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Transcript of Global Education Digest UNESCO
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global education digest 2004
Comparing Education Statistics Across the World
UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal, 2004
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UNESCO
The consti tut ion of the Unit ed Nations Educational, Scientif ic and Cult ural Organization (UNESCO)
was adopt ed by 20 countr ies at t he London Conf erence in November 1945 and ent ered int o eff ect on
4 November 1946. The Organizat ion current ly has 190 Member States and six Associate M embers.
The main obj ecti ve of UNESCO is to contribut e to peace and securit y in t he wo rld by promoti ng
collaboration among nations through education, science, culture and communication in order t o f oster
universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights and fundamental freedoms that are
affirmed f or t he peoples of the w orld, wit hout distinction o f race, sex, language or religion, by theCharter of t he United Nations.
To fulfill its mandate, UNESCO performs five principal functions: 1) prospective studies on education,
science, cult ure and communication fo r t omorrow s world; 2) the advancement, t ransfer and sharing
of knowledge through research, training and teaching activities; 3) standard-setting actions for the
preparation and adoption of internal instruments and statutory recommendations; 4) expertise
through technical co-operation to Member Stat es for their development policies and proj ects; and
5) the exchange of specialized inf ormat ion.
UNESCO is headquart ered in Paris, France.
The UNESCO Inst it ut e for Stat ist ics
The UNESCO Inst it ut e for Stati sti cs (UIS) is the stati st ical of f ice of UNESCO and is the UN deposit ory
fo r gl obal stat isti cs in t he f ields of educati on, science and t echnology, cult ure and communication.
UIS was established in 1999. It was created t o improve UNESCOs statist ical programme and to develop
and deliver the timely, accurate and policy-relevant statistics needed in todays increasingly complex
and rapid ly changing social, polit ical and economic environments.
UIS is based in M ont real, Canada.
Publ ished in 2004 by
UNESCO Instit ut e f or Stati st ics
P.O. Box 6128, Succursale Centre-Vi lle
Mont real, Quebec H3C 3J7
Canada
Tel: (1 514) 343-6880
Fax: (1 514) 343-6882
Email: [email protected]
http://www.uis.unesco.org
ISBN: 92-9189-007-3
UIS 2004
Design: JCNicholls Design
Print ing: St . Joseph Print Group
Phot o credit s: UNESCO: D.Roger, A.Abb, A.Jonqu ires, A.Gillet te, I.Forbes
Ref: UIS/SD/04-01
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FOREWORD
This digest is the second in an annual series produced by t he UNESCO
Insti tu te for Statisti cs (UIS). In our f irst issue we high lig ht ed the
import ance of data in inform ing t he development of education
poli cy wi th in count ries - a key step towards the achievement of
quality education f or all children t hroughout the w orld. The UIS
strives to help countries collect timely data of integrity which
meet t he dual requi rements of relevance to national pol icies and
compliance with international data standards. This will permit
regional and global pictures to be drawn and cross-national
comparisons to be made. Improving the quality of education
statistics takes time since many of the statistics can only be
collected as by-products of sound administrative systems which
are oft en under-resourced. Noneth eless, we believe that this
digest represents a sign if icant improvement since last year in terms
of coverage, t imeliness, international comparabili ty and validi ty. We
shall stri ve for continued improvements th rough our collaborationswith t he national stat isti cians - to w hom w e are very grateful - and
our partner agencies.
The digest utilises data from surveys and school assessments,
alongside statistics emanating from the administrative systems.
Data are repo rt ed f or the schoo l years 2000/01 and 2001/02, and
the accompanying CD-Rom (in English and French) also includes
selected data and ind icators for the t wo preceding school years:
1998/99 and 1999/2000. The UIS aims to incorporate other data
sources which would help to provide a fuller picture of the global
education system. We are also very interested in feedback on thisdigest so t hat we can improve i ts relevance to education researchers
and pol icy-makers.
In each issue of the digest , we include a topic of current import ance
in relation to global education statistics, and this time we look
beyond primary education to consider part icipation at lat er stages
of schoo lin g. The last decade has w it nessed substant ial g row th in
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educat ional par t ic ipat ion across th e w or ld ,
part icularly in Af rica and Sout h America.
Nevert heless, inequi t ies persist and are a cause
of concern in both developing or developed
coun tr ies. Alt hough a chil d t oday can expect t o
receive 9.3 years of schooling at primary and
secondary level, t here i s considerabl e variat ion
across the world. In high-performing countries,
another 2.5 years participation in t ertiary education
can be added, whereas in Af rica the average t ime
spent in tert iary education remains marginal. Thus
a child of school entrance age in Finland, New
Zealand or Norway can expect to receive a tot al of
over 17 years of education; almost double that in
Bangladesh or Myanmar, and f our t imes as much as
in Niger o r Burkina Faso.
The problem is even worse than i t appears at f irst
sight because school life expectancy overstates
the achievements in countries where children
repeat grades. More than 10% of pupils are
repeating grades in 35 countries at the primary
level and i n 38 count ries at the secondary l evel.
Thus considerable proportions of already scarce
resources are being spent on children who are
repeating g rades.
The analysis also shows that the expected years of
schooling are highly, but not perfectly, correlated
wi th t he national income of a count ry. Inequalities
in access to education occur within, as well as
between, countries and we address the key
quest io n as to whet her longer dura t i on o f
schooling translates int o greater part icipation rates.
It is important to assess countries progress in
relatio n, not only to the glo bal goals, but also t o
their professed national standards. We present
in fo rmat ion on the na t iona l s tandards fo r
comp ulsory education in order to judge the extent
to wh ich countries are meeting t heir ow n goals.
We hope that the range of arti cles in t he annual
digests will serve to st imulate more detailed
analysis of the data presented in order that we
may, together with our readers, strengthen the
foundat ions for evidence-based education policies.
Denise Lievesley
Directo r, UNESCO Inst it ut e for Stat ist ics
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CONTENTS
Foreword 3
Contents 5
Acknowledgements 6
Beyond Universal Primary Educat ion 7
Readers Guide 35
Stat istical Tables 39
1. Pre-primary educat ion: Enrolment and staf f 40
2. Pr imary educat ion : In take rates and total enro lment 50
3. Primary educat ion: Enrolment rates and staf f 60
4. Measures of progression, complet ion and 70
school life expectancy
5. Secondary educat ion: Enrolment 80
6. Secondary educat ion: St aff , t ransit ion rat es and 90
post-secondary non-tertiary enrolment
7. Tertiary education: Enrolment and staff 100
8. Number of foreign students in tertiary by hosting 110
country
9. Ter t iary educat ion: Graduates by f ield of educat ion 112
10. Education expendit ure: Spending as % of gross 122
domestic product and by nature
11. Education expendit ure: Sources as % of gross 132
domest ic product
Annexes
A. Glossary 143
B. Def init ions of Indicators 147
C. Internat ional Standard Classi f icat ion of Educat ion 149(ISCED97)
D. Regions 152
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ACKNOWLEDGEM ENTS
This Global Education Digest is based on data provided by the
count ries or t erritor ies covered in th is publication. We would like
to express our gratitude to all those statisticians who, in each
count ry and territ ory, took the time to respond to the UIS or UOE
questionnaires as well as our requests for clarification, for their
participation in regional workshops, and for their comments and
suggesti ons concerning the cont ent of th is publication. We w ould
also like to express our thanks to the international organizations,
in parti cular t he Unit ed Nations Statisti cs and Populat ion Divisions,
the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), Eurostat and other specialised institutions,
that supplied additional inf ormation and stat isti cs to complement
those gathered direct ly by t he UIS.
The publication was coordinated by Rosario Garca Caldern and
Jens Johansen, under t he di rect ion of Alison Kennedy.
The overview chapter was prepared by Michael Bruneforth (lead
author) and Albert M ot ivans.
Special t hanks go t o the survey operations team that has worked t o
improve and revise the educati on database since the publication
of the f irst Global Education Digest: Catherine Blanger,
Marcela Chiang-Sam Garduo, Monica Githaiga, Tin Nam Ho,
Sirin a Kerim-Dikeni, Weixin Lu, Lucy Hong M ei, John Pacif ico,
Zahia Salmi, Ioulia Sementchouk, Anuja Singh and Sad Ould Voffal.
The production of the publication was coordinated by Katja
Frostell and the production of the CD-ROM by Brian Buffett. Other
impor tant input and cont ribut ions were provided by Sad
Belkachla, Csar Guadalupe, Ivan Guentchev, Adriano Miele,
Sawsan Nehme, Leticia Rubello, M amadou Thiam, Yanhong Zhang,
and ot her staff of the UIS.
