Education for development : lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh 9789812301321, 9812301321

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EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT

This document is reproduced from Education for Development: Lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh, by Atiur Rahman (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2002). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies < http://www.iseas.edu.sg/pub.html >

The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) was established as an autonomous organization in 1968. It is a regional research centre for scholars and other specialists concerned with modern Southeast Asia, particularly the many-faceted problems of stability and security, economic development, and political and social change. The Institute’s research programmes are the Regional Economic Studies (RES, including ASEAN and APEC), Regional Strategic and Political Studies (RSPS), and Regional Social and Cultural Studies (RSCS). The Institute is governed by a twenty-two-member Board of Trustees comprising nominees from the Singapore Government, the National University of Singapore, the various Chambers of Commerce, and professional and civic organizations. An Executive Committee oversees day-to-day operations; it is chaired by the Director, the Institute’s chief academic and administrative officer.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

OCCASIONAL PAPER NO. 96

Atiur Rahman

EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT Lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh

INSTITUTE OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES Singapore

First published in Singapore in 2002 by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace Pasir Panjang Singapore 119614 Internet e-mail: [email protected] World Wide Web: http://www.iseas.edu.sg/pub.html All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. © 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. The responsibility for facts and opinions in this publication rests exclusively with the author and his interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the Institute or its supporters. ISEAS Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Rahman, Atiur, 1951– Education for development: lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh. 1. Education and state — Bangladesh. 2. Education and state — East Asia. 3. Education and state — Singapore. I. Title LC94 B2R14 2002 ISBN 981-230-132-1 Typeset by International Typesetters Pte. Ltd. Printed in Singapore by Stamford Press Pte. Ltd.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Contents

v

Contents

Page Preface

vii

Glossary

ix

1

Introduction

1

2

Education and Development: Lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh

6

Education and Development with Particular Reference to Singapore and Japan

26

4

Implications of East Asian Education Policies for Bangladesh

48

5

Conclusion

68

3

Appendix

71

Notes

103

References

105

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Preface

vii

Preface

This study makes an attempt at finding the causal links between education and the unprecedented economic growth experienced by most of the Southeast Asian countries up to the present era. Despite the recent economic downturn in the region, most commentators agree that much of the success of these economies has been made possible by better human capital endowments, of course placed within the context of a favourable policy regime. The commitment of the leaders in investing heavily in people has, undoubtedly, been rewarded, as reflected in the favourable developmental outcomes. As a result, education did not only play a crucial role in accounting for high growth rates but some believe that it holds the key to the ultimate recovery from the economic crisis. How fast and ably these countries can move into the higher order technological capability curve, which again will be decided by the strength of educational development, will decide the fate and pace of the recovery. Given this broad perspective, the study tries to identify a number of lessons which could be learned from the educational and development experiences of East Asia, in particular from Singapore, which perhaps has done the best in the field of education. It then investigates whether some of these lessons are replicable in a resource-poor country like Bangladesh. The study concludes that while the East Asian educational experiences may not be replicable in Bangladesh, valuable lessons can be learned from them, which can be emulated by the latter. However, these lessons have to be placed in the overall developmental and institutional context. Bangladesh should try to set its own development agenda where education should have its natural priority. I am indebted to the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) for providing me the fellowship to undertake this study. I am equally thankful to the Director-General of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) for granting me the study leave to avail myself of this fellowship. I am particularly grateful to Dr Joseph L.H. Tan, formerly Senior Fellow at ISEAS,

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for his intellectual support and co-operation throughout the study period. I also benefited from his comments on an earlier draft. I also thank Professors Mukul G. Asher and Bhanoji Rao for sharing their views while I was formulating my analytical framework. Comments of the participants at the seminar on the topic organized by ISEAS were also helpful. I am particularly grateful to Mr Ashfaqur Rahman, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Singapore, and Dr Mya Than, formerly Senior Fellow at ISEAS, for their detailed comments. Finally, I want to express my gratitude to Pallab Mazumder Anifur Rahman and Waliul Islam, three Research Officers at BIDS, for their help in collecting information from the secondary sources used in this study, and to the three referees who read my paper and made substantial comments on it. Finally, I am indeed very grateful to the staff of ISEAS, including those from the Administration, Library and Publications Unit for providing excellent support during my research, especially as the study had to be completed in only ten weeks. If there remains some shortcomings, these are entirely mine.

Atiur Rahman

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Preface

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Glossary

ATEO BMED CPEIMU DDPE DG DNFE DPE DPEO GOB MNC MOE NFBE NFE NGO NIE OECD PMED PTA SMC TFO TVET UGC UPE

Assistant Thana Education Officer Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board Compulsory Primary Education Implementation Monitoring Unit Deputy Director of Primary Education Director-General Directorate of Non-Formal Education Directorate of Primary Education District Primary Education Officer Government of Bangladesh multinational corporation Ministry of Education non-formal basic education non-formal education non-governmental organization newly industrialized economies Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Primary and Mass Education Division Parent-Teacher Association School Management Committee Thana Education Officer Technical and Vocational Education Training University Grant Commission Universal Primary Education

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

This document is reproduced from Education for Development: Lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh, by Atiur Rahman (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2002). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies < http://www.iseas.edu.sg/pub.html >

Introduction

1

1

Introduction

My mission in life is education. I believe that all human problems find their fundamental solution in education. And outside of my own vocation as a poet, I have accepted this responsibility to educate my people as much as lies in my individual power to do so. I know that all the evils, almost without exception, from which my land suffers, are solely owing to the utter lack of education of the people. Poverty, pestilence, communal fights and industrial backwardness make our path of life narrow and perilous owing to the meagreness of education. Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore Letter from Russia Visva-Bharati Calcutta, 1984, p. 208 Elementary education is a central component of any kind of economic development... Economic powers such as Japan had high levels of education before they advanced towards industrial development. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen to group of educationists in New Delhi on 2 January 1999. Reuters

Introduction Notwithstanding the recent financial crisis and related uncertainties, the economies of most of the East Asian countries, including those in Southeast Asia, experienced unprecedented continuous high growth over the past three decades or so. Six fast growing economies (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and China) achieved about 5 per cent annual per capita

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growth, while three others (Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia) experienced about 3.5 per cent growth per year during this period.1 The record for the rest of the developing countries was only 1.5 per cent per year. The Philippines was the exception, performing poorly unlike its other Southeast Asian neighbours. The East Asian countries are diverse: some are rich and others are poor, some with small populations and others populous, some abundantly endowed with natural resources while others not at all. They have also adopted diverse development strategies but have finally focused on an export-led growth strategy. For example, Malaysia and Thailand diversified their economies away from the sole dependence on agriculture and created a good base for exportled industrialization. On the other hand, Singapore cultivated the multinational corporations (MNCs) and higher order technologies for embarking upon an export-led growth process, thereby increasing value-added. Indonesia, on the contrary, opted for sub-optimal resource allocation, for eye-catching investments (such as aerospace development), and ruthless exploitation of its natural resources. The first generation of success stories with miraculous growth was created by the four Asian “tigers” (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore), followed by a second generation of Asian “calves” experiencing rapid industrialization, and finally joined by China, the new engine of regional growth. It is this sustained high growth pattern, rather than the current levels of per capita income, which distinguishes this region from the rest of the developing world. Besides this remarkable growth pattern, the region has been demonstrating achievements in a number of other areas, including primary health, education, and longevity.2 Table 1 (and also Table A25 in the Appendix) presents a comparative scenario between the countries of South and Southeast Asia with regard to some selected social and economic indicators. The East and Southeast countries have also enjoyed a rapid decline in the incidence of poverty. Singapore, for instance, had a relatively low incidence of poverty at 25 per cent way back in the fifties. The rate was reduced to an insignificant level of 0.3 per cent by 1982–83. The decline has been due to the phenomenal expansion of employment and income since the mid-sixties. In Korea, poverty has declined from a relatively high level of 40.9 per cent in 1965 to 23.4 per cent in 1970, and to 14.8 per cent in 1976, 9.8 per cent in 1980, and 4.6 per cent in 1984 (Rao 1998). The phenomenal reduction in poverty in Indonesia, a country plagued by political turbulence and economic and social chaos in late 1997 and much of 1998, should be mentioned especially. However, the country is currently struggling hard to sustain its success in poverty reduction mainly because of its political instability. Rao (1998) also adds that major changes have already taken place in the educational composition of the labour force in Singapore. For instance, while half of the labour force in 1966 comprised people with no education (or less than primary level), the proportion dropped to 19 per cent in 1989, and

