people and planet

10
SYSTEMS
LEARNERS
SCHOOL AND CLASSROOM SETTINGS
Availability of textbooks and reading books
Effective teaching practices
OUTCOMES
CONTEXT
Economic, political and social conditions
availability. In 2013, nearly 100% of schools had received
their textbooks within the first month of the school
year. This was a substantial improvement over 2010,
when only one-third of the schools had received their
textbooks in that period (Bangladesh Directorate of
Primary Education, 2014).
Even when governments have good data on schools
and students and procure the correct number of books,
local education authorities may not have storage and
distribution facilities or, in some cases, the funds for
delivery (Read, 2015). A survey of teaching and learning
materials in Ghana found that 57% of the stock of grade
3 English textbooks to be delivered to districts could not
be accounted for (Read, 2016).
related inputs and processes have been selected. First,
despite the importance of textbooks and reading
books to learning, information on their availability is
incomplete. Second, while monitoring pedagogy across
countries is a major undertaking and cannot be served
properly by quantitative studies, tools are available to
observe teaching practices in classrooms and more use
should be made of them.
INPUTS: AVAILABILITY OF TEXTBOOKS AND
READING BOOKS
Access to textbooks, teacher guides and reading books
is especially important for learning in low resource
and print-poor settings. But comparative data on their
availability is scant and unsystematic. Since 2008,
the UIS has collected data on textbooks based
on education ministry reports for 45 countries in
Africa. These data can be used for indicators such as
textbook/pupil ratios by grade level (1 to 7) and subject
(mathematics and reading).
Some countries have sophisticated computerized
management information systems for instructional
materials, developed with donor support, which
allow officials to receive real-time updates. Namibia
and Rwanda introduced online supply chain
management systems that enable schools to order
the books they want from publishers, and the
government to monitor whether the books have
been delivered (Read, 2016).
Less sophisticated mechanisms can also be informative.
As part of its primary school census, Bangladesh collects
information on timeliness of delivery, one aspect of
In some countries,
when textbooks
A survey of teaching
reach schools,
and learning materials uncertainty over
in Ghana found that
future supplies
means they are
57% of the stock of grade
kept in storage for
3 English textbooks to be fear of damage
delivered to districts could or loss. Loss and
damage rates are
not be accounted for
underestimated.
Ethiopia has
increased print
runs by 8% to compensate for that (Read, 2016).
Corruption in public procurement and reselling of books
for personal profit are believed to be common in many
countries (Transparency International, 2013).
In this context, school visits and classroom observations
have a distinct advantage. They can validate or call into
question the accuracy of official data. For example, the
UIS reported that the average number of mathematics
textbooks per grade 2 student in Burundi was 1.5 in
2014. However, evidence from the 2014 PASEC learning
achievement survey shows that this overestimates
textbook availability, as only 18% of students had their
own mathematics textbook while 31% had to share with
another student and 51% with two or more students
(Figure 10.7). In Chad, about 90% of students in grades
2 and 6 reading and mathematics classes had to share
textbooks with at least two students.
An effective monitoring system would need to report
textbook availability by grade, subject, school type and
language, but that would be complex. Data on languages
used in schools are scarce and data on textbooks scarcer
2016 • GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 189