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BEYOND UNIVERSALPRIM ARY EDUCATION
I. Introduction
The demand for high quality and timely international data on
education systems has risen markedly in the last decade. At the
int ernatio nal level, this demand has been driven by the need t o
moni tor progress towards the international education targets found
in the Education f or All goals (EFA) and the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), which relate to access to and complet ion of education ,
gender parity and good learning out comes for all children. At t he
national level, policy-makers increasingly require a range of
indicators that provide dif ferent types of informat ion about
educati onal access, quali ty and out comes that are comparable bu t
also sensit ive t o change in local cont exts (UNESCO Inst it ut e f orStat isti cs, 2003).
One of the key global education goals for governments is to
reach universal primary education(UPE), or pr imary education fo r
all, by th e year 2015. A principal aim o f prim ary education is to
equip ind ividuals wit h t he basic lit eracy and numeracy skill s th at
t hey need t o develop ind ividuall y and to f unction in society. To
achieve th is most count ries have adopt ed a curri culum of fi ve or
six years of primary schooling which is considered a sufficient
period t o att ain th ese objectives before making the t ransiti on t o
mor e diversif ied and speciali sed education at the secondary level.
At the same time, for many countries developing educational
systems beyond p rim ary schoo ling is essent ial. The expansion of
learning opportunities at the secondary level addresses key
constraints to sustainable development by promoting higher-level
skills and higher rates of return to both individual and societal
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secondary education , alongside prog ress tow ards
int ernational education targets. Most count ries in
the world have adopted national legal regulations
or policy statements that make at least some
secondary education compulsory for all children.
Assessing progress towards national standards
raises awareness of government commit ment s and
holds governments responsible for setting and
maint aining these standards.
The analyses presented here rely primarily on
stat ist ics and ind icat ors draw n f rom t he regular
reporting of administrative data from Member
States to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).
Data from complementary sources, such as inter-
nat ional household surveys and student assessment
programmes, are also presented in order to bett er
reflect school progression and learning out comes.
II. Diverse pat ter ns in part icipat ionand school careers
School life expectancy: A summary measure of
school participation
Parti cipat ion in schoo ling is typically represented
by an enrolment rate. These rates are usually
presented separately for each cycle of education
and can reflect both the capacity of education
systems (Tables 1, 3, 5, 7) and coverage of the
population (Tables 1, 3).
The indicator school l i fe expectancy (SLE)
provides anot her perspecti ve by combi ning t he
enrolment rates in pr imary, secondary andtertiary education w hile min imising t he structu ral
d i f f e rences be tween na t iona l educa t iona l
systems. The ind icator t rans lates cur rent
enrolment patt erns across education levels into the
number of years of schooling that, on average,
individuals can expect to receive. (For more
details on t he calculati on and int erpretati on of
SLE, see Box 1).
investments in education (Lewin and Caillods,
2001). Likewi se, an internat ional t ask fo rce on
higher educat ion in developing count ries suggests
that expanding educational oppor tunit ies can lead
to income growt h, skilled labour poo ls, expanding
choices and increasingly relevant skills that can
help promote development (IBRD/World Bank,
2000). As show n in a recent st udy of long -term
economic growth in a group of middle-income
coun t ries, f aster rates of g row th were associated
with increases in human capital, and countries
which experienced more rapid growth had more
developed secondary and tertiary systems at the
outset (UNESCO Inst it ut e f or Stat istics/OECD, 2003).
Mo reover, young people who do not continue t o
secondary education often face a high risk for
exclusion in l ater adu lt lif e and, in less developed
countries, low rates of secondary provision may
even dampen demand f or educati onal pr ovision
at t he primary level. This overview shows that n o
country meets the goal of universal primary
en r o lmen t w i t hou t some c r i t i ca l mass o f
secondary participation. Others have also noted
that n o count ry has reached UPE w it hou t at least
35% secondary net enro lment (Clemens, 2004).
This overview looks beyond pr imary educati on t o
the p rovision of low er and upp er secondary
education throughout the world. I t examines
secondary alongside of primary education in
terms of school life expectancy, a cumulative
measure o f par t i c ipa t ion tha t re f lec ts the
number of years that a child can expect to be
enrolled in school. Cumulative measures of
pa r t i ci pa t i on a r e impo r t an t because t hey
provide a wider perspective of progress and
highli ght pol icy links across dif f erent levels of theeducational system. They also f orecast p ot ent ial
levels of educational attainment in the future,
and th us, the st ock of human capit al among t he
population.
Additionally, this overview examines progress
to w ards nat io nal standards for compu lsory
educat ion, which of ten inc lude par t o f the
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Beyond Universal Primary Education
9
levels are more than f our t imes higher t han in t he
count ries with t he low est levels. Children in Burkina
Faso, Djibouti and Niger can expect to receive less
than four years of schooling compared to almost
13 years in South Africa and Tunisia. In Asia, the
range in school l if e expectancy among count ries is
also large: schooling in the countries with the
longest expectancy lasts on average twice as long
as in t hose wi th the shor test .
Some of t he most sig nif icant di ff erences are
found in the average amount of time spent in
tert iary educatio n. The average t ime t hat young
people can expect in t ertiary educati on (including
those who never study) is more than 30 times
Figure 1 shows the range of expected number of
years spent in primary, secondary and tertiary
educat ion in s ix
regions. Although t his
ind ica to r i s no t
avai lab le for many
countries, due to the
lack of t erti ary educa-
tion data, this figure
provides some idea of
the range of school
expectancy across the
wor ld . D i f fe rences
with in regions are cons iderable. In Af r ica,
countries with the highest school life expectancy
A child in Finland, New
Zealand or Norway can
expect t o r eceive over
17 years of educat ion,
a lmos t tw ice as much
as in Bang ladesh o r
Myanmar, or four t imes as
much as in N iger and
Burk ina Faso
School Life Expectancy (SLE) is defined as the total
number of years of school ing that a child at age 4 can
expect to receive in the future, assuming that the
probabilit y of enrolment in school at any parti cular
age is equal to t he current enrolment rate f or t hat
age. It indicates the average duration of schooling,
not the number of grades reached. It can also be
defin ed as the average number of years wh ich a child
is likely to spend in the educational system. Since
school l if e expectancy is an average, there is variat ion
in the number of years of schooling; e.g. there are
those childr en who never go to school and those who
spend up t o 14 years in t he system.
The concept of school life expectancy is very similar to
that of lif e expectancy. Life expectancy estimates the
average number of years a person could expect to live
if current mort ality t rends were to continue. In a similar
manner, school l if e expectancy predicts the number of
years of schooling children will experience, given
current rates of enrolment. Although it does not directly
forecast the educational attainment of the population,
since it includes repetit ion and drop-out , it can suggest
the potential educational attainment of the future
adult population.
The indicator has two import ant f eatures. First, it allows
comparisons of the size of the student population by
level of education using a common scale: the number
of school years. This allows for comparisons across
countries with different programme durations and
combinat ions of educat ion levels, e.g. primary,
secondary and tertiary. Second, the indicator allows
comparison of post-secondary programmes, where
programmes are more diverse and a common durat ion
period does not exist.
However, as with any average, school lif e expectancy
masks differences within the population. This is
important in countr ies where not all children participate
in school, especially at secondary and tertiary levels,
where participation is more limited.
Years spent repeat ing grades is also included in schoo l
lif e expectancy and should be taken into account when
interpret ing this indicator. Therefore, the indicator does
not represent the average number of grade levels
completed. In fact, in systems with high levels of
repetit ion at the primary level, the SLE fo r prim ary
alone can exceed the theoretical duration of the
primary cycle. School li fe expectancy expresses the years
spent in education, but not the number of grades
successfully completed, nor does it imply learning
achievement. The issue of repetit ion and it s impact on
school l if e expectancy indicators is discussed furt her in
a subsequent sect ion .
BOX 1. WHAT IS SCHOOL LIFE EXPECTANCY?
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greater in the ten countries with the highest
participation rates compared to the ten with the
lowest. In the high-performing count ries, more than
2.5 years of an average school career is due to
part icipation in tertiary studies. This is the case in
Argent ina, Bermuda, Canada, and t he United States
in the Americas; Israel, Japan and Macao (China) in
Asia; Finland, the Netherlands, Norw ay and Spain in
Europe; New Zealand in Oceania; and in 20 other
countries, not shown in Figure 1. An important
exception to this is Africa, where the amount oftime spent in tert iary education remains marginal
even in countries with longer school li fe expectancy.