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

92 91 98 94 84 90 93 84 82 94 83 38 52 38 28 42

0 — 0 — 6 2 7 10 8 — — — 38 — 48 18

Adult Children literacy reaching rate 1995 grade 5 (%) 1995

25 28 30 59 60 90 95 96 106 122 131 138 139 147 152 155

— 6.5 — 11.9 — 20.7 — 20.2 17.1 26.1 27.5 46.0 35.9 46.5 — 44.9 41.5 40.2 40.7 49.0 72.0 55.5 100.8 59.4 48.0 72.0 66.1 84.4 65.5 81.3 87.6 84.5 1.3 1.8 1.7 1.8 3.4 2.2 6.8 2.8 1.9 3.2 3.5 5.3 3.2 3.3 5.2 5.9 5812 4934 — 1778 1923 1348 — 1422 722 406 — 907 527 606 455 — 50666 47311 — 16732 22447 5954 — 6654 5114 2288 — 4288 2641 2445 1975 — 77.1 79.0 69.5 71.4 72.5 63.3 64.0 69.2 66.4 58.9 62.8 61.6 56.9 55.9 52.0 71.7 — — 7 11 22 43 4 38 33 57 40 26 19 3 37 42

— 0a 0 10a — 7a — 7 12 10 40 45a 15 55 — 35a

— — 0 4 6 37 34 49 76 79 57 53 71 52 82 30

HDI Human Dependency Total Real GDP per capital (PPP$) Life Population without access to rank poverty index ratio (%) family expectancy at Poorest 20% Richest 20% Safe Health Sanitation (HPI value) 1995 fertility birth (years) 1980–94 1980–94 water services (%) 1995 rate 1995 1995 1990–96 1990–96 1990–96

NOTE: aData refer to a year or period other than that specified in the column heading, and may cover only a part of the country in some cases. SOURCE: UNDP (1998).

Hongkong Singapore Korea, Rep of Thailand Malaysia Sri Lanka Maldives Indonesia China Vietnam Myanmar Pakistan India Bangladesh Nepal Bhutan

Country

TABLE 1 Some Selected Socio-economic Indicators of East and Southeast Asia, and South Asia

Introduction 3

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Education for Development

15 per cent in 1993. Soon, there will be practically none in the Singapore labour force with less than primary education. While those with post-secondary education made up less than 5 per cent of the labour force in 1966, it increased to 20.2 per cent in 1989, and 25.7 per cent in 1993. These changes may have been the result of the sizeable investments in human resources in Singapore since the late sixties. Given their remarkable successes in economic growth, as well as its social impact, it is natural that these countries have become the focus of global attention. The recent crisis has, in fact, increased rather than diminished interest in the affairs of the East Asian countries as the fate of the global economy is now tied so intimately with their performance. The region, of course, has demonstrated its strong resilience in coping with this unprecedented crisis. Many believe that this inner strength may have originated from its earlier emphasis on human development, particularly on skill-based education. Besides the World Bank initiating major cross-country studies to understand the causal links to their success (World Bank 1991; 1993), others too have been taking a keen interest on the outcomes of development initiatives taken in the region (Wade 1990; Leipziger 1997; Birdsall and Jasperson 1997; ADB 1998; Rowen 1998; Kim 1998; Morris and Sweeting 1995; Petri 1997; Mundle 1995; Mingat 1995; Delhaise 1998; Ramesh and Asher forthcoming). Most of these commentaries are couched in economic analyses, except a few like Kim (1998) and Rowen (1998) who look beyond economic factors while explaining this pattern of East Asian success. While most of the commentators refrain from making single-factor analysis and go for multi-factor explanations for understanding this unprecedented growth process in East Asia, they often concentrate on a relatively smaller cluster of factors. Rowen (1998, p.4), for example, forwards three sets of explanations: a) better economic policies; b) greater social capabilities for fostering institutions which favour physical investment, formation of human capital, and acquisition of technology; and c) external influences emanating from Europe, Japan, and, lately, the United States. It should be recognized, however, that it is not easy to develop a plausible explanatory framework for understanding these success stories. If the credit is given to a set of authoritarian governments pushing relevant economic policies successfully then one may counter-argue why such an outcome could not be observed in many other countries with similar authoritarian regimes (Kim 1998; and Morris and Sweeting 1995). Again, the tendency to follow preferential industrial policies which give better access to credit, subsidies, and trade protection abounds in many countries, but no such positive outcome has been noted in those countries (Rowen 1998). The cultural explanation (a la Confucianism) forwarded by some does not appear strongly logical either. The elements of Confucianism were there three decades ago. Why then were

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Introduction

5

all the countries having Confucian traits, except Japan, so poor all these years? Some are still poor. Confucianism has not changed radically since then. Certainly, cultural factors may have played some role, but surely only in conjunction with others, so they should not be over-blown. Yet others are keen to give enough credit to external influences and the strategic position of East Asia in the polarized global context (Kim 1998). In the absence of an accepted theory explaining the sources of sustained growth in East Asia, this study argues plausibly that the high quality of human resource derived from the formal educational system, as well as informal opportunities for the absorption of technologies through on-the-job and off-the-job training may have been a necessary but certainly not sufficient cause for such an outcome (ADB 1998). Education alone could have achieved very little of this growth if there were no other complementary growthaugmenting factors like good governance, favourable legal framework, and national willingness to prosper even in difficulties. Development, indeed, is a difficult and clumsy process, the outcomes of which are dependent on multiple and interrelated factors covering economic, political, social, and cultural terrains. Thus, putting the burden on education alone for explaining this complex phenomenon may not be wise. Education, however desirable it may be, cannot go far in an institutional vacuum in achieving the high level of “development” experienced by the East Asian countries. Given this wider analytical and methodological context, this study plans to cover the following areas: • •

• • •

Understanding the role of education in augmenting growth and, hence, development in general; Identifying the contribution of education in economic development in the Southeast Asian countries (for example, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand). Important educational features of pioneers such as Japan, and then South Korea, will be identified as and when needed to strengthen the arguments. The policy issues related to access to different levels of education, funding support from the government, and content of education will receive sharper focus in order to draw lessons from the educational experiences of these countries. A closer look will also be taken into the educational policy of Singapore and the value attached to it by the government and the people; Identifying important lessons from the Southeast Asian experiences in educational development. Identifying those lessons which may be replicable or inspirational for Bangladesh. Concluding remarks.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

This document is reproduced from Education for Development: Lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh, by Atiur Rahman (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2002). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies < http://www.iseas.edu.sg/pub.html >

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Education for Development

2

Education and Development: Lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh

