| Good
Statistics Count |
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| The
quality of the 183 country reports to be presented at the World
Education Forum has exceeded all expectations. |
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 “The
message that educational planning must be based on reliable,
up-to-date statistics is being heard,” says Warren Mellor, co-ordinator
of the global EFA 2000 Assessment, the biggest review of education
ever undertaken. “The collecting and using of data for sound
policy-making is now on the agenda in most of the world’s countries.” |
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| National
co-ordinators spent two years struggling to come up with recent
and honest data. They discussed draft country reports at more
than fifteen regional and sub-regional workshops and received
technical assistance. But, as Mellor points out, “the Assessment
is not an end it itself, it is just the beginning of a long
process.” |
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The Assessment was primarily designed to help countries
with future planning and policy-making on basic education. It
was never intended to create an international “league table”
comparing countries’ educational performance. Nevertheless,
governments sometimes manipulate data in order to make their
results look as flattering as possible. |
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| A
Rosy Picture |
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“Certain governments tend to use statistics ‘in the best
way’,” comments Svein Osttveit, Executive Secretary of the Education
for All Forum. “Everyone agrees education is important, but
some political leaders hesitate to show lack of progress or,
in some cases, that things are getting worse.” Denise Lievesley,
Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics agrees. “It
is not surprising that political leaders hesitate to show lack
of progress and want their countries to show themselves in the
best light possible.” She hopes that the promotion of policy-making
based on evidence will begin to have an impact on the quality
of data. |
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For years, a “goals-reporting culture” dominated efforts
to review progress in education, according to Jim Irvine of
UNICEF. In the mid-decade review of education in 1996, Irvine
says, country reports submitted by governments painted so rosy
a picture of the achievements as to invite criticism. Apart
from producing doubtful “official” figures, this practice produced
statistics that were not only dishonest but also virtually useless
for measuring changes, for better and worse. |
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| A
Culture of Transparency |
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The EFA 2000 Assessment has attempted to reverse this
trend and to promote a culture built on transparency and openness.
It began by refining and harmonizing the measurement tools.
Eighteen statistical indicators were selected on the six Education
for All goals (see box overleaf). These indicators include enrolment
figures, public spending on education, pupil-teacher ratios,
repetition rates and the ratio of female to male literacy. Countries
were asked to present not just national averages but sub-regional
data to show gaps in urban and rural figures as well as data
for the smallest sub-district or village. |
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“Our team has been working long nights checking the consistency
and plausibility of the data received,” says Lievesley, “If
there are concerns, they have been raised with the country and
with the EFA regional organizers.” However, Lievesley admits,
“we have to be sensitive because statistical systems within
countries are not always as advanced as we would like them to
be.” |
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A positive trend is the emergence of a new attitude to
reporting among governments. In the Arab States, to cite one
example, Victor Billeh, regional co-ordinator of the EFA 2000
Assessment, explains that “in the past, transparency was taboo
in the Arab States. It was considered shameful to admit that
levels were not as high as expected. This barrier has now been
crossed.” All country reports have been published and shared
in the region and they are also available on the Internet. “The
information now being exchanged is fuller than ever before,”
Billeh says. |
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The EFA 2000 Assessment has also revealed the limitations
of quantitative data. “We have been rather poor at getting information
that enables us to judge the quality of education, the efficiency
of the system and whether resources are being used effectively,”
comments Lievesley. “From now on, we need to look at collecting
data in different ways, not just concentrating on official sources
but, for example, employing surveys on out-of-school children.
We also need to work more closely with non-governmental organizations
who may have access to local data.” |
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Education specialists agree that although policy should
not be driven by statistics, it should be informed by statistics.
Today, the relevance of data to policy is under-recognized in
many countries, and too much information collected by government
ministries just sits in offices and is not distributed in accessible
and useful ways. |
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The
Six Education for All Goals
 Expansion
of early childhood care and development activities,
including family and community interventions, especially
for poor, disadvantaged and disabled children.
Universal
access to, and completion of, primary education
(or whatever higher level of education is considered
as “basic”) by the year 2000.
Improvement
in learning achievement so that an agreed percentage
of an appropriate age cohort (e. g. 80 per cent
of 14 year-olds) attains or surpasses a defined
level of necessary learning achievement.
Reduction
of the adult illiteracy rate (the appropriate age
group to be determined in each country) to, say,
one half its 1990 level by the year 2000, with sufficient
emphasis on female literacy to significantly reduce
the current disparity between male and female illiteracy
rates.
Expansion
of provision of basic education and training in
other essential skills required by youth and adults,
with programme effectiveness assessed in terms of
behavioural changes and impacts on health, employment
and productivity.
Increased
acquisition by individuals and families of the knowledge,
skills and values required for better living and
sound and sustainable development, made available
through all education channels including the mass
media, other forms of modern and traditional communication,
and social action, with effectiveness assessed in
terms of behavioural change.
Source:
Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs,
199
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