore-enrol their children in school. In this contextgovernments have an obligation to provide access,to invest in services and to remove barriers, bothlegislative and financial. An example of such measuresis China’s revision of educational policies to allowchildren of migrant workers – its “floating population” of 100 million – access to school, even if the parentsare not officially registered. Countries have theobligation within the framework of the Conventionon the Rights of the Child to provide educationto all children within their borders, even those whomay not be recognized as citizens or legal immigrants.This is a tremendous challenge for countries inthe Mekong with relatively porous borders and ahistory of shifting populations, especially whenlow levels of birth registration and documentationoften result in children being deprived of their rightto enrol in school.

Children with disabilities are also disadvantaged by lowenrolment rates in schools as a consequence of bothsocial stigmatisation and unwelcoming schools. It isestimated by the World Bank that globally, less than5 per cent of children with disabilities in developingcountries are ever enrolled in school. Parents oftenfeel embarrassed if they have children who aredifferently abled and therefore can be reluctant tosend them to school. Social norms often imply that

Source: Ministry of Education/UNESCO Principal Regional Office for Asia and thePacific. Education for All 2000 Assessment, 2000

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children with disabilities are stupid and cannot learn,even if their disability is not connected to learning.Schools themselves, especially teachers, fear thatallowing a disabled child into their classroom willcause disruption and impair learning for others. Tocounter this trend of excluding disabled children,more and more countries in the region are turningto “inclusive” education strategies, whereby teachersare trained to include handicapped children in theirregular classrooms. Relying on teacher training,community advocacy and awareness-raising among allstudents, inclusive education approaches are resultingin increasing numbers of disabled children attainingtheir right to basic education and increasing societies’capacity to appreciate and understand people withdisabilities. It is important that inclusive educationbe supported by health checks, referral systems fortreatment and specialized educational opportunities –especially for the teaching of sign language andBraille. Regionally, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia andNew Zealand have model programmes that featurethe inclusion of children with disabilities.

While the region is justifiably proud of the small gendergaps in primary enrolment, there are other aspectsof gender inequality and disparity. Within schools, thetreatment of boys and girls is often unequal, especiallyin regard to discipline, seating arrangements andthe allocation of time for interaction with the teacher.It is important to note that discrimination, genderstereotyping and unequal treatment based on sexcan affect either boys or girls negatively. In somecountries, boys are bullied emotionally and physicallyby teachers, resulting in their dropping out. In othercountries, girls may be harassed by male students,on the way to and from school, impacting their abilityto attend regularly and their capacity to concentrateon studies.

Disparity in secondary education enrolments affectsfar larger groups of children to a far greater extentthan in primary education. Ethnic minorities anddisabled children are even less likely to be found in

secondary schools than they are in primary. Therural-urban divide in access to secondary educationis also very high, with far fewer rural schools servingmuch larger populations of potential students. Distancebetween the home and school also plays a muchgreater role in rural areas as there are fewer secondaryschools, requiring students to stay away from homeor face long daily commutes. In both cases, girls areoften at risk and disadvantaged, as are all childrenin remote communities and/or children who are poor.Economic factors also play an important part ininequity, especially as private schools becomeincreasingly common for secondary education. Fiercecompetition for relatively limited places in governmentsecondary schools favours the urbanized and affluent.

Disparities in educational attainment both reflectand result in greater disparities in earning powerand economic opportunity, in self-esteem and socialstanding, and in health and nutritional status offuture families. By whole heartedly addressing accessto education governments can ensure that disparitiesdo not lead to dangerous levels of social inequity.It is equally important that children have access toquality education as it is well documented that lowquality schools are the key cause of dropout and oflow rates of student attendance. Experience hasshown that providing the children who are being leftbehind with quality education can be more costlythan the provision of education for those childrenwho are enrolled; however, the longer term economicand social costs of not providing education for outof school children will be far greater.

