Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

010CHAPTER 22Education for All Global Monitoring ReportNearly 71 millionadolescentswere out ofschool in 2007,54% were girlsapproach. Starting from the proportion ofchildren entering school at the official age, ituses administrative data to track their progressto grade 5 and, unlike the gross intake rate forthe last grade, subsequent completion. Forcountries seeking to make the transition fromschool systems characterized by late entry,grade repetition and low completion to a moreregular cycle consistent with progress towardsuniversal primary education, the net cohortcompletion rate is a potentially usefulmeasurement tool.One advantage of cohort tracking is that it providesa credible measure of distance from universalprimary education. In the case of sub-SaharanAfrica, it underlines the daunting scale of thechallenge ahead. While intake rates are going up,delayed entry is endemic. Half of all countries inthe region had 50% or more children enteringschool later than the official starting age in 2007.Assuming a five-year school cycle, this impliesthat governments in the region would have todouble the net intake rate by 2010 to makeuniversal primary entry possible by 2015. Forsome countries, the challenge is to raise the netintake rate while building on a strong but limitedcompletion record. In Burkina Faso, most childrenentering school at the appropriate age progressthrough to completion – but the net intake ratein 2006 was just 27%. Conversely, Malawi andNicaragua have net intake rates over 60% in 2006where fewer than half the official age entrantsmake it through to completion.Out-of-school adolescentsThe focus on out-of-school children of primaryschool age has deflected attention from a far widerproblem. Millions in the lower secondary school agegroup are also out of school, either because theyhave not completed primary school or could notmake the transition to lower secondary school.Recent data analysis suggests that nearly 71 millionadolescents were out of school in 2007 – almostone in five of the total age group (Table 2.3). 17Viewed through this wider lens, the out-of-schoolproblem is twice as large as it is typically reportedto be. The problem is most widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, with 38% of adolescents out ofschool, and South and West Asia with 28%. As withprimary school age children, adolescent girls aremore likely than boys to be out of school. Globally,54% of out-of-school adolescents in 2007 weregirls. In the Arab States the figure was 59%(Bruneforth and Wallet, 2009).Equally disconcerting is the fact that manyadolescents in school are still enrolled at theprimary level (Figure 2.23). This is the case for39% of lower secondary school age adolescentsin sub-Saharan Africa, for example.Table 2.3: Number and % of children and adolescents of primary, lower secondary or basic education agenot enrolled in primary, secondary or higher education, 200717. For the purposes ofthis analysis, adolescenceis defined in terms of theofficial lower secondaryschool age range.Although the range variesby country, it is typicallyshorter than that forprimary school. The lowersecondary cycle is usuallytwo to four years,compared with five toseven years of primaryschooling in mostcountries.WorldDeveloping countriesDeveloped countriesCountries in transitionSub-Saharan AfricaArab StatesCentral AsiaEast Asia and the PacificSouth and West AsiaLatin America and the CaribbeanNorth America and Western EuropeCentral and Eastern EuropeSource: Bruneforth and Wallet (2009).Primary educationTotalout-of-schoolAs % of theprimary agegroupTotalout-of-schoolLower secondaryeducationAs % of thelower secondaryage groupTotalout-of-school(000) (000) (000)Basic education(primary and lower secondarycombined)As % of thebasic educationage group71 791 11 70 921 18 142 712 1468 638 12 68 197 21 136 835 152 334 4 1 538 4 3 872 4819 6 1 187 6 2 006 632 226 26 21 731 38 53 957 305 752 14 4 009 18 9 761 15271 5 302 4 573 49 039 5 10 319 10 19 358 718 031 10 29 905 28 47 937 172 989 5 1 885 5 4 873 51 931 4 1 319 4 3 250 41 552 7 1 452 7 3 004 774