Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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CHAPTER 2
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Education for All Global Monitoring Report
Nearly 71 million
adolescents
were out of
school in 2007,
54% were girls
approach. Starting from the proportion of
children entering school at the official age, it
uses administrative data to track their progress
to grade 5 and, unlike the gross intake rate for
the last grade, subsequent completion. For
countries seeking to make the transition from
school systems characterized by late entry,
grade repetition and low completion to a more
regular cycle consistent with progress towards
universal primary education, the net cohort
completion rate is a potentially useful
measurement tool.
One advantage of cohort tracking is that it provides
a credible measure of distance from universal
primary education. In the case of sub-Saharan
Africa, it underlines the daunting scale of the
challenge ahead. While intake rates are going up,
delayed entry is endemic. Half of all countries in
the region had 50% or more children entering
school later than the official starting age in 2007.
Assuming a five-year school cycle, this implies
that governments in the region would have to
double the net intake rate by 2010 to make
universal primary entry possible by 2015. For
some countries, the challenge is to raise the net
intake rate while building on a strong but limited
completion record. In Burkina Faso, most children
entering school at the appropriate age progress
through to completion – but the net intake rate
in 2006 was just 27%. Conversely, Malawi and
Nicaragua have net intake rates over 60% in 2006
where fewer than half the official age entrants
make it through to completion.
Out-of-school adolescents
The focus on out-of-school children of primary
school age has deflected attention from a far wider
problem. Millions in the lower secondary school age
group are also out of school, either because they
have not completed primary school or could not
make the transition to lower secondary school.
Recent data analysis suggests that nearly 71 million
adolescents were out of school in 2007 – almost
one in five of the total age group (Table 2.3). 17
Viewed through this wider lens, the out-of-school
problem is twice as large as it is typically reported
to be. The problem is most widespread in sub-
Saharan Africa, with 38% of adolescents out of
school, and South and West Asia with 28%. As with
primary school age children, adolescent girls are
more likely than boys to be out of school. Globally,
54% of out-of-school adolescents in 2007 were
girls. In the Arab States the figure was 59%
(Bruneforth and Wallet, 2009).
Equally disconcerting is the fact that many
adolescents in school are still enrolled at the
primary level (Figure 2.23). This is the case for
39% of lower secondary school age adolescents
in sub-Saharan Africa, for example.
Table 2.3: Number and % of children and adolescents of primary, lower secondary or basic education age
not enrolled in primary, secondary or higher education, 2007
17. For the purposes of
this analysis, adolescence
is defined in terms of the
official lower secondary
school age range.
Although the range varies
by country, it is typically
shorter than that for
primary school. The lower
secondary cycle is usually
two to four years,
compared with five to
seven years of primary
schooling in most
countries.
World
Developing countries
Developed countries
Countries in transition
Sub-Saharan Africa
Arab States
Central Asia
East Asia and the Pacific
South and West Asia
Latin America and the Caribbean
North America and Western Europe
Central and Eastern Europe
Source: Bruneforth and Wallet (2009).
Primary education
Total
out-of-school
As % of the
primary age
group
Total
out-of-school
Lower secondary
education
As % of the
lower secondary
age group
Total
out-of-school
(000) (000) (000)
Basic education
(primary and lower secondary
combined)
As % of the
basic education
age group
71 791 11 70 921 18 142 712 14
68 638 12 68 197 21 136 835 15
2 334 4 1 538 4 3 872 4
819 6 1 187 6 2 006 6
32 226 26 21 731 38 53 957 30
5 752 14 4 009 18 9 761 15
271 5 302 4 573 4
9 039 5 10 319 10 19 358 7
18 031 10 29 905 28 47 937 17
2 989 5 1 885 5 4 873 5
1 931 4 1 319 4 3 250 4
1 552 7 1 452 7 3 004 7
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