Tunisia and South Africa are the only countries in
the region where school lif e expectancy att ributable
to tertiary educat ion exceeds one year.
Data on tertiary education, however, are not available
for many countries. By looking at the expected
number of school years for
primary and secondary levels
a lone, i t is poss ib le to
improve coverage f rom
133 to 179 countries, which
represents almost 94% of the
worlds population.
On average, a child ent ering
school today can expect tospend 9.3 years in primary
and secondary education (see
Figure 2) . The average
number of years (weighted
by population) that a child
can expect to be enrolled at
primary and secondary levels
is above 12 years in Europe,
South America and Oceania,
and just o ver 11 years in
North America. Children inAsia can expect to spend less time in school; on
average, nine years.
Figure 2. Average school life expectancy in years by region, 2001
Source: UNESCO Insti tut e for Stat istics, Table 4.
Notes: Data for 38 countries refer to 2000, and for 7 countries to 1999.
Regional averages are weighted by the population of children approaching
primary school entry (5 years of age). Annex D provides the country groupings
used t o calculate regio nal averages.
Prim ary- Primary -Secondary Terti ary
Countries Population (%) Countries Population (%)
Africa 7.6 7.8 49 / 53 89.4 29 / 53 38.4
North America 11.2 14.3 27 / 31 95.4 13 / 31 86.2
South America 12.1 13.7 12 / 12 100.0 9 / 12 91.7Asia 8.9 9.9 47 / 50 99.2 38 / 50 90.0
Europe 12.4 15.4 37 / 44 99.4 37 / 44 99.4
Oceania 12.4 m 9 / 17 95.0 7 / 17 61.5
World 9.3 10.8 179 / 207 93.6 133 / 207 80.0
Average school lif eexpectancy (years)
Coverage
Primary - Secondary Prim ary - Tert iary
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Tunisia
SouthAfrica
Mauritius
Namibia
(19othercountries)
(29othercountries)
(25othercountries)
(7othercountries)
(5othercountries)
Angola1
Djibouti
BurkinaFa
so
Niger
Canada1
U.S.A.
Bermuda1
Neth.Antilles
ElSalvador
CostaRica
Argentina
Uruguay
Venezuela
Colombia
Israel
Macao
Japan
China
,HongKong
India1
LaoP.D
.R.
Bangladesh
Myanm
ar
Finland1
Norway1
Netherlands1
Denmark1
Romania1
Macedonia
,FYR
1
Albania1
Moldova
NewZe
aland
TongaNiue
Samoa
Vanuatu
Averageschoollifeexpectancyinyears
Primary and secondary education Tertiary and post-secondary non-tertiary education
Africa NorthAmerica SouthAmerica Asia Europe Oceania
Figure 1. How long can children expect to stay in education, from primary to
tertiary education?
Average school lif e expectancy in years for count ries wit h t he longest and shortest expectancy by region, 2001
Source: UNESCO Instit ute f or Stat istics, Table 4.
Notes: Count ries are sort ed in descending order wit hin a region. Some OECD/EU count ries are excluded due to
inclusion of adult education. For each region the number of countries with data, though not shown, is indi-
cated on the horizontal axis.
1) Data refer t o 2000.
Overal l , a chi ld today can
expect to spend on average
9 .3 yea r s i n p r ima r y and
secondary education
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Beyond Universal Primary Education
11
Schoollife
e
xpectancy
in
years
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Tertiary education has almost no impact on the
overall school life expectancy in Africa. However,
tert iary education adds over one year to school li fe
expectancy in Asia and South America, and over
tw o years in Europe and Nort h America.
Figure 3 provides national data on the number of
years that children can expect, on average, to spend
in primary and secon-
dary educat ion. The
map reveals dramatic
differences across and
within geographic . The
majority of countries
with a short average
dura t ion o f p r imary
and secondary education are found in Af rica, wi th
an average of 7.5 years. In ot her w ords, current ly
a chil d in Af rica wi ll receive on average 4.5 years
less of basic schooling t han a child in Europe or the
Americas, irrespective of the quality of education.
These differences are further exacerbated when
including tertiary education in the comparison.
Furthermore, the gap grows even more when
adjusting for the high rates of repetit ion f ound in
many Af rican count ries.
In a small number of Af rican count ries, school li fe
expect ancy exceeds 11 years: Bot sw ana, Cape
Verde, Gabon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malawi,
Mauri t ius, Namibia, Seychelles, South Af rica, Tunisia
and Uganda. At the other end of the spectrum,
there are countries with less than five years of
school life expectancy, namely Angola, Burkina
Faso, the Central African Republic, Djibout i, Erit rea,
Mali, Niger and the United Republ ic of Tanzania.
In Asia, the range extends from four count ries wit h
levels of school expectancy
exceeding 12 years to countries
with less than seven years (e.g.
M yanmar and Pakist an) . The
lowest school life expectancy in
the world of just over tw o years for
the 2001/02 school year is for
Afghanistan. It is not able that t he
variation in the expected number
of years of schooling among the
47 countr ies in t he Asian region is
smaller than in other developing
regions and more similar to t hat of
Europe or the Ameri cas.
Figure 4 plot s the expected number
of school years of countries against
the level of national wealth, as
measured by Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) per capita. The
expected number of school years in
A child in Africa can expect
to receive, on average, 4.5
fewer years of schooling
than a child in Europe or
the Americas
Viet Nam
UzbekistanUganda
Tajikistan
Nepal
Malawi
Lesotho
Djibouti
Cameroon
Bolivia
Angola
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000
GDP per capita in US$ PPP
Averageschoollifeexpectancyinyea
rs
low-middlelow income middle-high high
Sources: UNESCO Instit ute f or Stat istics, Table 4 . World Bank 2003.
Coverage: 147 countries, 94% of the w orld population (including high-income countries not shown).
Notes: Only countries wit h a GDP per capita under US$ PPP 19,000 are shown. Countries are classified by income
group s on th e basis of GDP per capita in US$ converted using purchasing pow er parit y (PPP). Countries are
group ed by i ncome quart iles. The GDP per capita of low -income countr ies is below US$ PPP 2,055, low-
middl e income count ries fall bet ween US$ PPP 2,055 and 5,415, high-mid dle income count ries fall bet ween
US$ PPP 5,415 and 11,010 and high-income count ries exceed th is value. This groupi ng d iff ers from the
World Bank method , wh ich is based on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita in US$ converted using
market exchange rat es.
Figure 4. How does the expected duration of schooling relate to national
wealth?
Average school li fe expect ancy for pri mary and secondary edu catio n and GDP per capit a in US$ PPP, 2001
Only two low-income countries
achieve 11 years of education,
but almost every high-income
count ry does
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Beyond Universal Primary Education
13
primary and secondary education is positively
related to the level of national wealth. While out
of the 37 low-income count ries only tw o count ries,
Malawi and Uganda, have a schoo l li fe expectancy
of at least 11 years, all but two high-income
count ries exceed this level.
Among low-income countries, the average duration
of schooling is less than seven years for 21 out of
37 countries. Only five countries (Cameroon,
Malawi, Nepal, Tajik istan and Uganda) exceed the
global average duration of nine years.
Figure 4 also f eatures count ries that do no t fo llow
this patt ern. Some count ries have achieved high
levels of schoo l l if e expectancy despit e low levels
of national wealth, while others fail to keep
children in schoo l f or as long as one w ould expect
given t heir n ational income level. For example,
Angola and Djibouti have similar
levels of per capita income as
Bolivia, Lesotho, Uzbekistan and
Viet Nam; however, the average
duration of schooling in the former
group (4 years or less) is not even
half the level of t he latt er group
of coun t ries (10 years and mor e).
There is little doubt that national
wealth partly determines levels of
investment in human capi ta l ,
indicated here by the duration ofschooling. However, the level of
national income does not com-
pletely account for the current
school li fe expectancy. Several ot her
variables enter the equation in
determining school lif e expectancy.
It may take years, if not decades,
unti l the youth educated today fully
contr ibute to the prosper ity of their country
(Hanushek, 2002). Therefore, comparing current
education indicators with national income does
not directly show the return on investments in
educat ion . Nevertheless, it can shed l igh t on how
count r ies d i f fer in terms of invest ing the i r
availab le resources.
Changes in school participation
The period f rom 1990-2001 w it nessed substant ial
g r o w t h i n p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n e d u c a t i o n . A
comparison of school life expectancy levels in
1990 and 2001 reveals
increased part ic ipa-
t ion in p r imary and
secondary education
in every region of t he
world (see Figure 5).