Action points• We need better data and an improved use of

Education Management Information Systems(EMIS) to draw attention to disparities and highlightwhich groups of the population are being deniedtheir full educational rights. The use of disaggregateddata by district, by ethnic minority, by rural/urban, byboy/girl and by other relevant indicators can helpin planning for action.

Sources: UNESCO. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2003/2004 and 2005; China: UNDP. Human Development Report 2002; Indonesia: National Socio-Economic Survey datacalculated for MDG Report, 2003; Mongolia: Ministry of Science, Technology, Education and Culture, 2002; Philippines: Department of Education

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• Recognize the link between quality and access.• Improve efforts to link “special education” with an

inclusive approach for disabled children. Encouragegreater enrolment of children with disabilities inregular schools while providing special courseson Braille and sign language for teachers andstudents during holidays or at special times of theyear.

• Allow children who enrol late in Grade 1, or whoare older and have capacity to learn quickly, to tryaccelerated learning, so that they can catch up to

their age cohort through extra non-formal courses,coaching or extra homework.

• Increase national budgets for education to maintainhigh levels of primary enrolment while expandingthe secondary school system.

• Invest in development of local language maths,literacy and social studies textbooks for Grades 1-3,as well as specialized materials on learning thenational language, so that ethnic minority childrencan study successfully their first three grades whilelearning the national language.

SITUATION REVIEW ONEARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

TrendsThe expansion of pre-primary education is the firstof the Education for All (EFA) Dakar goals. There wasa general expansion of pre-school coverage in theregion between 1990 and 2000, but more recent trendssuggest that in several countries, the coverage ofpre-primary education has stagnated, and in somecases declined. As can be seen in the graph below,there is still much that needs to be done to ensurethat all children have access to organized learningopportunities before they enter primary school. It isworth noting that while several countries, includingthe Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand,Thailand and Malaysia, have over 80 per cent oftheir 3 to 5 year-old children in organized learningcentres, other countries such as Lao PDR, Cambodiaand Timor-Leste have reached less than 10 per centof their young children.

A diminishing national budget for pre-primaryeducation in several countries is accompanied byincreasing reliance on privatization. Several countrieshave been pursuing privatization strategies inpre-school and organized early learning. In China,the Ministry has reduced its budget for EarlyChildhood Education and no longer covers therunning costs of pre-schools, which are now paid forby local government and families. Limited resourcesare provided by the Ministry for central monitoring,supervision and training – a model being followedby several countries in the region. Increasingly, parentsare expected to pay fees and tuition costs even ingovernment pre-schools and child care centres andespecially in countries where pre-schools are beinghanded over to the private sector to manage. Inall countries, private pre-schools are being opened(especially in urban areas) and operated often with

Sources: UNESCO. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2003/2004 and 2005; EFA 2000; Myanmar: Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey 2003

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higher quality, thereby increasing the disparity inschool readiness between rich and poor, urban andrural. These disparities become even more pronouncedwhen government pre-schools and community childcare centres in less affluent communities are closed,so only those who can afford private pre-schoolscan provide early-learning opportunities for theirchildren.

It is important to differentiate between Early ChildDevelopment (ECD) and Early Childhood Education(ECE). ECD is the holistic development of theyoung child, encompassing health, nutrition, birthregistration, early stimulation, care and education.Good quality care with love can improve thedevelopment of the young child. ECD is usuallyreferred to in the context of the broader needs ofchildren under the age of five years whereas, bycontrast, ECE is focused more upon the cognitiveand psycho-social development of children under 5.This can be provided in home-based and community-based centres or in school-based pre-schools andkindergartens. There is ample research to show thatadequate nutrition, low incidence of illness, andgood hygiene in the early years have a direct andsignificant impact on intelligence and the capacityto learn. It is the combination of stimulation andearly learning with good health and nutrition thathas the optimal impact on the development ofyoung children. When using the term ECE, it isimportant that this be defined as broadly as possible,and not just as pre-school. While middle incomecountries generally refer to formal, school-basedmodels or pre-schools, there are many examples ofcommunity-based and home-based child care centreswhich can deliver as high a quality of organizedearly learning as school-based pre-schools. Regardlessof whether early childhood centres are school orcommunity based, regular training, supervision andprofessional support are essential. In addition, EMISsystems need to be modified so that community-based and non-formal day care centres are includedin national data sets on early learning.

