What are countries in South Asia doing to meet the learning needs of

Out-of-School Children?

Urmila Sarkar, Regional Adviser-Education UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia

SOUTH ASIA

South Asia West and Central Africa

Eastern and Southern Africa

Rest of the World Total0

102030405060708090

100110120130

9.818.8 11 18.2

57.826.3 12.5

8.5

15.3

62.9

Number of primary and lower-secondary age out-of-school children, regional and global, 2012

Primary Age Lower Secondary Age

Source: Fixing the Broken Promise of Education for All. Findings from the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children. 2015. Data from UIS.

Analysis is by level of education: Pre-primary, Primary and Lower Secondary; and looks at the age of children in relation to the level of education.

Children who have never attended school

Children who have dropped out of school

Will enter late

Will never enter

Children in school but at risk of dropping out

Who are OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN?

The Five Dimensions of Exclusion

Poverty

Socio-cultural practices

DisabilityConflict

Disasters

Remoteness

Low public investments on social sector

Coverage of the paper

• Covers Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka• Examines key policies and interventions in place to address

exclusion in education and learning needs of out-of-school children

• Focus on interventions from Education, Health, Social Care and Social Protection sectors

• Reviews Successful interventions, gaps and recommendations linked to:

1. Socio-cultural demand side barriers2. Economic demand side barriers3. School-level supply side barriers4. System bottlenecks

Policy Context: Education system information by Country

Official Primary School Entry Age

Duration of Primary Education

Compulsory Education Age Coverage

Compulsory Education includes Lower Secondary? *

Legal Guarantee of Free Education*

Afghanistan 7 6 7-16 Yes Yes

Bangladesh 6 5 6-10 No Yes

Bhutan 6 7 … … Yes

India 6 5 6-14 Yes Yes

Maldives 6 7 6-12* Yes Yes

Nepal 5 5 5-10* No Yes

Pakistan 5 5 5-16 Yes Yes

Sri Lanka 5 5 5-14 Yes No

Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015; * EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010

BUT policies can falter on implementation, particularly where there is no credible enforcement mechanism

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What are South Asian countries doing to reach out-of-school children?

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1. Programmes, policies to address socio-cultural demand-side barriers

Community mobilization campaigns to foster positive attitudes to education and change cultural norms on gender roles, child labour: Empowering marginalized girls and women to demand for

education – Mahila Samakhya (MS) initiative, India Reaching out to OOSC and monitoring attendance through the

Compulsory Education Committees, Sri Lanka Delaying child marriage by providing allowance with conditions to

girls 13-15 years old – Bangladesh Female Secondary School Stipend Programmes

Awareness raising on women’s rights and reproductive health, empowering them to make decisions on their children’s schooling and delaying their marriage – Pakistan Lady Health Worker Programme

1. Programmes, policies to address socio-cultural demand-side barriers

Key gaps and recommendations: Strengthen efforts to change cultural attitudes to child

marriage Put in place and enforce laws regarding age of marriage and

child labour More cross-sectoral approaches between education, health

and child protection are needed, which requires coordination across Ministries

2. Programmes, policies to address economic and demand-side barriers

Poverty is at the root of multiple, often reinforcing barriers to participation in schooling.

Interventions are aimed at offsetting the direct and indirect costs of schooling as well as opportunity costs large-scale poverty alleviation programmes (PAPs), e.g. conditional

and unconditional cash transfers or micro-credit – Bangladesh, Pakistan

Increase enrolment, reduce dropout thru CCTs in Bangladesh and Pakistan; mid-day meals in India

Reduce direct cost of schooling through free textbooks, uniforms and subsidized transport – Sri Lanka

2. Programmes, policies to address economic and demand-side barriers

Key gaps and recommendations: Improve targeting of CCT beneficiaries more research needed to confirm impact of PAPs on school

attendance in South Asia and to understand why and whether conditionality is needed to raise school participation

a holistic approach to the design and implementation of social protection and education interventions to bring more clarity in cross-sectoral objectives, targeting and effectiveness

3. Programmes, policies to address school-level supply-side barriers

Lack of schools, poor quality education remains a challenge in most countries. Interventions aimed at increasing the supply of schools: Large-scale school construction as part of government plan –

Bangladesh PEDP III, India SSA Recruitment of female teachers, teachers from marginalized groups

and para teachers – India Schools with residential facilities for adolescent girls from

marginalized communities, with diverse curriculum – KGBVs India

Improving quality of education and ensuring children are learning Scaling up child-friend schools initiative – Sri Lanka, Pakistan Reducing learning gaps through multi-grade, multi-level

programmes integrating continuous assessment – Ability-Based Learning, India, Bangladesh

Multi-lingual education – India, Bangladesh

3. Programmes, policies to address school-level supply-side barriers

Key gaps and recommendations: Address geographical inequality in the distribution of teachers Undertake an evaluation to determinate to what extent and under

what conditions pre- and in-service teacher training have a positive impact on teaching and learning processes

Undertake large-scale diagnostic assessment, formative or classroom-based evaluation with findings feeding into teaching and learning practices

Strengthen, expand efforts to eliminate corporal punishment

4. Programmes, policies to address system bottlenecks

Interventions focus around governance, management and public financing reforms: Granting schools more autonomy through School Level

Improvement Plans – Bangladesh Decentralized funding mechanism to schools to promote equity

including based on enrolment of children with disabilities, location of school – Sri Lanka

4. Programmes, policies to address system bottlenecks

Key gaps and recommendations: Sector plans and sector wide approaches should include provision

and funding on alternative pathways to education with attention to equivalency and quality

Financial authority to schools should be accompanied by appropriate capacity building, oversight mechanisms and management capacity

Engage and involve community in school-level planning Ensure rational and increased accountability in teacher

management in public schools Promote progressive investment in education for marginalized

children

Conclusion and recommendations

Efforts are in place to meet the learning needs of OOSC in South Asia but more needs to be done including:1. Strengthen education sector wide approaches with increase

investments in marginalized groups and alternative pathways to education

2. Put in place more differentiated and nuanced approaches for OOSC

3. Large-scale holistic interventions to address multiple barriers to schooling

1. Systemic review of ECD programmes and early grades of primary schooling to address problems of late entry to school, retention and language transition

2. Evidence on role of school leadership management and teacher education in improving learning levels among the most vulnerable

3. Strengthening data and data collection on OOSC and children at risk of dropping out

Areas for further research

EDUCATE ALL GIRLS AND BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA

12 MILLION CURRENLTY OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN ENJOY QUALITY EDUCATION BY 2017

UNICEF United Nations Children’s FundRegional Office for South AsiaPO Box 5815, Lekhnath MargKathmandu, Nepal

www.unicef.org/ROSA

© 2014 United Nations Children’s Fund

www.unicef.org/education/bege_61659.html