Expected years of schooling are
re lated t o nat ion al income but
wealth i s not the only determinant
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Asia(41/50)
SouthAmerica(11/12)
NorthAmerica
(14/31)
Africa(39/53)
Averageschoollifeexpectancyinyears
Median
20011990
25% of countrieshave shorterexpectancy
75% of countrieshave shorterexpectancy
90% of countrieshave shorterexpectancy
10% of countrieshave shorterexpectancy
Figure 5. How has participation in education evolved in the last decade?Distr ibut ion of countri es by average school lif e expectancy for primary and secondary educati on, by regio n, 1990 and 200
Sources: UNESCO Institu te f or Statistics, Table 4 (f or 2001), UNESCO Stat istical Yearbook, 1998 (GER for 1990).
Coverage: 105 countri es, 57% of t he world pop ulati on. Coverage of countries by region in parant heses. Only count ries
whi ch allow direct compari son despite changes in coverage and classif ication b etw een 1990 and 2001 are
included. The European and the Oceania regions are excluded because of the limited number of countries
providing comparable data.
Notes: School life expectancy is estimated on the basis of gross enrolment ratio to allow for comparison with data for
1990, whi ch are based on gro ss enrolm ent r atio.
Data refer to: 2000 for 7 countries and 1999 for 4 countries.
The last decade wit nessed
subs tan t ia l g rowth ineducational participation
across the world
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Count ries in Af r ica
and South America
had the greatest
increase in participa-
tion. In both regions
the median school
life expectancy rose
by about 1.5 years.
In Africa and Asia, it appears that countries
laggin g behind m ade the g reatest prog ress over
the decade. In South Amer ica, the overa l l
increase in the years of schooli ng since 1990 was
accompan ied by g rea te r var ia t ion among
count r ies. In Sout h America, thi s dif ference
betw een countr ies increased by m ore t han a year.In Asia and North America, the trend w as towards
a more even distri but ion among countries, where
th e dif ference lessened betw een those count ries
w it h t he low est school l if e expectancy and those
with t he highest.
Several factors can lead to changes in enrolment
rates and thus affect school life expectancy. Theseinclude changes in repetit ion rates, where a
reducti on in repeti tion can lead to f ewer average
years of school ing. In this case, a decrease in school
life expectancy would actually reflect a positive
t rend a more effi cient educati onal system.
Figure 6 provides data on school life expectancy
in Af rica. In three out of four Afr ican count ries
providing data, school life expectancy increased
by more than 0.3 years from 1990 to 2001. A
number of count ries show dramatic growt h, forexample, an i ncrease of more t han t wo years in
Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Mali, Maurit ania, Morocco,
Rwanda and Tunisia; more than three years in
Benin and Guinea; and overfour years in Malawi and
Uganda. Improvements
wer e no t ed no t on l y
among count r ies tha t
started from low partici-
pat ion rates, such as Mali
and Gu inea, bu t a lso
among countr ies where
rates of participation w ere
already high in 1990, such
as Cape Verde and Tunisia.In contrast , some count ries
showed lit tle or no change,
such as Burundi, t he Cent ral
African Republic, Ghana
and Kenya, and other
countries have fallen below
1990 levels. The number of
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Congo
Namibia
Zimbabw
e
SouthAfrica
Mauritius
Botswana
Tunisia
Swaziland
Algeria
Egypt
CapeVerde
Kenya
Lesotho
Zambia
Cameroon
Ghana
Morocco
Uganda
Comoros
Malawi
Rwanda
Tanzania2 2
Cent.Afr.
Rep
.
Burundi
SierraLe
one1 1
Sudan
Senegal
Angola
Benin
Chad
Mozambique
Mauritania
Djib
outi
Guinea
Ethiopia
BurkinaFa
so
Niger
Mali
Averageschoollifeexpectancyinyears
20011990
Figure 6. How has participation changed in Africa since 1990?
School lif e expectancy f or pr imary and secondary educatio n in selected countr ies, 1990 and 2001
Sour ces: UNESCO Instit ut e fo r Stat istics, Table 4 (fo r 2001), UNESCO Stat istical Yearboo k, 1998 (GER fo r 1990).
Notes: The countries are ordered in descending school lif e expectancy for 1990.
1) Data refer to 2000.
2) Data refer to 1999.
The greatest increase in
participation took place in
Af rica and Sout h America,
where the median school
li fe expectancy increased by
1.5 years
The average duration of
schooling increased by over
two years since 1990 in at
least 11 Af rican count ries
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years of schooling that children in Zambia and
Zimbabwe can expect in 2001 is one year less
t han it was in 1990. The most dramati c sit uati on
is found in the Congo, which had the highest
level of primary t o secondary enrolment in Af rica
in 1990. Schoo l li f e expectancy dropp ed by over
four years between 1990 and 2001.
Figure 7 presents the
change in the absolut e
numbers of pr imary
and secondary s tu-
dents between 1998
and 2001. The change
in t he abso lu t e number s o f s t uden t s
re f lec ts t rends in supp ly and demand fo r
educat ional services. Monit oring and forecasti ng
changes in t he number of student s is import ant in
order to e f fec t ive ly
manage the expansion
or contraction o f educa-
tional systems. Figure 7
presents the relat ionship
betw een t he percentage
change of primary and
t ha t o f seconda r y
students. Countries are
d i v i d e d i n t o t h r e e
groups accord ing to
1998 data: those that
are far f rom reaching
UPE, wi th net enrolment
rates below 80%; those
w i t h n e t e n r o l m e n t
rates above 80% but
below 95%, and those
that exceeded 95%, the
benchmark f or UPE.
Th e maj o r i t y o f
countries experienced
growth at both educa-
tion levels; up to a 45%
increase at the primary
level and up to a 60%
increase at the
secondary level. Lower rates of change at the
pr imary leve l were o f ten re la ted to la rger
absolut e change in t he number of stu dent s.
Increases in primary enrolment typi cally occurred
in t andem w it h increases in secondary enrolment .
This held true for countries with low levels of
primary enrolment as
we l l as fo r those
nearing UPE. Meeting
demand for pr imary
educat i on can spur
greate r demand fo r
schoo l i ng a t t he
secondary level. The
costs of expanding educational opportunity go
beyond meet ing UPE goals and imply t he creation
of additi onal opport unit ies at the secondary level.
-20
0
20
40
60
-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50
% change in primary enrolment
%c
hangeinsecondaryenrolment
Net enrolment rate: 95%Net enrolment rate:
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Repet it ion and school lif e expectancy
School lif e expectancy (like gross enrolment rati os)
captur es th e volume
rather than the distri-
but ion of school years.
Thus it is import ant t o
also assess indicators
tha t measure the
efficiency of a school
system, in particular, the number of years accrued
through the repetition of grades.
Figure 8 presents the percen tage o f pup i ls
current ly repeating grades in p rimary compared
to secondary schoo-
l ing , and i l lus t ra tes
substanti al dif f erences
b e t w e e n t h e t w o .
Repet i t ion does not
exist in 23 out of 161
count r ies fo r wh ich
data are available at t he prim ary level, and in 24
out of 158 coun t ries at t he second ary level, since
policies of automatic promot ion t ypically do not
allow gr ade repetit ion. Overall, the proport ion of
repeaters does not exceed 5% at either level fo r
70 in 147 count ries report ing data fo r bot h levels.
For those countr ies with small or moderate
overall repetit ion levels, the p roport ions tend to
b e s l i g h t l y h i g h e r f o rsecondary students.
Additionally, Figure 8 shows
dramat ica l ly h igh levels ,
especial ly f or many Af r icancount ries. In 35 count ries, more
than 10% of students currentl y
enrolled in primary education
are repeaters. At the secondary
level this occurs in 38 countr ies.
Whil e repeating grades is more
common in secondary educa-
t ion, the higher proport ions
are in primary education. In
Gabon, Madagascar and
Rwanda, one in three studentsin p r imary educat ion is a
repeater.
The percentage of repeaters can
be translated in to the expected
number of years repeating a
grade, which is related to the
school li fe expectancy indicator.
Rwanda
Gabon
Madagascar
Comoros
Sao Tome and Principe
Chad
Congo
BurundiGuinea-Bissau
Mozambique
Togo
Nepal
Brazil
GuineaBenin
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Lesotho
Burkina Faso
Eritrea
Montserrat
Swaziland
Malawi
Algeria
Guatemala
MauritaniaSenegal
Cape Verde
Namibia
Bhutan
Netherlands Antilles
Morocco
Iraq
DjiboutiPeru
Tunisia
Uruguay
South Africa
Lebanon
Niger
Aruba
EthiopiaMacao
ZambiaDominica
Mauritius
Kuwait
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
% of repeaters in primary education
%o
frepeatersinsecondarye
ducation
Above this line:higher % of repeaters
in secondary
Below 5% at both levels:70 of 147 countries
Below this line:higher % ofrepeaters in
primary
Source: UNESCO Instit ute for Statistics, Tables 3 and 6.