Within Ministries of Education and Finance, policymakers and staff do not necessarily understand thefull importance of investing in pre-primary andorganized early child care. The benefits of stimulationand early learning include a wide range of directand indirect outcomes, the most immediate of whichis success in primary school. Extensive research fromAsia and the Pacific shows that children who areexposed to pre-school and organized early learninggroups have higher completion and achievementrates in primary school, and lower repetition and dropout when compared with those children who havenot been attending pre-school or community-basedcentres. Long-term studies of children in the USAshow that children with pre-school experience hadhigher education levels and higher paying jobslater in life. Lower incidences of anti-social behaviour,

teenage pregnancy, drug use and crime are alsoassociated with improved levels of pre-schoolexperience. Publicly funded early child educationprogrammes can play an increasing role in reducingsocial exclusion and educational disparity. By investingin quality early learning programmes, governmentscan reduce the waste of resources that is theresult of children having to repeat (especially the earlygrades), with the dual effect of improving the futureof young children and saving money through increasedefficiency in primary education.

Quality, according to a recent OECD study, impliesa well-informed and clear vision of aims, strongpartnerships with families and primary schools, wellthought out policies for access, high standards ofstaffing and training and a long-term agenda forresearch and evaluation. There are a number of risksgovernments face when reducing budgets forearly childhood, or even when allowing budgets andearly childhood coverage levels to stagnate. Themost serious risk is that of lowering the qualityof child-care centres. Without sufficient budgetsfor training, for regular supervision and inspection,for ensuring hygienic and safe environments and forappropriate materials, child-care centres can run therisk of being of such poor quality as to be detrimentalto the well-being of children. This is true of bothpublic and private pre-schools.

As can be seen below, there are tremendousdifferences between countries in regard to thepercentage of pre-school teachers who have beentrained. Without investing in the basics required forquality, including pre-service training, regular in-servicetraining and professional support, regular supervisionand the provision of materials and learning aids,governments cannot expect full returns for theirinvestment in early childhood education. In the graphon the following page, it should be noted that whilePapua New Guinea and Lao PDR have high levels oftrained ECE teachers, overall national coverage isquite low. As countries scale up their provision of ECE,it is important that they plan for the requirementsfor trained teachers, and that they expand their pre-service training capacity accordingly.

It is also important to note that appropriate care of theyoung child interrelates with health, nutritionalstatus and psycho-social development of the child.Infants who are well-nourished will have bettercognitive development than malnourished children,while children who are well-nourished and alsoreceive appropriate stimulation and care will haveeven higher rates of development. This is not acause and effect relationship, but an example of theinterrelatedness of interventions on behalf of theyoung child and an indication of the importance forgovernment, communities and families to continue toinvest more in young children in order to ensurethat they reach their full potential.

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Action Points• Each government should play a crucial role in

ensuring minimum standards and improving thequality of early learning. Different forms of earlylearning have their values and as such should all berecognized by statistics bureaus monitored forquality and supported in terms of training, materialsand supervision. In particular, government super-vision should ensure that private day-care centreswithout trained teachers, proper hygiene andsanitation, without learning materials or toys, andsafety features, should not be allowed to operate.

• The privatization of pre-schools should be com-plemented with free or subsidized opportunitiesfor the disadvantaged and poor.

• The more that parents recognise the value ofgood early learning, the more they will be ableto advocate for it in their community. Therefore,raising public awareness and focusing attentionon what is required to acheive quality in an earlylearning centre or pre-school will help ensure thequality of centres.

