Ready to Learn: Before School, In School, and Beyond School in South Asia

Abstract

This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved.

School Education Systems and Policies in South Asia

“…International benchmarks enunciated in Education 2030 Framework for Action suggest allocating at least 4-6% of GDP to education and allocating at least 15-20% of public expenditures to education. Although similar targets are found in policy documents of most countries in the region, Béteille et al (2020) using latest available data show that Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka meet neither of the suggested spending targets. Among the South Asian countries that met one or more of the targets, Bangladesh and Nepal had over 15% of total public education spending on education.…”

“…An estimated 620 million children and adolescents (295 million girls and 325 million boys) reside in eight countries, namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka (United Nations Children's Fund 2019b). Forty percent of the world's school-aged population and 34% of the world's youth population between 15 and 24 years live in South Asia (Béteille et al 2020). Given the size of young population in the region and the huge potential it holds for generating demographic dividends, governments are looking at the instrumental role that education systems can play.…”

“…The learning gaps exist at the point of entry into the school system when children come to schools without having received universal early childhood care and education and the learning disadvantage grows over time. According to Béteille et al (2020), the region may be losing the equivalent of 4.3 years of schooling due to low quality. They cite the World Bank's newly launched Learning Poverty project which shows that South Asia is home to nearly 20 million 10-year-olds who cannot read with proficiency.…”

“…As a result of rapid economic growth, countries have allocated increased amounts of funding for education in absolute terms, but these increases have been absorbed by the large increases in student enrollment. According to Béteille et al (2020), the share of public spending on education in most South Asian countries is lower than what countries at the same income level spend on education. International benchmarks enunciated in Education 2030 Framework for Action suggest allocating at least 4-6% of GDP to education and allocating at least 15-20% of public expenditures to education.…”

“…South Asia is also vulnerable to natural calamities, political instability, rising extremism, and civil strife that adversely affects education delivery systems across the region to varying degrees. Although countries in this region have among the highest rates of gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the past two decades and relatively modest levels of monetary inequality, South Asia has some of the worst human development outcomes worldwide and especially for those in the poorest quintile (Béteille et al 2020). Although the number of those in income poverty has fallen by 150 million people over the last 5 years (United Nations Children's Fund 2019a), the region records the largest number of people in absolute poverty and the lowest human development indicators.…”