Global Partnership for Education launches 2013 Results for Learning Report

By Jean-Marc Bernard, GPE Secretariat

Today, we are officially launching our 2013 Results for Learning Report at an event with the Brookings Institution. The report Facing the Challenges of Data, Financing and Fragility shows that after a decade of rapid progress in the education sector, many GPE developing countries are now facing a critical time for education.

Universal primary education: the work is not yet done

Our report findings show that one quarter of the children in GPE developing countries do not complete primary school.  Of the 57 million children of primary-school age who were out of school in 2011, 42 million (74%) were living in GPE developing countries. Nearly 85% (36 million) of all the out-of-school children in GPE developing countries were living in fragile and conflict-affected states (see figure 1). Therefore, the capacity to work effectively in the most difficult environment is a core challenge for the Global Partnership, which adopted last May a new operational framework (PDF) for effective support in fragile contexts.

Figure 1: Millions of Out-of-School Children, by Country Context

Source: Data of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (database), Montreal, http://www.uis.unesco.org

By the end of 2013, the Global Partnership will have disbursed more than $800 million or above 40 percent of its total disbursements in fragile and conflict-affected countries since its launch. This trend is rising, as the share is expected to reach above 50  percent for 2013 illustrating the Global Partnership’s growing focus on these difficult contexts.

GPE developing-country partners are experiencing a crisis in learning

The lack of comparable data does not allow a rigorous evaluation of the scope of the learning crisis within the Partnership. However, estimates from the Education for All Global Monitoring Report team show that in partner countries only 44 percent of children reach grade 4 and learn the basic skills appropriate for that grade. It means that 100 million children either reach grade 4 without learning appropriate basic skills or have not reached grade 4. Other estimates indicate that almost one in two 15 to 24 year olds in GPE countries are not able to read after 6 years of school.  All the estimations available tell us that learning is a major issue for most of GPE country partners.  Thus, progress must be accelerated, which means countries and partners must exert more effort. However, international financial aid is declining, and it is declining more rapidly in education; it is declining still more rapidly in education in the FCACs, which account for a majority of the out-of-school children and in which financial capacity is the most limited.

Sharp decline in external aid for GPE developing countries

From 2010 to 2011, total Official Development Assistance (ODA) fell by 2% while total commitments declined by 6%. The situation in the education sector is even more worrisome.

"The amount of external resources going to education has not only dropped in recent years, but has also decreased at a more rapid pace relative to total aid."

The aid commitments to education fell by almost 16 %in 2011, three times more than the 6.3% decline in total aid commitments. Since 2009, the decrease in commitments even reaches 21%. Unfortunately, the situation is far worse in GPE developing country partners where commitments fell by 36% between 2009 and 2011 and disbursements by more than 11% over the same time period (see figure 2). The poorest countries are the most affected by this decline of external aid for education.

Figure 2: Total Official Development Assistance to Education (US$ billion)

Source: GPE compilation based on OECD Data Lab (database)
Calculations include DAC countries, multilateral donors, non-DAC countries (Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates), and private donors (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). Percentage changes calculated for amounts in constant 2011 US dollars.

Basic education is at risk

In addition, among the 14 GPE developing countries that reported data in 2000 and 2011, the share of primary education in total education budgets declined from 51% in 2000 to 44% in 2011. This drop may be explained by a shift in the demand for resources toward other sectors such as post-primary education. While aid disbursements in education fell by 11% between 2009 and 2011, the aid going to basic education dropped by 14%. Moreover, for the first time in the past eight years, the amount of aid disbursed for secondary and post-secondary education surpassed the disbursements for basic education in 2010 and 2011. In contrast, the share of GPE grant disbursements increased from around 7% of aid disbursements for basic education in 2009 to 14% in 2011.

The substantial reduction in the external aid to education, and more specifically basic education, coupled with the lower priority placed on primary education within countries, is expected to have a large negative impact on basic education in GPE developing countries.

Unfortunately, a real danger is emerging that the number of children who are out of school will rise in the near future.

A data revolution is needed

The report also highlights issues we are facing with education data. Behind the data, there are children who go to school and children who don’t. There are children learning and fulfilling their potential and children who aren’t. As a community, we need to do a better job improving data collection and the use of results. A country cannot develop a sound policy without an in-depth diagnosis of the education sector and its context, nor can it monitor the implementation of a policy without real-time data.

Future progress in education will be directly linked to our collective capacity to improve the availability and reliability of data.

A data revolution is needed, and the Global Partnership is ready to take its share of the responsibility towards this effort as illustrated by its new data strategy (PDF).

Time to face the challenges

Despite a decade of rapid progress, we are not on target to reach universal primary education by 2015, as pledged in the second Millennium Development Goal. There is much work to be done to achieve this goal and ensure that all children have access to good-quality education. Now is the time for the Global Partnership and the global education community to face the challenges.

The 2013 Results for Learning Report aims to foster the dialogue around education results within the broader partnership.  By focusing the attention of countries and their partners on the remaining education challenges that need to be addressed, the report represents an opportunity to take stock of progress and set a course for improving on the results that have already been achieved.