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| Sound
policy-making requires good data |
| By
Denise Lievesley |
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|
 On
1 July 1999 UNESCO disbanded its Division of Statistics and
established a new semi-autonomous Institute for Statistics.
The aim of the new Institute is to ensure that statistical
information of the highest quality is collected from as many
countries as possible and is policy-relevant.
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| Already
at this early stage in its life, the Institute is heavily involved
in the Education for All 2000 Assessment. This exercise is absolutely
critical to the world in terms of reviewing what countries have
achieved since the 1990 World Conference on Education for All.
It is also vital as a benchmark to enable us to assess progress
in the future and to ensure that any future targets we make
are realistic and are accompanied by appropriate resources. |
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| Today,
many countries have inadequate data archival systems and our
first task was to try to minimize unnecessary work on their
part and to reduce data discrepancies. All countries therefore
received the data they had provided to UNESCO since 1990, asking
them to supplement, correct or amend these data where they wished.
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| The
work of the Institute for Statistics from now until the World
Education Forum next April comprises: |
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receipt
of data, validation checks, trying to reduce unexplained
discrepancies, working with countries to improve data
quality |
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attendance
at regional EFA meetings to assist in the production,
analysis and interpretation of data |
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possible
direct assistance in countries that have had difficulty
in producing data |
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the
production of a global statistical report on EFA for the
World Education Forum |
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preparation
of the EFA database for dissemination |
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| The
EFA 2000 Assessment process is an excellent learning opportunity
for the Institute for Statistics. Through it we hope to identify
those countries that have experienced difficulties in providing
data so that we can help them to build (or re-build) statistical
systems. In the case of countries that have been able to provide
the EFA 2000 Assessment data, we are optimistic that the relationship
forged with the Institute will enable us to develop together
even more effective statistical systems for the future. |
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| It
is important to underline that the Assessment is not an end
in itself. Rather, it is the beginning of a long process. The
perennial problems of school drop-outs and low learning achievement,
for example, are symptomatic of the poor quality of education
in many countries. Thus internationally comparable data on educational
quality and on the efficient use of educational resources are
just two of the areas which demand more attention in our future
work. |
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| Although
data requirements must emanate from the policy needs of the
countries, the relevance of data to policy is under-recognized
in many countries. We hope to forge partnerships between users
and producers of data within countries, and to demonstrate that
the more data are used and valued within countries, the more
attention will be paid to their quality and timeliness. Sound
policy-making in education is simply not possible without reliable
and up-to-date data. |
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| Denise
Lievesley is Director of UNESCO's new Institute for Statistics.
She was previously Director of the United Kingdom Data Archive
and Professor at the University of Essex in England.
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