Coverage: 147 countries, 61% of the world population.
Note: Countries with over 10% of repeaters in at least one level are labelled.
Figure 8. How do students progress through the system?
Percentage of repeaters in prim ary and secondary educatio n, 2001
School l i fe expectancyoverstates educational
outcomes by inc lud ing
grade repetit ion
The p r opo r t i on o f
repeaters does not exceed
5% at either primary or
secondary levels in 70 out
of 147 count ries
In 35 countries, more than
one in ten pupi ls currently
enrolled in primary educat ion
is repeati ng a grade
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Figure 9 presents school life
expectancy excluding repeti ti on
and the total number of years
th at ch i ldren can expect to
repeat grades. In 23 countries
children can expect to spend,
on average, more than one year
of their schooling repeating a
grade. In Algeria, Brazil, Gabon,
Rwanda and Togo , chi ldren can
expect to spend two or more
years repeat ing grades.
Furthermore, in Gabon and
Rwanda children can expect to
spend about a third of their t ime
in schoo l repeating a grade.
In mo st count ries, repeating
grades is more common at the
pr imary level. However, in
Algeria, Aruba, Brazil, Macao, South Africa, Tunisia
and Uruguay, most of the grade repetition takes
place in secondary education. In Cape Verde, Congo
and Gabon, repetit ion at the secondary level adds
up t o more than 0.6 years per child, on top of high
propor tions of repeaters in primary.
Even low levels of grade repetit ion can cumulate to
a substantial number of years over the course of
both primary and secondary cycles. For example,
w ith 9% of secondary pupils repeating a grade in
France, an average of 0.7 years are devoted to
grade repetit ion. This is equivalent to more t han
one in two children repeating a year as they pass
through t he secondary education cycle.
The cost of repeti ti on is substant ial. A recent study
est imates that among 15 count ries in Lat in America,
representing over 90% of repetit ion in the region, the
total resources needed is equivalent to
US$ PPP 11.1 billion a year (Bruneforth, M otivans
and Zhang, 2004). The majority of these costs, over
US$ PPP8.3 bill ion, are faced by Brazil, but the share
of costs attributed to repetition is also high in
Argentina and Mexico. In Brazil, t he cost is equal t o
providing one year of school for almost 10 million
secondary students or 2 mil lion universit y student s.
III. Universal Primary Education and
beyond: How long do all children stay
in school?
Since school l if e expectancy provides only the average
number of years of schooling, i t can mask dif ferences
within countries. Countries may share a similar
average school life expectancy, yet in one almost all
children stay in school f or the full duration, while in
another some children stay much longer in school
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Gabo
n
Rwan
daBr
azil
Algeri
a2
Cong
o
Como
ros
Cape
Ver
de
Leso
tho1
Benin
Nepa
l
Tunis
ia
Swaz
iland
Monts
errat
Moza
mbiqu
e
Nami
bia
South
Afric
a1
Urug
uay
Arub
a
Burun
di1
Leba
non
Maca
oPe
ru
Beliz
e1
Averageschoollifeexpectancyinyears
Years spent repeating primary
Years spent repeating secondary
Years spent in primary and secondary (excluding repetition)
Figure 9. How many school years are expected to be spent repeating grades?
Average school lif e expectancy excluding repeti tio n, and years expected to be spent repeating grades, primary and
secondary education , 2001
Source: UNESCO Insti tut e fo r Stat istics, Table 4. Expected years repeating based on Tables 3 and 6.
Notes: Only countries where the expected t ime repeating over the school career exceeds one year are included. Countries
are sorted in decreasing order of the total time children can expect to repeat grades in primary and secondary
education.
1) Data refer to 2000.
2) Data refer to 1999.
Children in at least 23 countries
can expect to spend more than
one year of th eir education
repeating a grade
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than the normal duration while others drop out
early. In assessing how many years of schooling
governments provide,
on average, to each
child, it is also impor-
tant to address the
issue of whether al l
children stay in school
for a common duration. To better understand
access and progression through the educational
system, other types of indicators are needed.
The provision of universal education
Based on the national aggregates of admin istrative
data, it is dif f icult to assess the number of years thatindividual children stay in education. Household
survey data can provide some indication, but only
in terms of older age cohorts who represent the
output of the education system of a decade or so
earlier. One measure of
the current systems
coverage is the number
of s ing le-year age
gr oup s (7-year-old s,
8-year-olds, etc.) where
at l east 85% o f t he
popul ation i s enrolled. Although t he benchmark
for universal participation is a net enrolment
r a t e e q u a l t o 1 0 0 % , t h e c o m b i n a t i o n o f
available population and enrolment data do not
always allow for such precision. Therefore a
lower t hreshol d (85%) is used as a benchmark i n
t his analysis, keeping i n min d th at governments
still need to provide access for children who
remain out of school, who are often the most
diff icult to reach.
Figure 10 ranks count r ies by t he num ber of
single-year age cohorts at which the enrolment
rate exceeds 85% against
school life expectancy.
Not surpr is ing ly , the
number of expected years
of schooling is correlated
wi t h enro lment ra tes.
However, there is also ala rge var ia t ion in t he
distribution of education.
In Swazil and and Oman,
for example, ch i ldren
s tay in schoo l fo r an
average of 9 to 10 years.
However, this level of
expec ted years o f
schooling is achieved
Burkina Faso
Djibouti
Saudi Arabia
Oman
Myanmar
Moldova
Papua New Guinea
Lao P.D.R.
Kenya
Swaziland
Bangladesh
Nicaragua
Grenada
Un.Arab Emirates
GuatemalaMongolia
Kuwait
Italy
Armenia
Paraguay
MalawiSamoa
Vanuatu
Azerbaijan
Mauritius
St. Lucia
Cambodia
Tajikistan
DominicanRep.
Tonga
JamaicaUkraine
BoliviaTunisia
Turks &CaicosIs.
Malaysia
Uruguay
Brazil
BelarusKazakhstan
Argentina
St.Kitts&Nevis
EstoniaSlovakia
Iceland
Netherlands
PolandJapan
Finland
Norway
CzechRepublic
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Number of single-year age groups with age-specific enrolment ratios of at least 85%
Avera
geschoollifeexpectancyinyears
Figure 10. Does a longer duration of schooling translate into more universal education?
Average school lif e expectancy in years for pri mary and secondary education and t he number o f single-year age groups wit h net
enrolment rates of at least 85%, 2001
Source: UNESCO Institute f or Statistics, Table 4.
Coverage: 126 countries, 37% of the world population.
High enrolment rates do
not ensure completion
o f u n i v e r sa l p r i m a r y
education
Count r ies w i t h simi l ar
levels of coverage differ
considerably in how long
they keep all children in
school
In some countries a smal
p ropor t ion o f ch i ld ren
b e n e f i t f r o m a l o n g
education, w hile in ot he
count r ies, enrolment is
more equitably dist ribut ed
among children
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wit h near universal (85%) enrolment in only t wo
years of t he off icial school-age population in
Swaziland and never in Oman. Compared to
these two count r ies, Armenia, Azerbai jan,
Cambod ia and Vanuatu have a simi lar nu mber
of expected school years bu t succeed in keepin g
age-specif ic enrolment rates above 85% fo r 6 t o
8 years of th e schoo l-age populat ion . Thus, in
some countries a small proportion of children
benef i t f rom a long educat ion, whi le in the
other countries, enrolment is more equitably
distr i but ed among children.
Figu re 10 also suggests that there is a relat ionship
between the duration of school life expectancy
and reaching 85% coverage for at least s ix
grades. No countr y w it h a school lif e expectancy
of less t han 8.5 years succeeds in enro ll ing more
than 85% of children in school for at least six
consecut ive age cohor t s.
A range of t arget s and standard s have been set,
both globally (e.g. Education for All, M illennium
Development Goals) and regionally (e.g. 75%
seconda r y en r o lmen t f o r 32 coun t r i es
National educati on systems vary in terms of the struc-
ture of programmes, where the duration of primary,
lower and upper secondary cycles can differ. These
dif ferences make compar ison di ff icult since one count ry
may have a nationally-defined primary cycle of three
years while another count ry has a cycle of eight years.