The Perspective Education has long been recognized as an important contributing input to development in most low-income countries, yet it remains one of the most dysfunctional sectors in many of them. As early as in 1966, the Education Commission in India noted: “The destiny of India is now being shaped in her class rooms”. Thirty-two years later, Amartya Sen had to remind the same nation that India needed to give a boost to basic education to speed up its economic development (Reuters, 2 January 1999). This means that very little attention has been given to educational development and related investments in India. Besides India, this is probably the usual story in most of the developing countries. In particular, the South Asian countries, unlike their East Asian neighbours, have been investing far less in education to realize their growth potentials. Even if they did make increased investments, they were not too concerned about the quality of education imparted to their future citizens. Haq (1997) compares these two parts of Asia, noting that both were at approximately the same level of per capita income in the 1960s (see Table A28 in the Appendix) but South Asia had failed to make progress in “improving the circumstances in which people are born, in building human capabilities, in opening up opportunities for income and employment or in sustaining a better environment from one generation to the next” (Haq 1997, p. 66). According to him, liberal investment in basic education marks the most critical difference between the two. The contribution of education to development is, however, better understood if the latter is conceptualized in a broader framework going beyond

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Education and Development: Lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh

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mere growth of output, which again is necessary but not sufficient for fulfilling the lofty goals of development. Development Redefined The notion of development has long been associated with economic growth. Economic growth, because of its very nature, is often seen in terms of industrial production and modern services. No doubt, in such a process, the share of the modern sector absorbing the capital is disproportionately high and, therefore, operationalized as such. However, such a notion of development is now being questioned by many on a number of counts. The Asian Development Bank summarizes some of these shortcomings in the following paragraphs: 1.

2.

3.

It leads many people into believing that rich countries are more advanced in all fields of civilization and culture, and that developing countries are inferior in all respects. In fact, the very term “developing countries” used simply for poor countries implies this misconception. It disregards the intrinsic values of cultural identity and cultural diversity and favours, as an axiom, the concept of one modern universal industrial technological civilization. It is silent about the asymmetric character of interdependence between rich and poor countries, particularly the unequal patterns of production and distribution. It tends to ignore the question of an equitable participation in and distribution of benefits from the development process within a country. Thus, it does not tell much about the actual living conditions of the people, including the social and environmental costs of economic growth (ADB 1991, p. 15).

Banuri goes even deeper and raises some fundamental questions against conventional development based on unilinear modernization on the following grounds (see Banuri 1987, p. 7): 1. 2. 3. 4.

persistence of poverty amid increasing affluence, increase in unemployment despite expanding production; increasing association of modernization and development with ecological disasters; increasing association of development with higher levels of conflicts and tensions in much of the Third World; onset of a period of confusion, ‘muddled groping and search for new paradigms in economics as well as political science, the two mother disciplines of development theory’ (ibid., p. 8).

Despite some “loss of hope” in the development project, economic development theories have tried earnestly to salvage it by introducing other

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variables like basic needs, redistribution with growth, and growth with equity. However, all these newer concepts still have primarily economic connotations and, hence, the complex problem of development is still trying to focus only on economic issues. As a result, all those theories have been dubbed as “economistic” or “reductionist”. Instead, Dopfer is inclined to define development as “the change of the total-system in a desired direction” (Dopfer 1979, p. 114). He proposes, in line with the classical economists, a “holistic systems view” within the historical confines where a “total system behaviour” is sought after. Certainly, such a view presupposes a significant change in the existing mindset. This view has recently been further developed by Capra (1996) who too believes in an integrated approach. With the onset of the new millennium, the issue of sustainability is becoming increasingly relevant in the contemporary global context. It is now dawning to most of us that the daunting problems of our time cannot even be comprehended in isolation. (See Capra 1982; and Escobar 1995 for a critique of the concept of development.) These are interconnected and interdependent systemic problems. Not all of the major problems are so complex that they cannot be easily solved. Surely they can be solved, but they require a fundamentally different worldview, a new perception. Despite the campaign for socio-economic development made by UNIRSD, UNESCO and other international organizations (McGranahan et al. 1985), the imperative for such a change in perception is still lacking among the leaders who really matter. “Not only do our leaders fail to see how different problems are interrelated; they also refuse to recognize how their so-called solutions affect future generations. However, from the systemic point of view, the only viable solutions are those that are sustainable” (Capra 1996, p. 4). According to him, interdependence, recycling, partnership, and diversity are the “hallmarks” of this concept of sustainability, which will gradually unfold as the dominant paradigm in the coming years. At a time when the world is facing a crisis of survival, we will have to “respond creatively to all threats and to develop a great variety of adaptive strategy” (ibid., p. 236). The concept of development is thus a complex and balancing process which can be, and indeed should be, perceived differently by different societies (or nations) encompassing various interrelated dimensions, in addition to economic aspects. Some of these dimensions may include: 1. A historical dimension: cultural heritage, colonial legacy, weal and woe of a common past determine a society’s perceptions and aspirations and can make it opt for a style of life which may be difficult to understand by those who do not share the same historical experience. 2. A political–ideological dimension: societies have chosen different concepts of how to organize themselves, not only involving different

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

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economic systems, but also different social values, different views about the importance of material or spiritual goods, and different metaphysical interpretations of human life. 3. A psychological dimension: people also differ significantly regarding their self-concept and the concept of their role in society. They have different attitudes towards authority and co-operation, different ambitions and readiness for change and experiment, and different standards regarding the importance of “secondary” virtues, such as punctuality and orderliness (ADB 1991, p. 16). These dimensions, to mention only a few, define to a large extent the varying conditions for and the content of development of a nation. In defining developmental goals for a nation, it is imperative that these dimensions are considered and, if possible, integrated in a balanced way. In a way, these dimensions draw the cultural contour of a nation that is aspiring to develop. Hence, since education is generally considered to be a major instrument of a society/nation “to transmit and further develop the common heritage from generation to generation” (ADB 1991, p. 16), it cannot be pursued in one form or another without putting it in the context of these cultural contours. This does not mean, however, that any educational reform is likely to be doomed from the beginning because of this cultural context (but it is better to be alerted about it) nor it would be wise to attach too much importance to a “taboo” which may actually hinder progress. Once again, a right balance has to be found in order to become sustainable. This is perhaps true for both education and development. More pragmatically, any development effort in a sector not only presupposes a certain level of literacy but also further supports education (that is, training), while at the same time, any educational effort has to be pursued within the cultural and economic context of the country in order to avoid controversy and wastage. In other words, educational development should not be determined by purely economic imperatives. It should be placed in a broader context, for achieving both ethnical and efficiency objectives. It is always better to avoid a narrow perspective while pursuing an educational developmental effort, given the complex non-economic and interrelated dimensions of development. However, while pursuing a broader perspective, the desire for improving the material conditions of living should not be totally ignored. The level of material deprivations among the majority of the people of many countries that aspire to “develop” drives home this point quite convincingly. This is particularly true for South Asian countries, including Bangladesh. Indeed, there is now hardly any scope for a society to keep its people locked in a low-level material condition in the name of autarky. The imperative for an improved standard of living does not emanate only from the fast changing pattern of globalization

