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0 2 0 6 144 / CHAPTER 5 Education for All Global Monitoring Report The average literacy score in a given population is a better indicator of growth than the percentage of the population with very high literacy scores 14. See, for example, Rostow (1960). science achievement and economic growth may not be a causal one (Ramirez et al. 2003). Naudé (2004), which, using panel data for 1970–90 for forty-four African countries, found that literacy was among the variables with a positive effect on GDP per capita growth. Two studies suggest that the impact of literacy on economic growth depends on the initial literacy level. Azariadis and Drazen (1990) found a threshold effect: countries that experienced rapid economic growth based on technology transfers had first achieved a literacy rate of at least 40%, a finding reminiscent of the 1960s economic history studies of modernization. 14 Sachs and Warner (1997) found a statistically significant S-shaped relationship with maximum effect when literacy rates were neither very high nor very low. This suggests that small changes at high and low levels might not affect economic growth, but small changes at the intermediate levels characteristic of many developing countries do have an important effect. Thus, while there is evidence relating literacy and education to economic growth, the mechanisms are not well explained. Today the contribution of education to economic efficiency lies to some extent in the very nature of the growth process, in which new technology and skilled labour complement each other. Box 5.3 illustrates the importance of literacy for technology transfer and use in the case of Viet Nam. Economies are increasingly based on knowledge and less on physical capital or natural resources, and knowledge is characterized by strong network effects. The more people with access to knowledge, the greater its likely economic benefits. Thus, the average literacy score in a given population is a better indicator of growth than the percentage of the population with very high literacy scores (Coulombe et al., 2004). In other words, a country that focuses on promoting strong literacy skills widely throughout its population will be more successful in fostering growth and well-being than one in which the gap between high-skill and low-skill groups is large. Besides its relationship with economic growth, literacy is related to economic inequality, as Figure 5.1 illustrates for twelve countries that participated in IALS: greater disparities in literacy rates between the richest and the poorest deciles are associated with higher degrees of income inequality. This phenomenon may reflect an impact of literacy on inequality, or simply indicate that countries that are less tolerant of economic inequality also tend to have stronger literacy policies benefiting the deprived. Returns to investment Whether the returns to investing in adult basic education are higher or lower than those to investing in formal schooling is an important question that remains difficult to answer from Figure 5.1: Inequality in income and inequality in literacy in OECD countries, 1994—98 36 34 United States 32 Ireland Box 5.3 Low wages combined with high literacy have helped make parts of Viet Nam more attractive than others as investment destinations. An analysis of the country’s regional variations in investment and in literacy rates over 1988—93 shows that the two are related. Although Viet Nam has provided basic education to a large proportion of its overall population, training and educational attainment vary among provinces or regions (for example, the South ranks lower than the North). Different parts of the country differ, therefore, in the capacity of their labour forces to participate in the modernized sectors in which foreign direct investment is involved. It appears that for foreign investors in manufacturing the top priority was good infrastructure, but that they remained very sensitive to human capital considerations: projected investment was greatest in the provinces with the highest literacy rates. Source: Anh and Meyer (1999). Investment and literacy in Viet Nam Gini coefficient 30 28 26 24 22 Norway Germany Sweden Denmark Netherlands Australia Finland 20 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 Inequality in literacy Canada Belgium Czech Republic Note: The Gini coefficient is an indicator of income inequality. Inequality in literacy is measured by the ratio of the literacy rate for the ninth decile of the income distribution to the rate for the first decile. Sources: International Adult Literacy Survey, 1994–98; OECD (1999).
WHY LITERACY MATTERS / 145 the existing research. In some countries, adults spending a year in a basic education course outperform primary school children from Grades 3 and 4 in standardized tests (Oxenham and Aoki, 2002). Thus, depending on relative costs, adult basic education may well be costeffective. Indeed, it has been suggested that the level of cognitive achievement of literacy programme trainees is the equivalent of that resulting from four years of schooling (Oxenham, 2003). A review of four literacy projects in three countries (Bangladesh, Ghana and Senegal) conducted between 1997 and 2002 estimated that the cost per successful learner lay within a range of 13% to 33% of the cost of four years of primary education (Table 5.3). In practice, it takes more than four years to complete four years of primary school in most of these countries, so the actual schooling cost is likely higher. Interestingly, the findings are consistent with, albeit less dramatic than, those comparing the relative costs thirty years earlier during the Experimental World Literacy Programme (UNESCO/UNDP, 1976): in seven out of eight countries, literacy was cheaper per successful adult learner by significant margins, ranging from 85% to 2%; only in one country was primary school cheaper. The relative returns to investment in primary education compared to other levels of education have been hotly contested in recent years; moreover, the returns to education may have been overestimated. Nonetheless, a recent review of the literature concludes that the effect of education on individual earnings is unambiguously positive and large, relative to returns on other investments (Harmon et al., 2003). One of the rare attempts to estimate the specific returns to adult literacy programmes covers three countries with World Bank-financed projects (Oxenham, 2003). The Ghana National Functional Literacy Program of 1999 had a private rate of return of 43% for women and 24% for men, with social rates of 18% and 14%, respectively; benefits were estimated on the basis of differentials in earnings profiles. A programme in Indonesia produced returns of around 25%, compared to 22% for primary education, though in this case the returns were estimated by measuring the rate of growth of individual income compared to the rate of growth of the cost of training. A Bangladesh programme had an average private rate of return as high as 37%. However uncertain these estimates, they suggest, first, that the investments are productive Table 5.3: Costs of adult literacy compared to primary school Country Bangladesh Ghana – programme 1 Ghana – programme 2 Senegal Source: Oxenham (2003). and, second, that what poor people learn from literacy programmes does help them raise their incomes and move out of poverty. Further insight comes from a study of the effects of adult literacy programme participation on household consumption in Ghana. Programme