The Int ernational Standard Classif ication of Education
Systems (ISCED97), last revised in 1997, provides a
f ramework f o r improv ing the comparab i l i t y o f
education indicators. Applying t his framework helps
to ensure that basic data on students, teachers, costs,
etc. can be compared across count ries.
Each level of education is def ined in ISCED97 as fol lows:
Primary education (ISCED 1) gives students a sound
basic education in reading, w rit ing and m athemat ics,
along with an elementary understanding of other
subj ects such as history, geography, nat ural science,
social science, art and music. In some cases, religious
instructi on i s feat ured. This level consists of education
provided for children, the customary or legal age of
entrance being no t youn ger th an five years, or olderthan seven years. This level covers in principle six
years of full-time schooling.
Lower secondary education (ISCED 2) consists of
programmes that are usually of a more subject-
orient ed patt ern t aught by more specialised t eachers,
in add it ion to having several teachers conduct classes
in their f ield of specialisation. Source: UNESCO Insti tu te for Statistics/OECD (2003), UNESCO IBE CD-ROM, 2001.
BOX 2. M APPING NATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM S TO AN INTERNATIONAL STANDARD
Upper secondary education (ISCED 3) is considered to be
increasingly specialised and requiring a more qualified
teaching staf f than that at lower secondary. The entrance
age to this level is typically 15 or 16 years. These
programmes typically require the completion of about
9 years of ful l - t ime educat ion f or admission or a
combinat ion of education and other experience.
An example of how a national education system is mapped
to the international classification is given below, using
Chile as an example. Note that in order to allow greater
comparability across countries, a standard of six years is
typically set for ISCED level 1 education. Thus, the mapping
of the system implies the reallocation of stat istical data on
students, teachers, and expenditure from two years of
the second cycle of basic educat ion (grades 5-6) together
wi th the first cycle of basic education (grades 1-4) to create
the int ernat ionally standardised ISCED level 1.
ISCED Mapping for Chile
Age in years Nat ional Programme Grades ISCED Level
4 - 5educacin preescolaro parvularia
6 -9educacin general bsicaprimer ciclo 1-4 1 (primary)
10-11educacin general bsicasegundo ciclo
5 - 6
12 -13 7 -82 (lowersecondary)
14 -15 educacin media 1. Ciclo3 (uppersecondary)16-17 educacin media 2. Ciclo
0 (pre-primary)
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parti cipati ng in t he Summ it of th e Americas).
There are a lso const i tu t ional or leg is la t ive
s t a n d a r d s r e l a t e d t o t h e p r o v i s i o n o f
compul sory education at t he natio nal level.
There is str ong evidence t hat uni versal pr imary
e d u c a t i o n a n d a t t a i n m e n t o f s e c o n d a r y
e d u ca t i o n b r i n g s a
range o f soc ia l and
economic benefits to
individuals and soci-
eties. Access to basic
educati on is crit ical f or
t h e e l i m i n a t i o n o f
extreme poverty and
i s a f u n d a m e n t a l
human righ t. Wi th t hese issues in m ind , nation al
governments have committed themselves to
achieving the six Education for All (EFA) goals
a n d t h e e d u c a t i o n - r e l a t e d M i l l e n n i u m
Development Goals (MDG), as adopted by the
United Nations.
There are inherent tens ions in t rans lat ing
nation al data to an int ernational standard. The
app l i ca t i on o f t h e I n t e r na t i ona l St anda r d
Class i f icat ion of Educat ion ( ISCED97) the
framework for the comprehensive statist ical
descript ion o f n ation al education and learning
systems, enables the calculation of indicators
that allow policy-makers to make comparisons
between countries, but it also produces results
t h a t m a y d i f f e r f r o m n a t i o n a l l y -d e f i n e d
indicators (see Box 2). International indicators
also require comparable populat ion data in
order t o compute many of the i ndicato rs, again
a possible source of differences with national
indi cator s. Internatio nal comparabi lit y is vit al to
BOX 3. WHAT IS MEANT BY COM PULSORY EDUCATION?
Compulsory education is mandat ed by constit ut ional
or l egislat ive law. These laws require t hat chil dren
wit hin a certain age range are enrolled in school,
even though t hese laws may not always be str ictly
en f o rced . The m odern s t anda rd (e . g . t heConvent ion on t he Right s of the Chi ld) v iews
compulsory educatio n as an o bligati on p rimarily of
the State itself, and thus, implementation is best
achieved by making education available, ensuring
i t is of a h igh qual i t y to at t r act learners, and
legislatively guaranteeing it results in a sufficient
budgetary commitment b y the stat e.
Constit ut ional pledges wh ich guarantee the right to
education may or may not mention compulsory
school ing, but th is is of ten in the form of an
aspiration. Wit hout implementing legislation, t his
aspiration rarely translates into reality. For thepurpose of th is overview, how ever, these aspirations
indi cate an intended policy standard and theref ore
serves as a benchmark by w hich t o judge prog ress of
countries towards national targets.
Examples of compulsory schooling regu lat ions include
India, where the 93rd Constit uti onal Amendment Bill
seeks to make free and compulsory education a
fundamental right for children in t he 6-14 age group
within the Federal Constitution. According to the
legislative f ramework prevailing in Greece, primary and
lower secondary education are compulsory, provided
that the pupil i s not more than 16 years of age.
Kenyas draf t constit ut ion guarant ees education as a
basic human right and off ers the oppor tun ity f or all
children to learn. Section 58 stat es that: Every person
has the r ight to a basic educat ion, including
pre-primary, prim ary and secondary education. It
adds: The government shall instit ut e a programme
to implement the right of every child to free and
compulsory pr imary educat ion . Kenya a lso
in t rodu ced t he Ch i ld r en s Act in 2001 wh ich
guarant ees fo r free and compulsory education.
Other Af rican count ries that have explicit legislation
on educat ion as a basic right are Alger ia, Cameroon ,Liberia, Libya, Mali and Sout h Af rica. The extent to
wh ich government s actu ally meet t hese guarantees
is addressed in t he fo llow ing secti on.
There are a number of count ries that do not have any
regulations related to compulsory schooling. These
include Bahrain , Cambodia, Gambia, Malaysia, Oman,
Singapore and Solomon Islands.
Assuring universal primary
educa t i on r ema ins a
p r i o r i t y , b u t m e e t i n g
fu rt her learning needs of
young people is also hi gh
on t he agenda
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Beyond Universal Primary Education
21
ensur ing accura te
and reliable compa-
r isons , needed to
m o n i t o r g l o b a l
p r og r ess t owa r ds
development goals
and for benchmar-
king count ries.
Both the EFA and MDG
goals set universal
primary education as
the key target, even
though they a lso
include targets that go
beyond the provisionof primary education.
For example, the third
EFA goal commits
countries to ensure
tha t the learn ing
needs of al l young
people and adults are
met through equitable
access to appropriate
learning and life skills
programmes, and the f if th EFA goal commitscount ries to eliminating gender disparit ies in primary
and secondary education by 2005, and achieving
gender equality in education by 2015(UNESCO,
2000 ) . S im i l a r t a r ge t s a r e f ound i n t he
Millennium Development Goals, to eliminate
gender d isparit y in primary and secondary education
preferably by 2005 and in all levels of educat ion no
later than 2015.
For the increasing number of count ries reaching or
nearing universal par-t ic ipat ion in pr imary
educat ion and those sti ll
far from the goal, inter-
natio nal comparisons
must look at other levels
of education t hat are
implicit in the interna-
tional education targets.
Nat ional t arget s as expressed by compulsoryschooling regulat ions
Most governments set
standards concerning
the legal or o f f ic ia l
minimum duration of
formal schooling which
define the age range for
compulsory school att en-
dance. These standards
are typically enforced by legislation or consti tutionallaw (see Box 3).
Figure 11 presents the distri but ion of count ries by
region in terms of the i ntended coverage of
compulsory education. Four in f ive countries
worldw ide have regulations that define compulsory
educati on as extending beyond primary schooling.
Typically, lower secondary education is part of
Africa
primary
some lowersecondary
full lowersecondary
South America
full lowersecondary
at least some
uppersecondary
some lowersecondary
Asia
primary
some lowersecondary
full lowersecondary
at leastsome uppersecondary
Europe
full lowersecondary
at leastsomeupper
secondary
some lowersecondary
Oceania
full lowersecondary
at leastsomeupper
secondary
North America
primary
full lowersecondary
at leastsome uppersecondary
at least someupper secondary
some lowersecondary
Figure 11. Which levels of education are compulsory?