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but also from the desire of the people themselves to lead a better life. In that context, the technological content of the evolving development cannot be ignored either. This again should be placed in the endogenous context of each society’s own version and vector of modernity and the desire for change. All these really relate to an ever-changing view of development, where education is likely to play a crucial role. The better endowment of human capital will probably be the key player in the development scenario of the coming years. Education by its very nature is always futuristic as it prepares today’s generation for facing tomorrow’s world. Thus, education has to be concerned with anticipating alternative future scenarios of development and change, or adapt itself accordingly. The major task of education is “to prepare young people for the task of both shaping the future and coping with the future” (ibid., p. 18). Development has its own inertia, which may not always welcome educational interference. Similarly, the pressure for maintaining the status quo may also come from within the educational sector itself. Hence, the onus will fall upon the policy-makers and educationists to design appropriate educational responses to enable the future adult generation to cope with the challenges of development that are unfolding rapidly. Given the pace of technological change and new organizations of production, transforming the world economy, and development, particularly growth, will require higher knowledge-intensive industries, agriculture, and services. Education, formal and informal, is the key to developing that knowledge. It will further prepare individuals with the perception and tools to adjust to a rapidly changing world. Even if we ignore the vast multitude of the illiterate, marginalized young population, the present educational system in most of the poor countries cannot provide the type of economic literacy and technical know-how which is needed for day-to-day operations in today’s globalized economy. The hope of South Asian countries like Bangladesh to get greater access to the global market in the areas of electronics, textiles, and leather now being gradually left behind by the Southeast Asian countries may not fully materialize unless they pick up higher order technologies as well. The technological capacity for a more sophisticated design, the workmanship and finishing as will be demanded by the consumers of the twenty-first century, will be the deciding factor in making such a transition. The capacity to acquire, transmit, and apply knowledge to work and everyday life will contribute towards the level of competitiveness. Low wages alone will not be significant in the changed global context. A welleducated labour force which is flexible and at the same time technologically skilled will, therefore, be crucial in tomorrow’s trade and commerce. However, most developing countries are yet to wake up and move strategically in a direction that can reduce the “knowledge-gap” which is, in fact, widening. “The ‘knowledge-gap’ disparity in the capability of countries or groups within countries to participate in the gains of technological innovations and new

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productivity process is growing. Many countries are falling further behind in providing the education and training needed by their youth to create and adapt available knowledge to their environment” (Haddad, et al. 1990, p. 1). This widening gap may have serious implications for the laggard countries. They may find it more difficult to enhance and shape their own development process. Consequently, the standard of living of the majority of their people, which is already very low, may further deteriorate. Even the initial gains made by some provinces of India (such as Kerala) by putting more emphasis on basic education may not be sustained because of underestimation of the impact of modern technology-oriented education (Majumdar 1997–98, p. 43). Simultaneously, conventional development policies, unless counteracted where necessary, and redesigned, can have serious negative impact on the state of the physical environment. Already, irreversible destruction of forestry, salinization of the coastal region, soil erosion, waterlogging, air and water pollution have started to affect the health and livelihood of many. Although policy-makers have been alerted, and some of them are apparently responding positively in terms of legislation and appropriate development planning, the fact remains that they are yet to be more aware of the educational implications of those issues. “Without systematic environmental education integrated into health, social, scientific and technical education, and imparting the necessary knowledge and attitudinal changes to everybody as part of the regular curriculum, political and legal measures at the macro level are bound to be little successful in preventing an environmental disaster which would likely affect developing countries earlier and more traumatically than the economically advanced world” (ADB 1991, p. 20). Besides, there are additional positive gains in providing education to women in terms of reduction in child mortality, maternal mortality, and demographic pressure (Tilak 1994). The role of education in equalizing income through providing better opportunities for productivity improvement is also well recognized (Birdsall, Ross and Sabot 1997a). Education and Development: The Inter-relationships Given this broad perspective on the relationship between education and development, it will be appropriate to pinpoint the contribution of the former to the latter, especially in the context of the new demands for education in a constantly changing world economy. We will, therefore, focus on the following areas of this relationship: 1. 2. 3. 4.

education and economic growth education and productivity education, poverty, and income distribution education and women

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5. education, globalization, and technical change 6. education and environment Education and Economic Growth Schultz (1961) and Denison (1962; 1967) are normally cited as pioneers in establishing the relationship between education and economic growth. They attempted to account for the unexplained “residual” growth left when changes in labour (hours worked per day) and physical capital were included in the production function. While Schultz attributed 16 to 20 per cent of the economic growth in the United States during the early half of the last century, Denison found that between 1930 and 1960, 23 per cent of the increase in its output was due to increased education of its labour force. Subsequent studies noted wide variations in the contribution of education to growth from a low of 2 per cent in Germany to highs of 12 per cent in the United Kingdom, 14 per cent in Belgium, 15 per cent in the United States and 25 per cent in Canada (Haddad et al. 1990, p. 3). Similar variations have also been reported for developing countries. Based on Schultz’s methods, Psacharopoulos and Woodhall (1985, Table 2.1) showed an educational contribution of 12 per cent to 23 per cent towards the output growth of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Korea. Cross-country comparisons of the contribution of education to growth have been reported by many other researchers while pointing out the transformation of low to high-income countries (Clark 1940; Kuznets 1966; Chenary and Syrquin 1975). They mostly argued in terms of the accumulation of human capital in explaining the previous record of economic growth. However, until recently, these researchers could not identify the direction of causality implied by the positive correlation between educational attainments and per capita output. Hence, there were some concerns regarding the contribution of education to growth. However, Barro (1991) established a firmer causal relationship between the two by using growth regressions. He estimated equations to explain the variation among 98 countries in the growth rate of real per capita income over the period 1960–85. He included per capita gross domestic product (GDP) at the start of the period and education enrolment rates in 1960, a crude proxy for the initial stock of human capital, as explanatory variables, among others. Birdsall, Ross and Sabot (1997) used a modified version of the Barro regression to conduct counter-factual simulations and find a plausible basis for assessing the contribution of investment in human capital to economic growth (see Table A3 in the Appendix). Taking the average value of each variable in the Barro sample, Birdsall, Ross and Sabot (1997a) draw the growth path of per capita GDP for the quarter century referred earlier for a typical country.

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Figure 1 shows the changes in growth and per capita GDP for that country, assuming that it had achieved a 1960 primary, or both 1960 primary and secondary enrolment rate one-half standard deviates above (or below) the mean. To quote Birdsall et al. (1997, p. 100), There is a 0.7 per cent gap in growth rates between the simulation which varies primary enrolments (GR(P)), and a 1.4 per cent gap in growth rates between the simulations which vary both primary and secondary enrolments (GR (P + S)). Illustrating the power of compounding, the cumulative effect of these differences in growth rates on 1985 per capita GDP is large: 20 per cent and nearly 40 per cent, respectively. Korea provides an example: had Korea’s enrolment rates been as low as Brazil’s were in 1960, its average annual growth rate would have been 5.6 per cent rather than 6.1 per cent, resulting in a 1985 per capita GDP 11.1 per cent less than that actually attained.

Does this mean that the supply of human capital alone can explain the contribution of education to growth? If there is no demand for human capital, the oversupply of it may, in fact, add more problems to a country in terms of unemployment, social unrest, and wastage of scarce fiscal resources. The development strategy of East Asia indeed responded complementarily with the supply of human capital by opting for a labour-demanding export-led growth path. The real earnings, wage employment, and real wage bill in relation to gross national product (GNP) increased much faster in East Asia, allowing for FIGURE 1 Simulated Average Per Capita GDP Growth Paths, Varying 1960 Primary and Secondary Enrolment Rates

GDP/POP (1980 dollars)

4,000

GR(P+S) = 2.89% GR(P) = 2.56%

3,500

GR = 2.18% GR(P) = 1.79%

3,000

GR(P+S) = 1.46%

2,500 2,000 1960 1960

1965 1965

1970 1970

1975 1975

1980 1980

1985 1985

NOTE: GR represents the growth path for an average economy, GR(P) represents an economy one-half standard deviation above or below primary enrolment rates, and GR(P+S) represents an economy one-half standard deviation above or below primary and secondary enrolment rates. SOURCE: Birdsall et al. (1997a), p. 99, Figure 4.3.

