YOUTH AND SKILLSPutting education to work

Olivier LABERegional Education Workshop for Southern and

Eastern African countries

Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), 6 Nov., 2012

Key messages: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2012

Progress towards Education for All is stagnating

Aid to education is slowing down

Slow progress has left a huge skills deficit among young people

Poor urban and rural youth, especially women, urgently need support to acquire skills

Progress towards EFA is stagnating

Goal 1: Early childhood care and education 171 million children under 5 were affected by moderate or

severe stunting in 2010. Less than half went to pre-school in 2010; less than 1 in 6

in low-income countries.

Goal 2: Universal primary education Number out of school stagnated at 61 million in 2010, half

live in sub-Saharan Africa. Of 100 children not in school, 47 expected never to enter. More than 4 in 10 drop out in half of poor countries. 41% in sub-Saharan Africa start 2 or more years late.

Number of out-of-school children of primary school age, 1999–2010

Progress towards UPE has ground to a halt

Progress towards EFA is stagnating

Goal 3: Youth and adult learning needs In poorer countries, only one half of young people

enrol in lower secondary school. 71 million adolescents are out of school, remaining

unchanged since 2007.

Goal 4: Adult literacy 775 million adults could not read or write in 2010,

two-thirds of whom are still women. Even in rich countries, 160 million adults have poor

literacy skills.

Progress towards EFA is stagnating

Goal 5: Gender parity and equality In 17 countries, there are fewer than 9 girls in primary

school for every 10 boys. Boys are disadvantaged in over half the 97 countries

that have not achieved gender parity in secondary school.

Goal 6: Quality of education Of 650 million children of primary-school age, at least

250 million could be failing to read or count. In 33 countries, less than three-quarters of primary

school teachers were trained to the national standard.

$16 billion needed for basic education in low income countries – but only $1.9 billion provided in aid in 2010.

An additional $8 billion needed to send all young people to lower secondary school.

Financing Education for All

Most poor countries have maintained or increased their education spending.These countries also need aid: In 9 Sub-Saharan African countries, donors fund more than a quarter of public spending on education. BUT donors are not keeping their promise in Dakar in 2000 to ensure no countries seriously committed to Education for All will be thwarted by a lack of resources.

There is a big funding gap:

Source: OECD-DAC (2012).

Has aid to education reached its peak?

Total aid to education disbursements, 2002 to 2010

For some donors, a large proportion of ‘aid’ never leaves the country

Source: OECD-DAC (2012).

Aid needs to be spent on education and skills in poor countries

How much do donors spend on skills development?

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