Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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CHAPTER 2
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Education for All Global Monitoring Report
Specific
programmes
targeting highly
marginalized
groups are likely
to have higher
average costs
55. Classroom
construction costs include
additional infrastructure
required for an effective
learning environment,
such as furniture, latrines
and water supply. Unit
costs are based on an
average of low- and
high-cost construction
scenarios in Theunynck
(2009). Unit costs for
lower secondary are
assumed to be 25%
higher.
56. The regional average
also corresponds to
average salary targets in
national education plans
for sub-Saharan Africa
(Bennell, 2009a).
57. For the low-income
countries included in the
costing exercise that are
not in sub-Saharan Africa,
average teacher salaries
are 2.5 times GDP per
capita in primary school
and 3.0 times in
secondary.
58. The costs of reaching
the marginalized are
excluded when non-salary
spending as a proportion
of total recurrent cost
is calculated.
59. The wide range
of policy interventions
needed to address
marginalization are
explored in detail in
Chapter 3.
For example, lowering teacher salaries may
cut costs but lead to low morale, making it more
difficult to recruit a workforce with sufficient skills
and forcing teachers to supplement their pay
with other work.
Capital cost estimates raise another set of
difficulties. By definition, achieving Education
for All requires school infrastructure that is
accessible to all children and of sufficient quality
to ensure safety and provide an appropriate
learning environment. Costs of classroom
construction vary enormously. Reasonablepractice
standards point to a cost of about
US$13,500 per classroom, rising to US$17,000
for lower secondary school. 55 Classrooms
obviously need to be built to accommodate
children currently out of school. But the
dilapidated state of the school infrastructure in
many countries means there is also a need for
extensive investment in rehabilitation. One
recent survey suggests that 30% of classrooms
in low-income sub-Saharan Africa need replacing
(Theunynck, 2009). Conflict-affected countries
face particularly pressing problems. To take
one example, half of Liberia’s classrooms were
destroyed or sustained major damage during
the civil war (Liberia Ministry of Education, 2007b).
The parameters set for this Report’s costing
exercise are derived from international evidence
on norms and current practice in key areas.
They include the following:
Teacher salaries. Individual countries have to
address issues of efficiency, norms and standards
for teachers in the light of national circumstances.
The costing exercise does not prejudge the
appropriate teacher salary level. Instead, it takes
the current regional average for primary and lower
secondary salaries in sub-Saharan Africa as a longterm
target that all countries in the region will
converge on. 56 For countries outside sub-Saharan
Africa, the benchmark is lower (see Table 2.9). 57
Rules and norms. While there is some debate about
optimal pupil/teacher ratios, here the bar is set at
40:1 for primary school, reflecting the target used in
previous costing exercises. Effective teaching also
requires access to stationery, textbooks and other
learning equipment. Ensuring that one-third of the
recurrent budget is directed towards non-salary
costs (rising to 40% for lower secondary education)
should enable most low-income countries to meet
basic needs in this respect. 58
Wider capital costs. As well as covering the cost
of future enrolment, budgets have to absorb the
cost of replenishing infrastructure. A conservative
estimate is that about a quarter of the classrooms
in low-income countries need replacing, rising
to half in conflict-affected countries. As with
the other targets, it is assumed that all this
replacement takes place by 2015.
Cost of adult literacy programmes. In line with
previous studies, the unit cost of adult literacy
programmes is estimated at 8.9% of GDP per
capita for countries in sub-Saharan Africa and
5.3% for all other countries (Van Ravens and
Aggio, 2005, 2007).
Reaching the marginalized
Previous global cost estimates for education
have assumed that the average cost of reaching
out-of-school children is roughly equivalent to
a national average benchmark. That assumption
is misplaced. Specific programmes targeting highly
marginalized groups including child labourers,
the extreme poor, ethnic minorities, girls, children
with disabilities, and locations such as remote
rural areas and slums have to be financed.
Moreover, extending education programmes
to these groups and areas is likely to raise per
capita spending requirements.
Top-down estimates are a particularly blunt tool
for assessing the financing required to reach the
marginalized. Policy-makers need to consider the
interlocking constraints that keep marginalized
children out of school or that disrupt their
participation and limit their learning achievements
(see Chapter 3). Detailed poverty assessments
and planning processes that draw on the evidence
and perspectives provided by the marginalized
themselves are critical to policy design.
With this caveat in mind, international evidence
yields some useful insights. Cash transfer
programmes that provide social protection can
play an important role in insulating vulnerable
households from external shocks, enabling them
to keep children in school. In some contexts, such
programmes have played a particularly crucial
role in allowing girls to enter and stay in school.
Under the right circumstances, school feeding
programmes can also provide strong incentives
for children to attend school (as well as crucial
health benefits). Effective programmes of this
kind typically cost about 5% of GDP per capita
(Bundy et al., 2009a; Fiszbein et al., 2009a) 59 .
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