• To enhance the work of pre-schools and earlylearning centres, parenting education componentsshould be planned and supported. Extensioninto the home, through parent days, parentself-learning materials, special events or meetingsis a proven way of increasing the impact of earlylearning and educating parents on how to optimizetheir child’s development.

Source: UNESCO. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005

TrendsWhile access to primary education has increasedsignificantly in most countries of East Asia and thePacific, there are still serious concerns about thequality of education being provided. School attendanceis just a prerequisite of education. For learning to takeplace, the quality of education is crucial. Moreover,access to education of low quality also reduces futureenrolment – children leave school through boredomand similarly, recognizing school’s irrelevance, parentsfind better uses for their children’s time than sendingthem to school.

Quality in an education system implies quality in fivekey elements: learners; processes; environment;content; and outcomes. ”Quality learners” refers to

students who do not have developmental delays dueto malnutrition in their early years, who are fedbreakfast and lunch during school days, who do notsuffer from worm infestations and disease, and whoare not victims of violence, abuse or exploitationat home. ”Quality processes” rely on teachers who arewell trained and regularly supervised in child-centredmethodologies and creative teaching/learning activities.”Quality content” covers relevant and practicalsubject matter that ensures mastery of reading, writingand mathematics and, when necessary, the use oflanguages of instruction that students can understand.“Quality learning environments” includes qualityclassroom spaces, the provision of toilets and waterfor drinking and washing, and a protective, safeatmosphere. A quality learning environment also

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refers to more basic issues, such as the provision oftextbooks, blackboards and other learning materials.“Quality outcomes” involve regular systems ofassessing progress so that teachers can be assuredthat all students can master the basic competencies ofeach grade. Attention to all five of these dimensionscan together ensure a quality education system.

Access to quality education can vary significantlybetween different population groups, e.g. rich andpoor, remote and urban, boys and girls. Schools witha relatively low resource base will not have thesame level of quality processes, of quality learnersor of quality environment as more affluent schools.Less affluent schools may not have textbooks for alltheir students, may not have trained teachers, maynot have students who have had access to organizedearly learning – all factors that have a direct impacton quality and learning. Teachers may also havebiases in terms of their treatments of boys andgirls – calling on boys more often and seating girlsin the back, or beating and humiliating boys, resultingin their dropping out. Without measures to addressgaps in quality, there will continue to be disparitiesin outcomes – between boys and girls, between ethnicminorities and national majorities, between wealthierand poorer remote schools – with the potentialfor perpetuating disparities for generations to come.

Quality is difficult to measure directly, so we oftenuse several other statistics as proxy indicators. Belowwe present a graph of primary completion rates,which shows a range of nearly 100 per cent of childrencompleting their primary education in China and inthe Republic of Korea, down to just over 50 per centin Papua New Guinea. Completion rates give us a goodindication of whether schools have a strong enoughattraction to keep children enrolled and engagedthroughout the primary cycle. As stated above,schools with low quality tend to lose students, andschools of high quality tend to keep students – even

students from poor and disadvantaged households.Other factors affecting completion are the directand indirect costs of schooling, language barriers,incomplete schools in remote areas, violence andbullying in schools and other social factors. Lowquality can result in high dropout and repetitionrates and low completion rates, all of which representa significant waste of resources.

Another aspect of disparity is the differences foundin student performance between rural and remoteprovinces and urban centres, and between affluentand poor students. Two international studies ofstudent achievement (Programme for InternationalStudent Assessment (PISA) and Trends in InternationalMaths and Science Study (TIMSS)) enable anexamination of the disparities between the highest,average and lowest performers within countries aswell as a comparison of this disparity across countries.The gap between the levels of achievement wouldnot be considered inequitable if this representedthe different natural abilities of children and if allstudents were achieving to their full potential. TheTIMSS and PISA studies measured the inequality,or relative gap in test scores between the 5thpercentile and 50th percentiles, which included fourcountries in this region (Republic of Korea, Japan,Australia and New Zealand). As can be seen on thefollowing page, the relative gap in the Republic ofKorea was three times less than that of New Zealandand half that of Australia’s. The reasons for thedifferences in the relative gap between average andlow performing students is still not clear, but thesocial and economic consequences of such disparitiesare likely to be significant and are most probablyintergenerational. Similar research has yet to becarried out in programme countries in East Asia andthe Pacific but we can assume that there will begreat differences in learning achievement betweengroups when analysed by economic status, byurban/rural and by sex.