participation made no difference to households in which at least one member had already had some formal education. However, among households in which no member had any formal education, the difference was dramatic: households with a member in a literacy programme consumed 57% more than those without, controlling for all other relevant variables (Blunch and Pörtner, 2004). In Ghana generally, only the most educated household member’s level of education appears to matter for income generation (Joliffe, 2002). The sparse evidence that exists indicates, therefore, that the returns to investment in adult literacy programmes are generally comparable to, and compare favourably with, those from investments in primary education. In practice, the opportunity cost for a child to attend school is typically lower than for an adult to attend a literacy programme. Yet, the opportunity to realize the benefits is more immediate for an adult who is already in some way involved in the world of work. Conclusion Cost per successful learner (constant 1996 US$) Cost per successful learner as ratio of estimated cost of four years of primary education 20.40 33.3 27.59 13.3 37.07 17.8 97.78 15.0 As this chapter has shown, literacy is a right and confers distinct benefits, whether acquired through schooling or through participation in adult literacy programmes. Adult programmes appear to yield some benefits, particularly in terms of self-esteem and empowerment, that go beyond those that result just from schooling; the very scant evidence also indicates that adult programmes are as cost-effective as primary schooling, raising important questions as to why investment in adult programmes has been relatively neglected until recently. 15 Adult programmes yield benefits that go beyond those that result from schooling 15. See Chapter 1 for a discussion of the relative neglect of the EFA literacy goal and certain other EFA goals.
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EFA Global Monitoring Report 2 0 0
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Education for All UNESCO Publishing
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Foreword This fourth annual Educati
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Acknowledgements Former Director Ch
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Contents Headline messages . . . .
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List of figures, tables and text bo
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Tables 2.1: School life expectancy
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4.9: Working together for better-qu
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Literacy Literacy is: A right still
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Education for All Global Monitoring
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / 21 25-35% of al
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / 23 meeting the
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / 25 builds on le
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LITERACY: THE CORE OF EDUCATION FOR
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argues that there is value in under
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EFA PROGRESS: WHERE DO WE STAND? /
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a continued heavy focus on sub-Saha
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COUNTRY EFFORTS: INCREASING MOMENTU
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THE MAKING OF LITERATE SOCIETIES /
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Language issues, literacy practices
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GOOD POLICY, GOOD PRACTICE / 217 ot
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GOOD POLICY, GOOD PRACTICE / 237 Ta
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GOOD POLICY, GOOD PRACTICE / 243 Ta
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SETTING PRIORITIES FOR ACTION / 249
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APPENDIX 1 / 253 include values, ca
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APPENDIX 1 / 255 Figure A1.4 illust
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APPENDIX 1 / 257 Table A1.1 (contin
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APPENDIX 1 / 259 Table A1.3: Change
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APPENDIX 2 / 261 Once the GER by ge
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INTRODUCTION / 263 Statistical anne
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INTRODUCTION / 265 To fill the gaps
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INTRODUCTION / 267 Metadata for nat
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INTRODUCTION / 269 (Continued) Year
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INTRODUCTION / 271 (Continued) Year
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 273 Table 1 GNP
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 281 Table 2A YO
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 289 Table 2B BO
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 297 Table 3 GRO
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 305 Table 4 NET
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 321 Table 6 REP
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 329 Table 7 SUR
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 345 Table 9A EN
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 353 Table 9B PE
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 361 Table 10A P
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 369 Table 10B S
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 377 Table 11 Pu
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STATISTICAL ANNEX / 385 Table 12 GO
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ANNEX AID DATA / 409 youth and adul
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ANNEX AID DATA / 411 Aid to basic e
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ANNEX AID DATA / 413 Basic educatio
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ANNEX AID DATA / 415 Table 3 (conti
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ANNEX AID DATA / 417
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GLOSSARY / 419 Education for All De
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GLOSSARY / 421 Literacy educator. I
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GLOSSARY / 423 Repetition rate by g
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REFERENCES / 425 Banerjee, A. and K
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REFERENCES / 427 Burchfield, S. 199
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REFERENCES / 429 Desjardins, R. and
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REFERENCES / 431 Garcia Garrido, J.
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REFERENCES / 433 Hull, G. 2003. You
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REFERENCES / 435 Lind, A. 1988. Adu
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REFERENCES / 437 Nirantar. 1997. In
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REFERENCES / 439 Reh, M. (ed.). 198
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REFERENCES / 441 Street, B. (ed.).
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REFERENCES / 443 UNHCHR. 1993. Vien
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ABBREVIATIONS / 445 Abbreviations A
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ABBREVIATIONS / 447 NIR Net intake
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