Student Learning in South Asia : Challenges, Opportunities, and Policy Priorities
For the past decade, South Asian governments have been investing heavily to achieve the education millennium development goals (MDGs). The region has also made great progress in enrolling girls in both primary and secondary school. The rapid gains...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2014
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/05/19556820/student-learning-south-asia-challenges-opportunities-policy-priorities http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18407 |
| Summary: | For the past decade, South Asian
governments have been investing heavily to achieve the
education millennium development goals (MDGs). The region
has also made great progress in enrolling girls in both
primary and secondary school. The rapid gains in enrollment
have not been accompanied by commensurate improvements in
learning levels, with the average level of skill acquisition
in South Asia being low by both national and international
standards. A major reason for this is that throughout the
2000s, most South Asian countries focused on: (a) achieving
universal access to primary education, and (b) sustained
investment in better-quality school inputs to improve the
quality of primary and secondary education. This report
covers education from primary through upper secondary
school. Given its importance for school readiness, this
report also reviews early childhood development even though
that is outside formal education systems in the region. To
examine what types of policies hold promise for improving
student learning, it reviews data from large-scale national
learning assessments and the findings of a small but
increasing number of impact evaluations being conducted in
the region. Finally, based on evidence from South Asia and
other regions, it identifies strategic options and
priorities to improve learning outcomes in South Asia. The
findings make it clear that to be successful, policies to
ensure lasting improvements in student learning outcomes
need to be integrated into a larger agenda of inclusive
economic growth and governance reform. This report makes an
important contribution to ones understanding of the
performance of education systems in South Asia and the
causes and correlates of student learning outcomes. Further,
drawing on successful initiatives both in the region and
elsewhere in the world, it offers an insightful approach to
setting priorities for enhancing the quality of school
education despite growing competition for public resources. |
|---|