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a greater demand for labour. The weak demand for labour in a country like Peru or Argentina yielded lower growth rates despite high human capital endowments in the 1960s (Birdsall et al. 1997, pp. 101–2). The demand for skill and the contribution of education to growth can be illustrated with a diagram (Figure 2). S and D represent the skill supply and demand functions of a typical low-growth performing country. S′ and D′ are the two counterparts of a typical high-growth performing country (for example, in East Asia). The level of poverty is low in the latter. Thus, most families as well as the government can commit more resources for education, which can be rewarding as there is demand for the same. Let us now shift S′ to the right. D′ also shifts to the right as there is demand for skilled workers. Despite the greater expansion of education, returns to investment has not diminished as the demand for skilled labourers remains higher than ‘r’ in a typically low-performing country X. Again in country X, where the enrolment rates are higher than the typically low-performing country, the returns to education are even lower. This is because it does not face a similar demand function like the high-performing country. Thus, because of the lack of an appropriate development policy which could have facilitated a higher demand for skilled FIGURE 2 The Linkage Between Demand for Skills and Contribution of Education to Growth S S′ Rate of Return to Investment in Human Capital

High growth performing economy

r′ r

D′

Typi cal low Performing economy economy performing

Country x

rx

D

i d ll

i

S

S′

Quantity of Investment in Human Capital

SOURCE: Birdsall (1997).

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labourers, country X failed to reap the benefits of its higher supply of human capital. Yet in another econometric exercise, Park finds a causal link between government spending on education and the growth of GDP in Korea over three decades (1962–92). He categorically states that, “a causal relationship runs from education to output but not from output to education” (Park 1995, p. 14). He asserts that public spending on education causes GDP to increase in the Granger sense, meaning that although many developments can cause permanent changes in the variables, there is a long-term relation linking the two. According to him, the long-run elasticity of output with respect to government spending on education in Korea during this period is 1.12. Birdsall et al. (1997a) again support this through their regression runs and go a step further to assert that Koreans invested more on basic education compared to any other country, a trend more or less followed by most East Asian countries, which in fact helped to stimulate the demand for higher education. Higher education was, of course, greatly supported by the private sector in Korea. Except for Singapore, this is perhaps the usual trend.

Education and Productivity The contribution of education to growth, as demonstrated above, can be explained in several ways. The most significant is, of course, reflected in productivity gains. Education augments cognitive and other skills, which in turn augment productivity of labour. There may be spillover effects of education too. The education of one co-worker may actually help improve the productivity of the entire group (Becker, Murphy, and Tamura 1990; Lucas 1988). Although establishing a relationship between education and productivity is not straightforward, as individuals with different levels of education have different types of occupations producing different products, there is evidence that education results in higher output. Haddad et al. (1990) have consolidated the findings of at least nine studies on this interlinkage and on balance the relationship appears to be more positive in the rural context (see Table A4 in the Appendix). To illustrate: a survey for the World Bank of eighteen studies which try to measure the relationship between farmers’ education and their agricultural output in low-income countries, concluded that a farmer with four years of elementary education would produce 8.7 per cent higher output than a farmer without education (Lockheed, Jamison, and Lau 1980). The survey also found that the effect is greater if complementary inputs are made available. The evidence on the effect of education on productivity in industry is not so conclusive for the urban areas. While Berry (1980) finds no positive relationship between education and output, Fuller (1990) records a positive impact if in-firm training is given. According to Min (1987), workers in Beijing

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with vocational education have at least 7 per cent higher productivity than workers with academic qualifications. In the urban areas, educated workers often “job-hop” to higher-paying jobs, as seen in Singapore (Hayashi 1998), and hence it would be wiser to compare the wage differentials to get the picture of returns to education. Indeed, Psacharopoulos and Tilak (1992) have established quite convincingly that there is a positive correlation between education and earnings. Blang (1972), of course, called this relationship a “striking finding” many years ago. In another study, Mincer (1979) draws a “learning curve” and shows that earnings are positively correlated with education at any given age (the higher-educated earn more) but the earnings rise with age up to a period, and then levels off. The Mincer function can be written as: In Y = α + β1S + β2EX + β3EX2 + ε Where, S = the years of schooling EX = the experience in the labour market Y = the annual earnings α = the intercept term βi = regression co-efficient ε = the error term to be estimated by the model β1 = the co-efficient of schooling = rate of return to education Psacharopoulos and Tilak (1992) have calculated the rate of returns to education for more than thirty-four countries using the above equation. On the whole, according to this study, the rate of return from primary education was higher, up to 30 per cent and above. The social return was also close to 20 per cent. In the case of secondary education, the rates were even lower than higher education, mainly because of the low quality. Despite the fact that there are serious problems with many of the empirical estimates of rates of return, particularly on the question of how the cost of education is estimated,3 there is apparently an emerging consensus: 1. that the highest overall social rates of return to education (in urban areas) are generally in the lower income, agricultural economies, and in the marginally industrialized economies; 2. that the highest pay-off to education in these lower-income and middle-income countries is at the primary level; and 3. that as countries industrialize, increase the GDP per capita, and invest more in education, rates of return to education tend to fall overall, and the pay-off to lower education levels tends to fall relative to the pay-off to higher education levels (Haddad, et al. 1990, p. 6).

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Education, Poverty and Income Inequality Recognizing the fact that education itself cannot eliminate poverty and enhance equality of income, based on the persistence of structural and institutional rigidities, it can still be argued, based on insights from our discussion on the rate of returns to education, that expansion of education at the lower levels of schooling can lessen the burden of poverty. Alam reveals that the head-count ratio of poverty is inversely related to the educational level of the household head in Bangladesh (Alam 2000). According to him, in 1997 in rural Bangladesh, the head-count ratio representing the incidence of poverty was the highest (about 57 per cent) for the household head category with zero level of schooling, the incidence of poverty in terms of the ratio fell as the educational level rose, and the lowest ratio of poverty incidence (that is, 18.8 per cent) was exhibited by the category where the household head was educated up to ten years or more. Similarly, for urban Bangladesh, about 78 per cent of the sample households were below the poverty line in 1997, where the household head did not have any schooling, whereas the head-count ratio (or the percentage of households below the poverty line) consistently fell with the progressively higher levels of household head’s educational level. The highest educational category of ten years or more exhibited the lowest incidence of poverty (about 14 per cent. See column [ii] [f] of Table A1 in the Appendix). Table A2 in the Appendix also shows that there is a positive relationship between the education level of the household head and the per capita (monthly) income. This is true for both poor and well-off households. Education improves the quality of the population through advances in knowledge. This contributes decisively towards a greater income-earning capacity for the poor. Tilak (1994) argues that education can impact both at the micro and macro levels in the fight against poverty. At the micro level, according to Tilak (ibid., p.115), illiterate individuals or households are less productive, work in less paying jobs and remain below the poverty line. At the macro level also, illiterate nations cannot increase output substantially and remain at a low standard of living.4 Moreover, education and other basic needs reinforce each other and hence, the lack of the former can further impoverish an individual and the nation. In the United States itself, it has been recorded that with better education, Black and Hispanic males and females were able to increase their income, thus improving economic growth, and equalizing income distribution (Haddad et al., 1990). In a low-income country, the impact of basic education on poverty reduction can be more significant. In a recent study (Sen and Rahman 1998), it was found that the incidence of poverty was the highest among the illiterates in all the countries of South Asia (see Table A5 in the Appendix). Seventy per cent of rural households in Pakistan who were not exposed to formal education had about 2.5 times higher incidence of poverty than their educated counterparts.