Sources: World Bank. World Development Report 2004; MDG reports (Indonesia, Philippines, Viet Nam); Timor-Leste: Ministry of Education and Culture.Statistik Pendidikan Menurut Jender, 1996

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The Child Friendly School (CFS) framework has beendeveloped to assist in increasing education quality. CFSinterventions have five dimensions, which addressthree of the main pillars of quality mentioned above.A child-friendly school is inclusive and child-seeking;effective and child-centred; protective, safe andhealthy; gender sensitive and responsive; and activelyengaged with students, parents and communities.Substantial experience in the region with CFS hasshown that sustained quality improvements areindeed possible, even in poor and remote schools.Excellent examples of CFS models working throughcommunities and parent-teacher associations toimprove school quality can be found in Thailand,Vanuatu and the Philippines. In Mongolia, a nationalCFS policy was adopted in early 2004, paving theway for the introduction of CFS into pre-service and inservice teacher training programmes. CFS is currentlybeing implemented, with support from UNICEF,UNESCO and national governments, in 50 countriesglobally and in nearly 20 countries of this region.Local commitment, central-level leadership, and

technical support at all levels of implementation arecrucial success factors in attaining quality educationthrough CFS.

Teacher-pupil ratios are another way of looking atthe potential for quality education, with the assumptionthat the larger the class-size, the more difficultit is for the teacher to deliver quality instruction.In the East Asia and Pacific region, average primaryclassroom size ranges from over 50 students perteacher in Cambodia to under 20 students perteacher in Brunei Darussalam, New Zealand, Japan andMalaysia – countries that are known for the qualityof their education systems. Disparity in pupil-teacherratios between rural and urban schools exists inall countries, often with semi-urban schools strugglingwith overcrowded conditions and poor remoteschools with smaller catchment areas having lowerratios. But research in OECD countries found thatclass size alone does not have a direct impact onlearning achievement. Only when accompanied byother inputs is it an important element in quality.

Source: Innocenti Report Card, Issue No.4, November 2002

Source: UNESCO. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005

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Another proxy indicator for quality is the percentageof trained teachers in the school system. Whilethere are large disparities in the definition of trainedand qualified teachers across the region, from eightyears of education with three years of training, tocompletion of university with specialization in teaching,the graph above shows how difficult it is for somecountries to recruit and retain trained teachers. Thelack of trained teachers is especially high in remoterural areas, where it is difficult to recruit teacherslocally and where urban teachers often refuse tobe assigned. It is worth noting that through intensiveefforts to provide accredited in-service teachertraining, Lao PDR has been able to raise the numberof trained primary teachers from less than 50 per centin 1995 to nearly 80 per cent today. In ensuring therecruitment of teachers from ethnic minority groupsnot proficient in the national language, specialprovisions can be adopted for hiring teachers withlower education qualifications if provided with specialtraining and follow-up support, as has been done inViet Nam and Cambodia. The issue of language isalso a challenge in Timor-Leste, where Portuguese andTetum are the two official languages used in schoolsbut may not necessarily be the mother tongueof the teachers or students. This in turn affects thequality of teaching, enrolment levels and the learningachievement of children.

