LEARNING METRICS TASK FORCE FORUMFEBRUARY 4-5, KIGALI

DR. SYED KAMALUDDINSABA SAEED

Citizens reshaping Education through household based Learning Accountability Initiatives: Evidence

from Pakistan and beyond

Introduction

Challenges of Learning & Access greatest in Sub Saharan Africa & some E9 countries.

E9 countries account for over half of the world's population and 70% of the world's illiterate adults ~ India, Pakistan, Mexico, Nigeria, China, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia & Bangladesh.

Globally, 250 million or quarter

of a billion lack basic reading and writing skills.

The education Millennium Development Goal (in spite of progress) will not be met.

The NEED for Household Based Assessments-

A Forum for Inclusion

• Household based learning assessment is inclusive - it ensures ALL children are included.

• In-school assessment is great when all children are in schools; in many countries this is not the case.

• Children may be not enrolled in school because they have dropped out. Drop out is often strongly correlated with falling behind/”failing” in school and eventually missing the schools.

• If measurement is done in school, these children will not be part of it.

Citizens Response to Learning Challenges

India 2005

Pakistan 2008

Uwezo2009

Mali2012

Senegal2012

Mexico2014

A South-South Initiative

Conceptualized as a Citizens’ Social MovementLeading from the Front with Bold & Distributed Leadership

Model

Guiding Principles of the Model

These population based assessment use rigorous sampling methodologies.

Led by citizens group and engage them in advocacy.

Generate representative samples of children at national and sub-national levels.

Tools designed to be simple so as to be administered by local citizens.

Put children’s learning at the centre of the debates and discussions on education in their own countries.

Promote government, parent, community and citizen action to influence education policy and practice from the ground-up.

WHO?

Information on all children: 3-16 yearsAssessment of Children : 5-16 yearsSurvey of: 1 public & 1 private school.Indicators: Student learning levels, Enrollment, Facilities etc

WHERE?

At household level: ChildrenAt village/block level: School

WHAT? Simple standard 2 tests: Language (Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto), English, Arithmetic

BY WHO?

Volunteers from the District/Villages

FOR WHAT?

Provide feedback for action to community, parents, teachers, government, civil society organizations, media, parliamentarians and other stakeholders.

What Does ASER Do?

Themes of ASER

ASER PAKISTAN Findings 2014: Access

21% Children

(6-16 years) are

still out of school

as per ASER 2014

National (rural)

Findings.

Enrollment (6-16 Years): RURAL

ASER PAKISTAN Findings 2014 : Gender Comparison

Out of School Children (6-16 Years): RURAL

Amongst 21%

out of school

children across

rural Pakistan,

11% girls and

10% boys.

Enrollment (3-5 Years): RURAL

61% Children (3-5

years) are still out of

school as per ASER

2014 National (rural)

Findings.

ASER PAKISTAN Findings 2014 : Early Childhood Education

39%

61%

% OF CHILDREN

Learning Levels (5-16 Years): RURAL

Almost Half of

the children enrolled in

class 5 will graduate

without even learning

the basic competencies

of grade 2-3 level.

ASER PAKISTAN Findings 2014 : Testing Foundation Skills

46%

42%

40%

ASER Findings: Inequality

Poor rural girls lag

far behind richest

rural boys.

Inequality measured

using WIDE (GMR)

methodology -

Household wealth

index

• ASER informing a social movement for learning: Right to Education (RTE), Children’s Literature Festival (CLF), Chalo Barho Parho (CPB)

• ASER used as baseline data for multi-million dollar projects (DFID, USAID etc).

• Nationwide scalable campaigns triggered by evidence on quality and access • Alliances & Partnerships are at heart of ITA's workCited in key government documents e.g. • Economic Survey 2012, 2011• Education sector plan Balochistan, Roadmap to Reform

Education Program Punjab.• Cited in Political Parties’ Manifestos (PTI).• Shared with the legal community, Judges, Chief Justices

etc.

ASER Global Impact

•Involvement with LMTF.

•ASER part of Save the Children.

•ASER part of Global Monitoring Report (2013-

2014).

•Featured on NORRAG NEWSBite.

•Influencing the post 2015 development agenda

and goal setting in regional and international

meetings and consultations (CIES, UKFIET

etc.)

Contribution to the FIELD!

Large scale annual citizen led nationwide citizens’ audit of learning generate an enormous energy and synergy.

As an evaluation of citizens, parents & government performance.

Bring educational issues to the forefront by involving all stakeholders from local to global.

Provide large scale data sets for research and policy communities.

Influence actions – village - district – state national and global agendas.

THANK YOU…!