Propor tio n of countri es where compul sory education covers only pr imary education and wh ere it covers some secondary by region, 2001
Source: UNESCO Instit ute for Statistics, Table 2.
Coverage: 192 countries, 98% of the w orld populat ion. Countries that do not have regulations on compulsory schooling are not included.
Note : Data for 13 countr ies refe r to 2000.
In most count ries nat ional
standards for compulsory
schooling extend beyond
primary education. These
standards should also be
used to assess progress
Even before countr ies
reach or near universal
primary education, inter-
nat ional comparisons must
monitor participation at
subsequent levels of
education
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22
compulsory education (in three-quarters of the
coun t r i es ) , and i n
o thers , compu lsory
educa t i on i nc ludes
some or all of upper
secondary education
(see Table 2).
Compulsory education in all count ries of Sout h
America, Europe and Oceania includes some
secondary education. In a minority of countries
in Af rica (20 out of 49), Nort h America (6 out o f
30) and Asia (13 out of 45), compulsory education
is represented by the primary cycle. In other
words, the majority of countries within each
region i nclude some secondary educat ion as partof compu lsory school ing.
Many nat ional systems, especially in South America
and the Arab states, do not distinguish between
pr imary and lower secondary per se. They
combine both levels into a single unit, typically
referred to as basic education, which lasts for
about n ine years . For the purposes o f
int ernational comparisons, th is would be defined
as covering both primary and lower secondary
education (ISCED levels 1 and 2).
In many countries, the standard set by governments
off icially requires parti cipation in upper secondary
education. This is the case in a small number of
coun t r ies in Af r ica, such as Gabon , Liber ia,
Seychelles and Tunisia, and in more than half o f t he
count ries in Nort h America, Europe and Oceania.
Fulfilling national standards participation in
compulsory education
Given that secondary education has become
more generally accepted as a minimu m standard
for educational participation, do governments
meet their own standards? It is important to
assess whether governments, as signatories to
international declarations and legal covenants,
guarantee a minimum of primary education to
ever y ch i l d . I t i s a l so o f imp o r t ance t h a t
governm ent s ensure the part ic ipat ion of al l
children until the end of the compulsory period,
which they have obl igat ed themselves to achieve.
In order to show how countries meet intended
nat ional s tandards,
Figure 12 groups them
by h ighest level o f
compulsory schoo lin g
and ranks them by the
average net enro lment
rate for t he last tw o years of compulsory education.
The fi rst group of countr ies represents those that do
not set the bar very high compulsory education
includes only primary or some lower secondary
education. These standards, while low, seem
realist ic for certain countr ies, some of which are st ill
distant f rom meeting t he goal of universal primary
education. These countries are found throughout
the world and include some that have met their
own standard: Cape Verde, Maldives, Panama and
Sao Tome and Principe; and some that are st ill very
far f rom reaching the i r own standard:
Guinea-Bissau and Niger, where not even half of
the school-age children are enrolled in the last tw o
grades of primary education. Wit h standards that
include some lower secondary, Malawi, the
Phil ippines and Suriname meet t heir own standards,
but Ghana and Papua New Guinea fall w ell short .
The second group of countr ies sets the bar higher
completion of lower secondary is considered
compulsory for all school-age children. Many
count ries are able t o meet t his standard, especially
those in Latin America, the Caribbean, Cent ral and
Eastern Europe. Some of these count ries may movetowards raising the standard to upper secondary in
the near fu ture. Those countr ies that have set t he
bar higher t han they are currently meeting include
Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Eritrea, Madagascar and
Mauritania.
In the last group of countries, upper secondary
educat ion is considered th e nor m. The most
In the majority of count ries,
compulsory schooling
includes some secondaryeducation
At least half of all count rie
do no t mee t the i r own
standards for compulsory
education
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Beyond Universal Primary Education
23
CapeVerde
SaoTome&Principe
Mauritius
Jamaica
Zimbabw
e
Trinidad&Toba
go
SyrianArabRep
.
Lesotho
Nicaragua
LaoP
.D.R.
Myanm
ar
Bangladesh
Saudi
Arabia
Burundi
Ethiopia
Niger
Malawi
Philippines
Belarus
Ghana
Papua
New
Guinea
Compulsory education ends with: primary education some lower secondary education
0
20
40
60
80
100
Brazil
Mon
tserrat
Argentina
Australia
China
,HongKong
Croatia
Dominica
nRep
.
MacaoFi
ji
Egypt
Kuw
ait
Algeria
Jordan
N
amibia
Tajikistan
Mongolia
Pa
lestine
Paraguay
Co
lombia
Ecuador
Mauritania
Djib
outi
Compulsory education ends at complete lower secondary education
0
20
40
60
80
100
Hungary
Israel
Japan
Czech
Republic
Sweden
Slovakia
Ukraine
Spain
Poland
Bahamas
Uruguay
Niue
Neth.
Antille
s
Germany
St.Lu
cia
U.S.A.
Tunisia
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan
Mexico
Venezuela
Barbados
Brit
.Virgin
Isl
Moldova
Qatar
Bhutan
Anguilla
Armenia
Maldives2
Panama1
Equat.Guinea1
Iraq2
Swaziland
1
Honduras1
Un.ArabEmirates 1
Zambia1
Benin2
Chad1
Guinea-Bissau2
Suriname1
Kenya
1
Vanuatu
1
Latvia
1
Lith
uania1
Malta
1
Switz
erland
1
Macedonia
,FYR
1
B
olivia
1
Albania
1
C
yprus1
Estonia
1
Slo
venia1
Chile
1
Korea
,Rep
.1
Bu
lgaria
1
Botswana1
Cuba1
Tonga1
G
reece1
South
Africa
1
Romania
1
Belize1
Y
emen
2
G
uinea1
Indo
nesia2
Mozam
bique1
Togo
2
Guatemala1
Madag
ascar1
E
ritrea1
Burkina
Faso1
Dominica1
France1
Seychelle
s1
Austria1
Canada1
Finland1
Norway
1
Ireland
1
UnitedKingdom
1
Luxembourg1
New
Zealand
1
Bermuda1
Iceland1
Peru
1
Samoa
1
Netherlands1
Guyana2
Costa
Rica1
Grenada
1
Liberia
2
St.Vinc&Grenad.
St.Kitts&Nevis
11
Compulsory education ends with at least some upper secondary education
Net enrolment rate 90% and above Net enrolment rate below 90%
Averagenetenrolmentrateinlasttwo
yearsofcompulsoryeducation
A
veragenetenrolmentrateinlasttwo
yearsofcompulsoryeducation
Averagen
etenrolmentrateinlasttwo
years
ofcompulsoryeducation
0
20
40
60
80
100
Figure 12. Which countries keep children in school until the end of compulsory education?
Average net enrolment rate for the last two years of compulsory education by level of compulsory education, 2001
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Coverage: Countries for w hich enrolment data by single year of age are available.
Notes: 1) Data refer to 2000.
2) Data refer t o 1999.
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developed countries belong t o t his group, t hough
some o f them, such as Germany, the Netherl ands
and the United Stat es, fall w ell short of meeting
the standard. The net enrolment rate in the last
two years of upper secondary is below 50% inseveral Caribbean count ries and A rmeni a.
Among these three groups, more than half of the
count ries do not reach their national targets in terms
of school participation. This is reflected by enrolment
rates at the end of compulsory education that fall
below 90%. In at least one-third of all countries,
universal part icipat ion in compulsory education is far
from being attained, most notably in the 11 count ries
where only one in two children are enrolled near the
end of compulsory schooling.
Monitoring the goal of universal primary
education
School lif e expectancy does not ind icate the extent
to which children attend in education because the
unit of analysis is years of education. There is no
question that every child should enter and complete
the fu ll cycle of primary educat ion. Indicators such
as intake rates, primary net enrolment rates and
completion rates together help to evaluate howwell education systems manage to achieve this goal.
These indicators reveal that many countries are st il l
far f rom reaching the in ternat ional goal o f
universal primary education.
The apparent intake ratio reflects the general
level o f access to the f i rs t year of pr imary
education. It covers all entrants regardless of
age, including bot h lat e and early entrant s int o
schoo l i ng , i . e . ch i ld r en t ha t en te r p r imary
education at a younger or older age than def inedby the system. An apparent i nt ake ratio o f 100%
does not ensure UPE but is a prerequisit e.
Of the 155 countries reporting data for 2001 (or
2000), 37 still show apparent intake ratios below
95%, indicating t hat at least 1 in 20 children never
start school. Since the apparent int ake ratios typically
overstate the proportion of a cohort that enters
school, the real number of non-starters will be even
higher. In seven countries (Burkina Faso, Central
Af rican Republ ic, Congo, Djibout i, Erit rea, Mali and
Niger), ratios fall below 66%, implying that one in
three children do not ent er school (see Table 2).