One aspect of educational interventions missing fromalmost all countries of the region is a systematicprocess of assessing student achievement. This isnot to be confused with national exams, which serveas gate-keepers for access to higher education. Rather,

this refers to the systematic use of assessment toassure that all students are acquiring the basic competencies from the curriculum, and which allowsschools and teachers to take remedial action ifthey find that students are not learning as expected.At present, only a few countries are instituting suchassessment systems, although a core group ofseven countries (DPR Korea, Mongolia, China,Indonesia, Myanmar, Viet Nam and Timor-Leste)has started to collaborate with UNICEF on a regionalpilot to assess learning achievement in primaryschools. Viet Nam and Lao PDR are also workingwith the World Bank on building national learningachievement systems.

In secondary schools, ensuring quality is essentialfor keeping students enrolled until they completethe full secondary cycle. Secondary schools provideprotective environments for children. Integrating lifeskills approaches in the classroom equips studentswith the skills they need to avoid high-risk behaviourthrough informed choice as such mitigating thechances of them contracting HIV/AIDS and reducingincidences of substance abuse, illegal activities, orpremature sex. Practical livelihood skills, providedto adolescents through quality secondary systems,also help ensure that students can earn incomesand that the process of secondary education isperceived as worth completing. Without payingincreasing attention to secondary education, andbudgeting for the needs of adolescents for relevantand practical quality education, nations will not beproducing the trained young work force neededto drive national economies in the future.

Source: UNESCO. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005

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Action points• Teacher quality can be improved by the use of

‘model schools’ and practice teaching in pre-servicetraining. Regular in-service training and teacherdevelopment programmes can also transformclassroom teaching and help to make the bridgefrom theory to practice in the classroom. Regularand professional support and supervision, requiringinvestment by the education ministries, is also akey element of quality. These investments includemore supervisors and the cost of their travel to getout and visit schools, as well as opportunities forteachers and headmasters to develop professionallyand to be rewarded for their efforts.

• Curricula can be improved by decentralizingauthority and building local capacity for curriculummodification. We need to allow schools to tap intolocal knowledge and community experts to makelearning practical for the needs of the community.Provincial and district education offices must beequipped with the tools, capacity and budget todevelop local materials, using community experts andstudents as authors – in local languages if required.

• Teaching will be more effective for those whodo not speak the main national language if thereis bi-lingual education, and if special learningprogrammes for ethnic minorities are developedto support their transition to the use of national

language. This may imply high initial costs, butthe impact in terms of providing these groupswith education and the resultant economic andsocial benefits will more than return the investmentwithin one generation. These bi-lingual and transitionprogrammes have to be of high enough qualityto be effective. Local language programmes forthree hours per week do not constitute a bi-lingualprogramme and will not have the same effect asbi-lingual education.

• Without assessment, the quality of teaching cannotsystematically improve. As such so countries needto develop systematic methods for the assessmentof student achievement. Such assessments aredifferent from the ‘gate keeping’ function of school-leaving exams (e.g. between primary and secondaryschool); rather, they are instead a means of assessinglearning achievement and of ensuring that allchildren learn.

• Textbooks are still an issue for many countriesin the region. An education system without schoolbooks for all children is like a health systemwithout vaccines. It is within the grasp of everygovernment to ensure that every classroom hasenough learning materials for students. Systemsfor the timely printing, storage and distributionof learning materials require strong coordination,teamwork and a regular budget.

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UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office19 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, ThailandTel: (662) 356-9499Fax: (662) 280-3563

E-mail: eapro@unicef.orgWeb site: www.unicef.org

There is no doubt that East Asia and the Pacific has done more than anyother region to increase access to education over the past 30 years.

Between 1990 and 2000 there was a general expansion of pre-schoolcoverage in the region, but more recent trends suggest that in severalcountries, the coverage of pre-primary education has stagnated and insome cases declined.

While primary enrolments have increased significantly in most countriesin the East Asia and Pacific region, serious concerns remain in regard todisparities in access and the quality of education being provided.

PHOTO CREDITSFront cover UNICEF/EAP00355/Youkonton R.Back cover UNICEF/EAP00492/Unknown