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In Nepal, the proportion of poor among the illiterates was 4.3 times higher than among the better educated groups. In Bangladesh, those without exposure to formal education had about 6.7 times higher incidence of poverty than the households with access to higher education. Similarly, in India, the incidence of poverty among the literates was only half of that observed for the illiterates. The impact of education in reducing poverty among the very low-income earning households can be quite significant. However, if the demand for educated people does not increase simultaneously because of stagnation in the economic growth process itself, it may not mean much to them. The income inequality may then persist or even worsen. According to Rao, “Typically, poverty alleviation takes place via high and sustained economic growth because of a number of processes complementary to such growth. First, it permits those who are skilled and semi-skilled to help themselves via direct employment expansion. Second, since a boom in construction inevitably accompanies rapid economic growth, unskilled workers benefit from jobs in the sector. Third, due to the sector’s supply-side intersectional linkages, there will be indirect employment expansion. Fourthly, as the relatively well-to-do spend more and more on personal services, this too helps the unskilled and semi-skilled to find jobs. Finally, high and sustained growth sets a favorable environment for targeted programmes for poverty alleviation, as government revenues expand at relatively high rates and as the concern for the poor naturally increases” (Rao 1998). As a country develops, the share of wage employment in total employment increases. So does the share of the inequality of pay in total income inequality. As the number of educated workers increases, the scarcity of rent which they earn declines. The resulting compression of the educational structure of wages may, in fact, reduce the inequality of pay. Thus, by reducing the inequality of pay, educational expansion may actually reduce total income inequality. However, if the more educated segment of the labour-force hops into higher-paying jobs (opportunities permitting) then, indeed, the inequality of income may be increased, unless counteracted by some other public policy (for example, housing in Singapore). This is called the composition effect of education on inequality. Whether the compression or composition effect dominates can be the clue to whether increased education enhances or reduces income inequality or not. Birdsall and Sabot (1994) carried out a cross-section study of more than 80 countries and found that the compression effect dominates. This means that a negative correlation emerges between basic education and enrolment rates and the level of income inequality (measured by the Gini co-efficient). Another very recent study by Saavedra-Rivano (1998) compared two countries, and has given significant credit to education in reducing inequality

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in Korea, while at the same time there was lack of appreciation about this crucial factor by Brazil: Even now, there seems to be little realization among the Brazilian elites of the need for diminishing the inequalities which, if anything, have increased in recent years. Education or the lack of it is one powerful transmission channel for the reproduction of these inequalities. But educational improvement, which most analysis of the Brazilian social situation acknowledges to be vital, receives only lip service and no concrete measures are taken (Saavedra-Rivano 1998, p. 191).

The emphasis given here on improving education, to reduce inequality in income and hence augment growth for the Brazilian economy, may not be unique. It has general implications as well. There is a strong argument that a reduction in inequality does, in fact, stimulate economic growth above and beyond affecting equity, because it enhances human capital development. This happens because: 1. Low and declining inequality is likely to provide stimulus for higher levels of savings and investment by the low-income groups. The poor refrain from making investments in human capital, which yield high returns, mainly because of liquidity constraints. Lower inequality may ease such constraints. 2. Lower inequality can stimulate growth by improving political and macroeconomic stability. If non-élites can also share the benefits of growth there will be less alienation and broader-based support for the government in charge. In addition, high inequality creates pressure for public spending on favoured groups (for example, spending more for tertiary rather than basic education), and continued support for “white elephants” instead of creating jobs for their children can constrain growth through grave fiscal mismatch. 3. Less inequality means greater incentives for the marginalized groups to respond to economic opportunities. If children from low-income households know from their experience that their academic achievement will not compensate for the low quality schools they attend, they are unlikely to make extra effort to improve their condition. The incentive for greater effort can be related to the aspiration for greater equality of income. 4. More equal income distribution has a greater multiplier effect in the economy. Education, Health and Demographic Changes There is no doubt that education is itself a basic need. However, with increased access to education, other basic needs are further improved. For example, the

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provision of health services is vastly improved when there is greater consciousness of this need, which is facilitated by education, formal or informal. Persistent malnutrition can be attributed to both inadequate food intake and lack of health care. Sometimes, although there may be health-care facilities, the lack of concern for health needs among the poor can limit the use of the health care system. Basic education, makes a substantial difference. The basic level of education of the public can play an important part in the utilization of communal health care and of general medical facilities, and female education in particular is especially important in this (see Dréze and Sen 1989). For example, if we contrast the life expectancy at birth in different states of India, we find the state of Kerala despite being no richer — indeed rather poorer — than the Indian average has a remarkably longer life expectancy than the Indian average of 56 to 58 years. The latest estimates suggest a life expectancy in Kerala around 70 years — not far from European figures. There is much evidence that this is closely connected with the high level of literacy — especially female literacy — in Kerala. The massive educational expansion in what is now Kerala began as early as 1817 with a powerful call for mass literacy by Rani Gouri Parvathi Bai, the ruling female monarch of what was then the native state of Travancore (ibid., pp. 221–25). That policy of education and public health has been pursued fairly consistently ever since, and has been further consolidated in recent decades by state governments keen on public services in education and health (Sen 1992, p. 5).

Sen further argues that widespread education leads to a better understanding of the need for health-care and stronger popular demand for it. Public health programmes initiated after high public demand may not yield results or be sustained unless people are concerned about the quality of the health-care service provided. Once again, educational opportunities play a crucial role in determining the outcomes. The United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Reports (HDR) have consistently linked basic education with better health care. The latest HDR (1998) projects this interrelationship quite convincingly, as captured in Tables A6 and A7 in the Appendix. The positive role of education in determining rapid demographic transition, with falling birth rate and better health-care, the latter preceding the former, led to a greater increase in the number of young people who save and invest more than other age cohorts, resulting in faster economic growth. At a later period, the number of the working-age population may further increase, providing a demographic bonus. Haddad (1990) summarizes the findings of eleven studies which clearly relate education positively with fertility rate, life expectancy, and child health (see Table A10 in the Appendix).

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Education and Women Despite women being the crucial link to achieving some of the developmental objectives highlighted above, the education of women received attention only very recently. Besides the obvious equity argument, it is now strongly felt that the low level of education for women hinders economic development and reinforces social inequality (Stromquist 1988; Sivard 1985). Women are enormous potential sources of human capital and the rate of returns in investing on them in the developing countries is higher than that for men even if one measures only income differentials (without accounting for other effects) (see Table A9 in the Appendix). Again, it can be argued that a higher proportion of women in the labour force is the likely outcome of a higher literacy rate for female adults (see Table A26 in the Appendix). The positive role of women in reducing fertility rates and ensuring better child health has already been emphasized in the preceding section. Moreover, providing education to women may lead to greater empowerment for them, leading to a faster transition to a virtuous cycle of opportunities away from the vicious cycle of poverty.