The fact that childr en start pr imary education
does not automatically ensure that they will
r ece ive a fu l l cyc le o f p r imary educat ion .
Drop-ou t ra tes can be h igh , espec ia l l y in
developing countries.
The net enrolment rate expresses the enrolment of
the official age group for primary education as a
percentage of the corresponding populat ion. Net
enrolment rates of 100% indicate universal primaryenrolment , but do not necessarily ensure un iversal
complet ion of the primary cycle.
Figure 13 shows the distribut ion of national primary
net enrolment rates for each region. Of the 170
countries reporting data, one in seven countries
have a primary net enrolment rate of less than
70%. This ind icates that up t o three in ten pr imary-
school-age children are out of school, if they are not
st i l l i n pre-pr imary educat io n or a l ready in
secondary education. More than one-quarter ofcount ries report net enrolment rates somewhere
between 70% and 90%, which indicates a high
level of enrolment although the goal of UPE
remains a challenge. One-third of all countries
report that more than 95% of children at the
eligible age are enrolled in primary education.
In eight of the countries reporting data by age,
less than half of the children at the officially-
def ined school age are enro l l ed in pr imary
education. All eight are foun d in A fri ca and allexcept one are among count ries w it h t he low est
l evel o f na t i on a l i ncome . I n o t he r w o r ds,
one-fif th of all low -income count ries that report
data by age reflect net enrolment rates below
50%. Net enrolment rates exceed 70% in just
one third of the 33 reporting countries in the
group with the lowest national income. Low
levels of enrolment, below 70%, are uncommon
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Beyond Universal Primary Education
25
among t he other groups. Only one count ry,
Djibouti (lower middle-income), has a net
enrolment rate below 50%, and rates are
below 70% in Ghana (low er middle-income)
and Saudi A rabia (high-income).
This digest presents a set of internationally
s tandard ised measures of pr imary
completion, includ ing ind icators such as the
survival rate to grade 5 (see Table 4) and
age-speci f ic net enro l ment rates. The
UNESCO Institute for Statistics is working
together with the World Bank to improve
the comparabilit y of the primary complet ion
rate across countries. While these measures
are essent ia l t o mon i to r ing s tudent
progression, they still only represent an
indirect measure of good learning outcomes.
Participation in secondary education
One aspec t o f pa r t i c i pa t i on and
progression in education is reflected by
the size of the cohort which moves from
primary to lower secondary educat ion.
Transition rates show the percentage of
childr en leaving t he last grade in pri maryeducati on in a schoo l year to cont inue their
st udies at t he low er secondary level in t he
fo llow ing year. The diff erence between t he
transition rate and 100% represents the
proportion of students who leave school
aft er the last g rade of prim ary education ,
some of t hem wit hout completing.
Figure 14 presents transit ion rates by regio n and
shows that in the vast major i ty of countr ies
almost all stu dent s who l eave primary educatio ncontinue their studies at the lower secondary
level. These f igu res exclude entr ants int o l ow er
secondary techn ica l p rogrammes wh ich
underst ates tr ansit ion rates in t en count ries. In
Europe, all count ries except Ireland and M alta
report transit ion rates above 94%. In Asia and t he
Americas, t ransit ion rates are above 90% in half
of th e count ries and over 80% in another quarter
of the count ries.
The picture is very
different in Africa. Half
o f t he ch i ld ren who
reach the last grade of
primary school do not
continue to secondary
education in one in four
Just one-quarter of African
countries reach transition
rates similar to those of
three-quarters of count rie
in the rest of t he world
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Oceania(10 / 17)
Europe(35 / 44)
Asia(43 / 50)
South America(12 / 12)
North America(27 / 31)
Africa(43 / 53)
%o
fcountriesinregion
%o
fcountriesinregion
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
World(170 / 207)
High(39)
Upper-middle(35)
Lower-middle(38)
Low(32)
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countries. For another quarter of the countries, at
least one in three students drops out before entering
secondary education. Only one-quarter of the
countries reach transit ion rates simi lar to those found
in other regions (exceeding 95%). These include:
Botswana, Ethiopia, Namibia, Seychelles and South
Af rica (see Table 6).
In short, the chance that a child leaving the end
of primary education continues to secondary
school ing is more t han 80% in almost all countr ies
in t he wo rld. The dramatic exception is found i n
Af r i can count r ies, where t wo- t h i rds o f the
count ries fall below th is level.
The h igh rates oftransition from primary
to lower secondary
educat ion in mos t
count ries signi fy th at
t h e en d o f p r i m a r y
education cannot be
considered as the typical exit point from the
schoo lin g system. In f act , in most count ries those
pupils who do not cont inue aft er primary school
are at m uch greater risk of social exclusion lat er
in l if e. Therefore, effor ts to ensure an adequate
education for all children must consider low er
secondary educat ion .
Across the world, the most typical exit point from
schooling occurs at the end of lower secondary. The
next most typical exit points are during or upon
completion of upper secondary education. Thus, it is
important to examine participation in lower and
upper levels of secondary education separately, as
combining lower and upper secondary oft en hides
import ant di ff erences between t he tw o levels.
Participation in lower secondary is common in all
regions, with the exception of Africa. Africa is the
only region where the completion of primary
education marks a typical exit point , and it usually
coincides wi th the end o f nat ional ly-def i ned
compulsory education (see Box 4). In
all other regions, Oceania, Europe,
Asia and the Americas, half or
almost half of the countries report
gross enrolment ratios above 90%.
Of the 37 count ries in Europe, only
Bulgaria and Moldova report gross
enro lment rat ios below 90%.
Despite the high overall levels of
participation, a few countries reportgross enrolment rat ios below 50%:
Papua New Guinea (31%) and
Vanuatu (39%) in Oceania;
Afghanistan (13%), Cambodia
(33%), Myanmar (42%), Pakistan
(35%) and Timor-Leste (41%) in
Asia; and Guatemala (44%) in the
Americas (see Table 5).
0
20
40
60
80
100
Oceania(5 / 17)
Europe(25 / 44)
Asia(37 / 50)
South America(11 / 12)
North America(25 / 31)
Africa(39 / 53)
Transitionrate(%)
Median
25% of countries
have lower rates
75% of countries
have lower rates
90% of countries
have lower rates
10% of countries
have lower rates
Figure 14. What proportion of students leaving primary progress to
lower secondary education?
Transition rates from the last grade of primary to lower secondary general education by region, 2000
Source: UNESCO Instit ute for Statistics, Table 6.
Coverage: 142 countri es. Transition rat es are underesti mated f or countr ies where t echnical education begins at the
low er secondary l evel.
Notes: In order to calculate transition rates for 2000, data are needed for t he years 2000 and 2001. Data for 25
countries refer to 1999.
High t ransit ion rates show
that the end of primary
educa t ion cannot be
considered a typical exit
point
Participation in lower secondary is
common in most countries in al
regions, wit h the exception of Afr ica
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27
Only eight count ries of those
reporting data in Africa have
a gross enrolment ratio which
exceeds 90%: Algeria, Cape
Verde, Egypt, Libyan Arab
Jamahir iya, Maur i t ius ,
Seychell es, South Af rica and
Tunis ia . At the other
extreme, gross enrolment
rat ios are below 25% in
Burk ina Faso , Burund i ,
Central African Republic,
Chad, Niger, Rwanda and
t he Un i t ed Repub l i c o f
Tanzania. These are among
the lowes t leve ls o f
participation in t he world.
En r o lmen t r a t i os d r op
drastically between lower
and upper secondary levels
in all regions (seeFigure 15).
The on ly except ion is
Europe, where ratios remain high. However, rat ios
for Europe are diff icult to compare and interpret
because of the inclusion of adult education in
secondary enrolment in some countries. In all other
regions, the median value for t he gross enrolment
ratio drops by 20 to 32 percentage point s, down t o
72% in North America, 76% in Oceania, 64% in
Sout h America, 62% in Asia and dow n to 20% in
Africa. In some countries enrolment ratios fall
sharply. In Albania, Algeria, Cape Verde, China,
Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico and Sri Lanka the
gross enrolment ratio drops fr om 90% or h igher
at t he low er secondary level t o less than 50% at
the upper secondary level.
Interpreting education indicators becomes more
dif fi cult beyond the end of compulsory education.
This holds true for gross enrolment ratios which
include student s of all ages, but even more so f or
net rates which measure only