| A
Test Case for education |
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| (
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| Any
progress in the Asia-Pacific region towards education for all
willinevitably have a knock-on effect on global statistics.
With two-thirdsof the world's people and five of its nine most
populous countriesthis region of contrasts presents a classic
test case for education. , |
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 The
past ten years have seen great advances in primary school enrolment,
which has not onlyoutpaced the region’s population growth rate
but outdistanced the rest of the world. Chinaand Indonesia are
close to achieving full primary school enrolment and have raised
their literacyrates (to 83.9 and 98 per cent respectively).
By doubling its education budget, Bangladesh madea quantum leap
of 19 per cent in primary school enrolment and over 25 per cent
in literacy (from35 per cent to 61 per cent) in less than a
decade. Population growth has decreased inBangladesh, China,
India, Indonesia and Pakistan, resulting in a more effective
use ofpublic funds. |
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| Non-formal
initiatives in adult education areflourishing in the region,
as is early childhood education, with a 25 per cent increase
in kindergartens and nurseries. Quality is now an issue in many
countries, including India, where the District Primary Education
Programme has decentralized schools, increased community involvement,
raised teachers’ salaries and equipped classrooms. Enrolment
currently stands at 71 per cent. India’s Total Literacy Campaign
brought a 12 per cent leap in literacy. “In a population of
one billion, that represents a lot of readers!” points out Wolfgang
Vollmann of the nine high-population countries initiative (E-9). |
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| The
crippling East Asian economic crisis of 1997, whose impact is
still being felt, was a real setback for education. Ruth Kagia
of the World Bank calls it “a wake-up call to the world that
development is fragile and can be undermined if its key pillars
are not fully integrated.”Can education provide a defence against
future calamities? The Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr Chuan
Leekpai, believes so. Citing a new law entitling every Thai
citizen to twelve years of basic education, he recently affirmed
that human resources were his country’s “most valuable asset.” |
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| “There
have been some spectacular forward steps,” acknowledges Victor
Ordońez of UNESCO Bangkok. “But also problems that have not
been attacked in any meaningful way.” |
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| Hidden
within “the positive rosy picture”, says Ordońez, are socio-economic
inequality, gender disparities and other obstacles to education
for all. The gender gap has narrowed, but not by much – barely
at all in the large countries of South Asia, where poverty levels
are on a par with sub-Saharan Africa. One South Asian child
in four is out of school, and adult literacy stands at 56 per
cent. |
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Only
education can bridge the
gulf between the erstwhile "tiger" economies of east
Asian countries such as Thailand and continuing low incomes
in south Asian countries such as Bhutan.
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Much
of the Asian paradox can be traced to investment, or lack of
it, in basic education. In the long run, only education can
bridge the gulf between the erstwhile ’tiger’ economies of east
Asian countries such as Thailand and continuing low incomes
in south Asian countries such as Bhutan. Perhaps the most notable
example of education overcoming poverty is provided by the contrasting
cases of the Republic of Korea and Pakistan.Both countries had
the same per capita income in 1960, but very different primary
school enrolment ratios (the Republic of Korea had 94 per cent
enrolment while Pakistan had only 30 per cent).By 1996, the
Republic of Korea had three times the per capita gross domestic
product of Pakistan. |
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| Another
kind of Asian paradox is that military spending in the region
has actually risen in the past ten years, as Kul C. Gautam,
of UNICEF’s Bangkok office, explains. ’’Since the World Conference
on Education for All in 1990, military expenditures in the world
fell by 30 per cent from some US$1 trillion in 1990 to $700
billion in 1998. But during that same period, military expenditures
increased by 27 per cent from $95 billion to $130 billion in
Asia.’’ |
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| Clearly,
the potential of education in Asia and the Pacific is as huge
as the challenges it faces. |
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Amongst
the world’s developing regions, East Asia and the
Pacific combined are closest to achieving education
for all with 97 per cent of all children in school.
