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Educating Asia
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A lack of education perpetuates poverty, and poverty keeps children out of school. Many people in the Asia and Pacific region are trapped in this apparent dilemma for reasons as simple as the cost of a uniform or the price of a ride to school. Still others find their road out of poverty blocked, even after graduation, for lack of basic skills that can attract modern employers in need of technological know—how.
The countries in the region are diverse, as are their needs, but the educational challenges they face in the next few years can broadly be grouped into three clusters: the continuing need for better access to a quality education for all, including the poor and disadvantaged; a resurgent need for technical and vocational skills; and the need posed by the fast—paced changes in information and communication technology (ICT).
"The challenges facing the education sector are enormous, and the pace of change is sometimes breathtaking. To remain relevant in the education sector in the years ahead, and to help Asian economies address poverty and the labor market, the Asian Development Bank must be prepared to fulfill these needs in its developing member recountries," says Robert Wihtol, Chair of ADB's Education Community of Practice and Director, Social Sectors Division, ADB East Asia Department.
This issue of ADB Review explores ADB's recent and current work in the sector, with the object to highlight trends and the approaches needed to tackle the issues. It looks at the promise and profound effect of ICT on education, and at the importance of skill and labor market flexibility in adapting to fast—changing economic environments, including those in the People's Republic of China (PRC), the Mekong countries, and elsewhere. It analyzes the trend toward decentralization in education in many countries, and how ADB is handling that trend. And it argues for an increased role for the private sector, particularly in adapting to the skills challenge and getting education services to hard—to—reach communities. In a separate story, this issue highlights the experience of education reform in Sri Lanka.
In the past 5 years, ADB's annual loan program for the education sector has totaled about $300–400 million, or about 5–6% of its total public sector lending.
Extensive international evidence shows that investing in education is crucial to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Education is indispensable, of course, to achieving MDG 2, which calls for universal primary education. Yet investment in education also supports MDG 3, which aims to establish gender equality and to empower women, or the goals dealing with health and environment, both of which benefit as knowledge and learning spread.
Within the education portfolio, investment in basic education, which goes to the heart of the first of the three clusters—the need for better access to quality basic education for the poor and disadvantaged—has in the past 5 years accounted for about 58% of approved lending. Basic education projects expand access and improve the quality of primary and lower secondary education, and lead to greater success at subsequent levels of schooling.
Although 90% of primary—school—aged children in Asia and the Pacific were enrolled in 2003, there remain countries in which enrollments will likely fail to reach the 2015 goal. Several countries in Asia, including Bangladesh, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Nepal, Pakistan, and others, have immense basic education needs requiring extensive and sustained investment.
ADB is helping expand access to basic education through low—cost loans where the country can absorb the funds, and to reinforce basic education access and quality by expanding opportunities for primary/basic education graduates at the next level of education (see Switched On and Adapting to Change).
At the same time, rapid economic growth in many Asian countries is accompanied by a growing need for skilled and readily trainable workers. Young people already comprise the largest proportion of populations in most Asian countries, yet few educational options after primary school are presented to them. Often, they have difficulty escaping poverty and face high unemployment levels. Unemployment among Sri Lanka's A—level graduates, for example, has been 18% or more in recent years, with many finding they lack the skills necessary for a rapidly modernizing economy when looking for their first jobs.
"To remain relevant in the education sector in the years ahead, and to help Asians escape poverty, ADB must be prepared to meet these challenges in its developing member countries"
Robert Wihtol, Director, Social Sectors Division, ADB East Asia Department
And in many countries, rural to urban migration is producing social and economic strain. The Philippine capital, Metro Manila, which at ADB's founding in 1966 could barely boast one skyscraper, has mushroomed into one of Asia's most crowded megacities with a population exceeding 12 million. Hundreds of largely young people from provinces throughout the country—where work is scarce—migrate to the city daily. Some 8 million Filipinos, unable to find jobs at home, now work abroad. The funds they send home help reduce economic pressures.
In the PRC, limited rural job prospects have led to unprecedented migration to urban centers. An estimated 120–150 million workers have already moved to cities in search of work, many with limited education or skills. As urban prosperity grows, such migration is expected to increase.
To address the need for skills, ADB is supporting projects in several countries to strengthen upper secondary education,technical education and vocational training, and skills development, which are underfunded in many countries.
"ADB recognizes the gravity of the situation in its latest education sector report," says Jouko Sarvi, ADB principal education specialist. According to the report, if the trend toward higher youth unemployment is "not tackled, it will seriously undermine the economic growth and social stability of many DMCs. Gains from increased enrollment in primary/basic education can be lost unless the secondary education subsector is prepared to absorb primary education graduates. Support to technical education and vocational training, and skills development, will be necessary to provide further opportunities."
In particular, the report calls for the use of more partnerships between public and private sector groups to finance projects in these areas, which are seen increasingly as a necessity for raising the number of skilled graduates and reaching the poor and other disadvantaged groups (see The Benefits of Going Private).
Sri Lanka's Secondary Education Modernization Project—the first phase of which is completed, and the second of which is under way with a $35 million ADB loan— illustrates some of these points, including private sector involvement.
In the last few years, the government project has improved and expanded the number of schools offering a full curriculum for the first time in decades, conducted extensive teacher training, and introduced modern school management and student assessment systems.
Perhaps its most salient feature, however, has been the establishment of computer—learning centers, complete with broadband internet access, which have introduced interactive and modern teaching methods into the system, and encouraged greater student participation. Organizers point to an improvement in student performance on O—level exams as evidence of the strength of its programs (see Switched On).
ADB's latest education sector report also places a priority on more responsive investments in ICT and in science and technology to improve the Asia and Pacific's learning environment. Demand for ICT skills has gone hand in hand with rapid economic growth, and ICT offers tremendous opportunity for news ways of delivering education services. Through intelligent use of innovative equipment, training of teachers and other staff, and the creation of regional centers of excellence that nurture new ideas, ICT can radically improve education systems throughout the region (see Power On).
ADB is working with many of its DMCs to take up the latest technologies in a way that will be financially sustainable, encourage further innovation, and expand access for students in poorer, more remote regions.
Through intelligent use of innovative equipment, solid and appropriate training for teachers and other staff, and the creation of centers that nurture new ideas, ICT can radically improve education systems throughout the region
Abundant low—wage and unskilled labor is no longer a route to rapid growth and prosperity. Intense global competition and rapid technology change require a welleducated and technically skilled workforce, producing high value—added and knowledge—intensive goods and services. Much of the work is with private sector companies.
Among other things, a concerted effort to improve education, science and technology, and innovation capacity is needed. It requires education specifically for the knowledge economy, for research and development, to foster development and innovation in science and technology, and for policy reforms.
Meeting these challenges will require action from education ministries and other government agencies, research and development institutions, the private sector, and schools. ADB can play an important role in supporting this process, piloting new approaches, providing capacity development, and supporting the cooperation necessary for these actors to succeed.
Before the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the widespread view was that East Asia's spectacular economic growth was propelled by a desire for education, and that children there were being prepared more effectively for the modern economy than those in other parts of Asia and the Pacific. Now that many of the region's economies are experiencing sustained and strong economic growth again, the need for a sharp focus on educational challenges is greater than ever.
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