Executive Summary
Across the developing world, decades of growth in primary and secondary school enrolment have begun to taper off. Millions of kids who are enrolled nevertheless fail to acquire basic literacy. And millions more are subjected to physical or sexual violence at school.
Global action may be warranted, but education is fundamentally a domestic policy affair. So how do policymakers in low- and middle-income countries think education can be fixed? What do they perceive as their biggest challenges and the most effective solutions?
This report summarises a survey of 601 legislators and senior officials in ministries of education and finance in 12 low- and middle-income countries: Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Uganda, and Vietnam.
Key Takeaways:
Policymakers significantly underestimate the learning crisis.
Policymakers vastly overestimate students’ reading levels. By age 10, only half as many children can read a sentence as policymakers think are able to. They attribute poor learning more to poverty (38 percent) than to poor instruction (15 percent).
Respondents support much higher spending but don’t think it will raise test scores.
Policymakers think poor learning outcomes are more constrained by implementation capacity (52 percent) than by funding (26 percent). By contrast, for policies such as school meals, funding is the primary concern (68 percent). Overall, policymakers support a large increase in education spending, from the current average of 15 percent to 24 percent. Most (56 percent) also support international borrowing to finance education.
Broad support for girls’ education coexists with regressive gender views.
Respondents think there are high returns to investment in girls’ schooling. Almost all think that schools should promote gender equality. At the same time, 40 percent think “when mothers work, children suffer,” and 25 percent believe that men should have a priority over women when jobs are scarce.
Policymakers perceive high levels of sexual abuse in schools, and most believe it’s acceptable for teachers to beat children, at least sometimes.
Across countries, respondents believe anywhere from 20 percent to 60 percent of girls experience sexual violence at school. Only one in five believe it’s never justified for teachers to beat children. Policymakers estimate that six months after an official directive to eliminate corporal punishment is issued, only 66 percent of targeted teachers will comply.
Read the full report.