Education, Globalization and Technical Change The rapid pace of globalization presupposes the integration of factor markets through trade and exchange. In order to survive in a highly competitive global economy, every firm has to be more efficient and flexible. The economies with a highly educated, efficient, flexible labour force will be “quick to adapt and respond to changing challenges” (ADB 1998, p. 169) of globalization. They will be able to cope better with the imperatives of the ongoing revolution in information and technology. Apparently, the level of education is positively correlated with access to information (see Table A11 in the Appendix) and this asymmetry will be further accentuated unless societies at the lower end make efforts to increase their investment in education and technology. Therefore, it is imperative to make appropriate policy responses to develop human resources with the right skills and aptitude. Improved technological capability, nurtured through a responsive educational system, will hold the key for an economy wishing to make a transition to a more prosperous state. To adopt a more sophisticated knowledge system will obviously not be easy. Relying on the more industrialized countries for higher order technology will not only increase dependence, but there may also be a host of social and economic fallouts in this drive for globalization. Unless societies are prepared to invest in education to consolidate their own knowledge bases by reorienting it towards creativity and autonomy, they will continue to be net consumers of knowledge created elsewhere, and remain backward. Education is indeed the instrument of change. It not only changes the society, which may be backward

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and hesitant to interact with the modern world, but it also undergoes significant changes in the process of becoming “abundant, efficient and productive and a part of the mainstream of the world’s growing knowledge” (Haq 1997, p. 3). Education and Environment The rapid pace of development using sophisticated modern technologies may lead many societies to a situation which may not even be liveable. The degradation of the physical environment and the destruction of natural resources may no doubt expedite the growth process, but the outcome may ultimately not be the desired one. Thus, a sensible option would be to try a growth process that is sustainable and not anti-environment in its content. Unless a wellintentioned environmental policy is pursued vigorously, some of the high growth performing economies may be caught. Most governments are responding quite sensibly to the environmental constraint to development. As an overall and complete education is likely to have positive implications on environmental hazards (Table A27 in the Appendix), there is a need for systematic environmental education to be integrated into all types of education to bring about the required attitudinal change to life-styles and to find the best ways to cope with likely environmental disasters. Mere lip service will not serve the purpose. A well-planned public education programme with a responsive curriculum including environmental education must be put in place if policy-makers really want their environmental legislation and protective measures to succeed in achieving their policy objectives. We have analysed the critical role of education in development, focusing on the areas of growth, productivity, poverty alleviation, equity, health and demography, gender specificity, technological change, and the environment. Each of these elements does, of course, interact with the others, and education is perhaps the binding glue which hangs the frame. Both education and development are value-loaded concepts and they aim to change individuals and society, perhaps not only by changing the mindset but also adding material gains. While the purpose of education is to develop and nurture individuals and generations, to instruct them, inculcate values, attitudes and behaviour deemed desirable, development aims at “acting upon society with explicit intention of modifying its evolution, which presupposes a series of value judgements as to what constitutes a desirable future” (Debeauvais 1981, p.20). The East Asian Context The interrelationships between education and development in the context of East Asia are presented here. To capture the inter-linkages between education,

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poverty and income inequality, we can refer to the study of Park, Ross, and Sabot (1996). It compares macroeconomic data for Brazil and Korea and confirms the negative correlation between education and inequality. The study notes that despite Brazil and Korea having similar levels of per capita income, they have marked differences in income inequality mainly because of differences in educational attainment. The share of income of the top 20 per cent of workers in Korea is roughly eight times that earned by the bottom 20 per cent in 1976. The ratio for Brazil was 26 per cent in 1983. The study also notes that the educational composition of the labour force changed markedly from 1976 to 1985: the proportion of high school and post-secondary graduates increased sharply and the proportion of workers with elementary school or less declined by 8 per cent. As the supply of the educated workers increased, the wage premium earned by them in Korea declined. The same study found that Korean workers with high-school education earned 47 per cent more than primary school graduates in 1976. By 1986, however, this premium had declined to 30 per cent. Similarly, the premium earned by workers with higher education declined from 97 to 66 per cent (see Birdsall and Sabot 1994). Having a greater number of working age population does not automatically ensure growth. The society has to invest in them and make them ready for the challenges of growth by improving their level of education, health, and skills. In this, Southeast Asia has been reaping a bonus (except perhaps the Philippines) (ADB 1998). Obviously, the government has a crucial role to play here. The positive impact of education on demographic indicators has been captured here by some statistics from the HDR (1998, Table A8 in the Appendix). The early initiation of the export-led growth process in East Asia, and its subsequent relocation in the low-income countries, has benefited enormously from the participation of low-waged female labour available in the region. The high-tech industries in East Asia are again making very good use of welleducated female labour available in the region. The lack of an educated female labour force could be a serious constraining factor for a country which wants to move faster to high-tech industrialization. To cope with the information revolution as well as overall global challenges, there is certainly a need for greater investment in human resource development if an economy wants to reap the benefits of the technological revolution, which is moving at a speed beyond our comprehension. In fact, the willingness to invest more in education (particularly at the secondary level and above) with the specific intention of exploiting the advantages of this revolution will determine to a large extent how quickly and ably some of the Asian economies, which have been ravaged by the recent economic crisis, are on the road to recovery. Other economies that have not been affected so badly by the crisis will also have to invest in education so that they too can create an adequate stock of skilled labour force that can participate in the ever-changing global market.

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Southeast Asia’s educational policies and plans have apparently been able to appreciate the dual roles of education as an instrument of change as well as produce abundant and efficient knowledge workers. Most of the countries are, however, not fully aware of a systematic environmental education programme that can be integrated into all types of education (except perhaps Singapore to some extent). For example, it has been reported in the Straits Times (24 January 1999) that the pollution level of Hong Kong may reach a level that may not be liveable in fifteen years’ time despite its significant growth unless there is greater intervention in the environmental front. On the other hand, Singapore is apparently much more concerned about environmental fallout, and hence is pursuing a more environment-friendly growth process. However, at least recently, most of the governments of these countries are responding quite sensibly in trying to understand the importance of environmental education. Of course, there have been frustrations with both education and development. While education in many countries has failed to respond to the needs of rapid accumulation and distribution, development has also failed to address adequately the issue of poverty, unemployment, and shelter for many, despite remarkable economic growth, both at the national and per capita levels. In such a background, it is not surprising that in recent years conventional development concepts, theories, and practices have all been undergoing critical re-examinations, resulting in the rise and wide acceptance of a much broader, people-oriented notion of the nature and objectives of development, together with a broader education and its diverse roles in developing both individuals and society (Coombs 1985, p. 17).5 We have also discussed some of the roles of education in development in the above paragraphs. There are divergent views too (see, for example, Pritcher 1996). However, even such views do not altogether negate the contribution of education to development; instead, they caution policy-makers to be more aware of the fact that development is a “complex business” and education alone cannot achieve the goal. It works well only in a better policy environment and not in a vacuum (see Pritcher 1996, for a good critique on the role of education in economic development). Be it so, the focus of this study is to understand the state of the educational systems in East Asian countries in terms of access, funding, quality and relevance to development. In fact, the success of educational development in East Asia should really be placed in the context of a very favourable exportled development strategy which is able to create demand for a well-educated labour-force coming out of the education system. Moreover, educational expansion in the region has been the result of a very strong commitment to education as a fundamental building block of the development process, which has been open, pragmatic, and strategic.

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Methodology The study is essentially based on thorough research of the secondary literature. In the search, the early educational experiences of Japan and then South Korea were kept in mind. Besides looking into the secondary literatures on a comparative basis, an attempt was also made to generate some primary-level information from the officials of the Ministry of Education, Singapore, accessing Web pages through the Internet, and discussions with development economists and a number of teachers located in Singapore. The objective has been to locate appropriate lessons for Bangladesh, which too aspires to develop faster along the lines followed by some of the East Asian countries. As such, while researching for relevant information for this study, the author has tried to derive some policy lessons for Bangladesh, keeping in mind the different planes on which the Southeast and South Asian regions are placed. It is true that both regions were almost at the same level of economic development about three decades ago, and it is intriguing how they fell apart in terms of their material development. Notwithstanding the financial crisis, which has put the Southeast Asian region off the rails for a while, and South Asia, including Bangladesh, is still achieving a growth rate of about four percentage points, the fact remains that there are two parts of Asia with divergent levels of material well-being, as well as in their perceptions of graduation to the next level of development. These contrasting outcomes have been kept in perspective while drawing lessons from the Southeast Asian and East Asian educational and developmental experiences.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

This document is reproduced from Education for Development: Lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh, by Atiur Rahman (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2002). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies < http://www.iseas.edu.sg/pub.html >

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Education and Development with Particular Reference to Singapore and Japan

Since the publication of the East Asian Miracle (World Bank, 1993) which emphasized the critical role of human resource development in conjunction with other relevant institutional factors in achieving unprecedented high growth rates in East Asia, a number of new researches have been undertaken to examine the contribution of education in explaining this phenomenon (see, for example, Mingat 1995; Rao 1995; Mundle 1995; Morris and Sweeting 1995; Stevenson 1998; Koo 1999).

