Explore the vast range of titles available.

With the end of civil war in 1991, Ethiopia’s government launched a New Education and Training Policy in 1994 which, by the early 2000s, had already produced remarkable results. The gross enrollment ratio rose from 20 to 62 percent in primary education between 1993-94 and 2001-02; and in secondary and higher education it climbed, respectively, from 8 to 12 percent and from 0.5 to 1.7 percent. Yet the government can hardly afford to rest on its laurels. Primary education is still not universal, and already there are concerns about plummeting educational quality and the growing pressures to expand post-primary education. Addressing these challenges will require more resources, both public and private. Yet money alone is insufficient. Focusing on primary and secondary education, Education in Ethiopia argues for wise tradeoffs in the use of resources—a result that will often require reforming the arrangements for service delivery. These changes, in turn, need to be fostered by giving lower levels of government more leeway to adapt central standards—such as those for teacher recruitment and school construction—to local conditions, including local resource constraints; and by strengthening accountability for results at all levels of administration in the education system.

'School Construction Strategies for Universal Primary Education in Africa' examines the scope of the infrastructure challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa and the constraints to scaling up at an affordable cost.

This report finds that in developing countries over the past 15 years, high priority was accorded to increasing enrolments in primary schools, but much less attention was directed to the crucial issue of whether children are learning adequately. The report recommends that countries, the World Bank and development partners give the same emphasis to learning outcomes as to access, so that the world's increasing investments in primary education have a far greater impact on poverty reduction and national development. The World Bank is the largest provider of external financial support to education in developing world. Since 1963, it has transferred about US$36.5 billion for education, over $14 billion of which has been for primary education. Its current lending portfolio consists of about 143 operations in 88 countries amounting to US$8.4 billion. (DIPF/Orig.).

This thematic study consists of case studies of Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda, as well as, a review of studies undertaken over the past ten years on education in Africa with particular attention to girls' and secondary education. Gender equity at the primary level has been the focus of considerable attention within the Education for All Framework of Action, but much less so at the secondary level. Evidence of gender inequity and inequality in terms of access, retention and performance in secondary education in SSA raises many questions. While transition rates from primary to secondary are higher for girls than boys, and the repetition rates are lower, girls still significantly trail behind boys in graduation and enrollment rates. The purpose of this study is to document and analyze the extent and nature of gender disadvantage in junior and senior secondary education, to analyze the causes of this disadvantage, and to identify strategies that may be effective in reducing or eliminating it. This study was prepared as part of the Secondary Education and Training in Africa (SEIA) initiative which aims to assist countries to develop sustainable strategies for expansion and quality improvements in secondary education and training. All SEIA products are available on its website: www.worldbank.org/afr/seia.

This report, produced with the help of Madagascar’s national education team in 2006-07, is designed to contribute to ongoing education reform discussions. It analyzes the constraints to system expansion and presents possible next steps for an appropriate course of action. This report aims to encourage discussion among policymakers, stakeholders and donors, and does not promote one approach over another. To promote a more competitive economy in Madagascar in the 21st century, the government expects to increase the average years of schooling from the current 4.5 years to about 9-10 years by 2015 for the relative age groups. This report discusses the ongoing reform and its impact and provides suggestions for implementation. This report is intended to be used as a discussion instrument and to be disseminated among Madagascar’s stakeholders in education. We hope this report will contribute to improved implementation of the secondary education reform in Madagascar.This study was prepared as part of the Secondary Education and Training in Africa (SEIA) initiative which aims to assist countries to develop sustainable strategies for expansion and quality improvements in secondary education and training.

Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge compiles the latest data and viewpoints on the state of Sub-Saharan Africa's children. Topics covered include the rationale for investing in young children, policy trends in early childhood development (ECD), historical perspectives of ECD in Sub-Saharan Africa including indigenous approaches, new threats from HIV/AIDS, and the importance of fathers in children's lives. The book also addresses policy development and ECD implementation issues; presents the ECD programming experience in several countries, highlighting best practices and challenges; and evaluates the impact of ECD programs in a number of countries.

This book gathers in one volume all the information needed to use ADePT Edu, the software platform created by the World Bank for the reporting and analysis of education indicators and education inequality. It includes a primer on education data availability, an operating manual for the software, a technical explanation of all the education indicators generated, and an overview of global education inequality using ADePT Edu. The World Bank developed ADePT Edu to fill the need for a user-friendly program designed to give everyone the ability to organize and analyze education data from households. ADePT Edu can be used with any household survey with the aid of its user friendly interface, generating education tables and graphics that comply with international standards for performance indicators. Because this volume is a compendium its chapters can be consulted independently of each other, depending on the need of users.

The report opens with a brief description of the conceptual framework that guided the analysis as well as the data used. The next chapter presents the analysis of changes in household behavior and educational outcomes related to the implementation of the reforms, at both the primary and secondary levels. The descriptive nature of this analysis does not allow for inferences regarding the effects of the reforms on enrollment and demand for education. The following chapter presents the results of an econometric impact analysis of the reforms to quantify the magnitude of the effects on enrollment. In considering priorities for the future, the Government is paying increasing attention to the impact of the investments in education on growth, jobs, and poverty reduction, as measured by increased earnings from employment, and particularly by improving opportunities for the labor force to move to higher productivity activities and livelihoods. The next chapter presents the results on the changing structure of employment in Mozambique between 2003 and 2008, the impacts of education on employment opportunities, and the implications of these changes for education policy. The final chapter integrates the education and labor force analyses and provides strategic recommendations as Mozambique continues to improve educational outcomes, particularly for those population groups that have had the most difficulty entering and remaining in school.

The education system in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has proved remarkably resilient in the face of economic crisis and armed conflict. Enrolment has grown at all levels but has been most rapid in higher education. During this period of conflict, the education sector was financed almost entirely by household contributions. The DRC is now faced with critical policy choices as it moves to a more efficient and equitable balance between public and private financing and in expanding and upgrading the quality of the system. Education in the Democratic Republic of Congo presents a comprehensive analysis of the current status of the education system in the DRC. Using data from a variety of sources, including government sources, special school surveys of public and private schools as well as parents, and achievement tests, the book presents analyses of student flows, public and private expenditures and student learning. The difficult trade-offs in sectoral objectives and strategies are highlighted through illustrative financial simulations that show the financial requirements by sub-sector and sources of financing.