literacy for life; EFA global monitoring report, 2006 - Institut de ...

EFA PROGRESS: WHERE DO WE STAND? / 47
Out-of-primary-school children
Despite the continuing increase in enrolment in
primary education, about 100 million children of
primary school age were not enrolled in primary
school in 2002 (Table 2.4), though the number has
decreased by nearly 7 million since 1998. Some
55% of the world’s out-of-primary-school children
are girls, down from 58% in 1998. Sub-Saharan
Africa, and South and West Asia together account
for 70% of the global total. Nineteen countries
have more than 1 million out-of-primary-school
children, including ten in sub-Saharan Africa
(where countries with relatively small populations,
such as Burkina Faso, Mali or the Niger, thus face
a huge challenge) and the largest three South
Asian countries (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh).
These figures slightly overstate the actual
number of out-of-school children, however, as
they include children enrolled at levels other than
primary. As Box 2.2 explains, work is under way
to improve these statistics.
Internal efficiency of the primary
school system
Grade repetition
Once enrolled, most children should progress
regularly through the grades, provided they have
access to schools of good quality. The incidence
of grade repetition can thus be interpreted as a
proxy for school quality and student achievement,
although repetition depends heavily on promotion
policies that make it very context-specific. There
is much debate about the pedagogical usefulness
of repeating a grade. Some countries
automatically promote pupils from one grade to
another, while others apply strict promotion rules
based on achievement, as the 2005 Report
showed. That being said, the incidence of grade
repetition deserves examination, and reducing
it is a policy priority in many national education
plans. The percentage of repeaters in primary
education was below 3% in 2002 in a majority
of countries for which data are available (see
statistical annex, Table 6). However, the
percentages are much higher – above 15% –
in more than half the countries of sub-Saharan
Africa, peaking at 34% in Gabon and 40% in
Equatorial Guinea. Proportions of repeaters close
to or above 20% are found in Brazil, Guatemala,
the Lao People’s Democratic Republic,
Mauritania, Morocco and Nepal.
Initiatives to reduce grade repetition have been
taken in several countries. For example, Burkina
Faso, Mali and the Niger have attempted to bring
Box 2.2
How many children are out of school?
The number of out-of-school children is probably the most widely cited
education statistic, yet it is difficult to compute accurately. The numbers
in Table 2.4, for instance, represent all children of primary school age who
are not enrolled in primary schools, whether actually out of the school system
or enrolled at other levels. Therefore, they are overestimates.
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and UNICEF have been working
together to improve the estimation of the out-of-school figures:
On the basis of administrative data, the UIS has estimated that, in 2002,
0.8% of all children of primary-school age were enrolled in pre-primary
schools, and 2.3% in secondary schools. A first step, then, is to stop
including children of primary school age who are actually enrolled in
secondary schools, thus reducing the global figure to 85.5 million in 2002.
Unfortunately, a lack of reliable data prevents a similar exclusion of
children enrolled in pre-primary schools.
Administrative data will be supplemented wherever possible with
household survey data, which may be more accurate as far as actual
attendance (as opposed to enrolment, measured by the number of children
registered at the beginning of the school year) is concerned. However,
unlike administrative sources, nationally representative household surveys
providing cross-comparable education data are not available annually.
This raises a challenge in generating the time-series data needed to
monitor progress towards UPE.
the percentage of repeaters down to 10% by
creating three subcycles within the primary
education cycle, disallowing repetition within
each subcycle and restricting it between them
(Damiba, 2005b). Only the Niger succeeded in
reaching the target, though, reducing the
percentage of repeaters from 12.2% in 1998 to
7.3% in 2002. The decrease in Burkina Faso was
moderate (from 17.7% to 15.1%), while in Mali
the share of repeaters in total enrolment actually
rose (from 17.4% to 19.8%), suggesting that the
new rules were not effectively implemented.
Retention
Retention of children until the last grade of
primary school is another major challenge for
education policy. In about one-third of countries
for which data are available for 2001, less than
two-thirds of a cohort of pupils who had had
access to primary school reached the last grade.
Such low survival rates to the last grade of
primary education are found in nearly 70% of
sub-Saharan African countries, as well as in
Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, the Lao People’s
Democratic Republic, Nepal, Papua New Guinea
and a few countries of Latin America and the
Caribbean. The lowest rate is Malawi’s (22%).
Retention of
children until
the last grade
of primary school
is a major
challenge
for education
policy