Primacy to Basic Education Almost all of these studies have emphasized the paramount role of primary education in providing a solid base of literacy, numeracy, and social cohesion in the early period of industrialization prior to economic take-off. This has been a common trait in almost all the high growth performing countries of East Asia. Japan has, of course, been the pioneer in this league, and it has been closely followed by South Korea and later by the newly industrializing countries (NIEs), and finally by other ASEAN countries. There are, of course, great variations within the countries of Southeast Asia in terms of the emphasis given to different aspects of educational policies beyond this broad commonality (see Ramesh and Asher, forthcoming). Apparently, the East Asian societies, including the Southeast Asian countries, have followed a straightforward strategy which has worked quite well in achieving the desired economic development: “develop an awareness in the culture of the importance of education, persuade students to study

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effectively, provide schools with well-trained, responsive teachers, make school an enjoyable place to be and maintain strong cultural interest and family support in education” (Stevenson 1998, p. 163–64). As the economy started to grow in this part of Asia, the governments of these countries anticipated that a well-educated workforce would be needed if the demands of complex industrial and manufacturing economies were to be met and, accordingly, they organized their educational systems with adequate budgetary support. In some countries, the role of the private sector in supporting education has also been commendable (for example, South Korea and Taiwan). Japan achieved universal primary education as early as 1900, and it continued to place emphasis on primary education even after other levels of education were developed (Japan National Commission for UNESCO 1966). By 1965, the enrolment roles of primary education in South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong were well over 100 per cent of the official estimated age cohort (Morris and Sweeting 1995, p. 245). This expansion of basic education covered both boys and girls — another distinguishing feature of East Asia. This newly literate workforce provided the fuel to the rapid labour-intensive export-led industrialization which occurred in Japan in the 1950s and 1960s, with a longer lag period between universal primary education and rapid industrialization (Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea in the 1970s, and Malaysia, Thailand, and China in the 1980s). In all these countries, the expansion of primary education took priority in the early phase of their growth and industrialization. At this stage, proportionately much less was spent on secondary and higher education. Subsequently, however, “motivated both by changes in the economy and by the rising expectations of parents whose children were completing their primary schooling, first secondary and then tertiary education became the focuses for expansion” (Morris and Sweeting 1995, p. 246).

Access to Schooling Table A12 in the Appendix gives the comparative gross enrolment rates by level of schooling over the past four decades. We notice a great variation in access to schooling in the different countries. As indicated earlier, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan had a good start. Singapore too had a moderate start (77 per cent). The South Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, except Sri Lanka), Indonesia, and Taiwan had less coverage. If we compare the ratios between secondary and primary enrolment rates for the different countries, it becomes clear that Southeast Asian countries (such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia) have put relatively less emphasis on secondary education compared to the South Asian countries. The Philippines, of course, has followed the latter group. Japan again achieved near universal secondary education quite early.

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Although gross enrolment ratios broadly indicate access to schooling, they do not measure effective coverage. The inclusion of over-aged pupils and repeaters can inflate the ratio. Normally, four years of schooling is considered the minimum for permanent literacy/numeracy. If this is so, then the percentage of enrolled students who continue to fourth grade is crucial. Table A13 in the Appendix indicates that South Asian countries experience higher proportions of dropouts compared to the Southeast Asian countries. As a result the adjusted primary enrolment ratio became as low as 17 per cent for Bangladesh and India in 1960, compared with 74 per cent for Malaysia, and 83 per cent for Singapore. While Sri Lanka’s rate was 91 per cent, Indonesia’s was only 38 per cent. However, on the whole, Southeast Asia did better in terms of effective enrolment at the primary level as early as 1960, and did not have to undergo collossal wastages of resources and learning time at the basic level. This level of achievement in primary education in 1960 had something to do with the subsequent growth performance in the 1990s. Mingat (1995) relates the growth ratio (GDP per capita in 1992 and 1960) to the enrolment rates at three levels of schooling at the beginning of the period 1950–60, controlling for the initial level of per capita GDP (1960), and provides estimates for five alternative specifications (see Table A14 in the Appendix). In all six relationships, he finds a co-efficient that is both positive and statistically significant for the initial coverage of primary education; its numerical value is similar in different specifications. On average, a country that would have had a primary education coverage of 10 per cent higher than that in the initial period would have, according to the estimated relationship, a growth ratio of 0.75 higher. However, for secondary and higher education, he does not get a similar fit. Most Asian countries, of course, have increased their coverage of primary education in later decades, but those who achieved better coverage earlier was more successful too in terms of growth performance. The better access to schooling in the East Asian countries has also been supported by Koo (1999) (see Table A15 in the Appendix). He records that the age categories for pre-primary education are widely dispersed, ranging from three to six years of age. The primary schooling starts at the age of six or seven. Primary education (up to five to six years) had been made compulsory in most of the East Asian countries (except Singapore, which does not enforce compulsory education but almost every child goes to school). China, Japan, and Malaysia have made education compulsory for up to nine years. Koo also reports on gross enrolment ratios in the above table, covering the age group of six to twenty-three. As can be observed, Japan does the best here too. It is followed by Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The ASEAN-4 follow them quite closely. The table also shows the expected number of years of schooling. Japan, and the NIEs show figures which are closer to the developed countries (for example, New Zealand, France, Norway, the United States, and Canada average around 14.1–16.5 years). The figure for the Philippines is also

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significantly higher than all other low-income countries. However, Koo uses mostly UNESCO data, which are often dated and not covering all the countries. The data focus mostly on enrolment ratios and hence cannot be extrapolated for further policy discussions. If we break down further the gross enrolment ratio by levels of education, we find that this is above 100 per cent in most of the East Asian countries (see Table A16 in the Appendix), although it is slightly below world average (99 per cent), but much above the average of the less developed countries (LDCs) (65 per cent) in Malaysia and Thailand. Most of the East Asian countries have also achieved gender balance in gross primary enrolment ratio. China, however, has not yet done so. Table A16 also reveals great variations in gross enrolment ratios among the East Asian countries. Japan and the NIEs have achieved very high rates while the other ASEAN countries, except the Philippines, have lagged behind, though still far above the LDC level (17 per cent). The gross enrolment figures may often hide the real cause of noticeable differences in the access to schooling. For example, suddenly in 1986, the enrolment at the tertiary level of education in Thailand increased to more than one million from only 55,000 existing in 1970 because two more universities were established around the mid-eighties. In the Philippines, college level instruction was added to existing secondary schools as a means to receive public funding during the 1950s and 1960s. In comparison with these countries, Singapore is highly selective in its admission policy at the tertiary level and committed to quality and employment. Thus, its enrolment ratios appear low. Indeed, more than half of the eligible students who apply for university seats in Singapore are turned away. The four polytechnics accept about two-thirds of the applicants. Moreover, Singapore keeps aside a certain percentage of seats for foreign students at the tertiary level although this proportion is believed to be quite low compared with most universities in the United States. However, a huge number of Singaporean students go abroad for higher studies. The streaming system of education has also helped to keep the enrolment ratio low. A high percentage of students in Singapore (nearly half the relevant age cohort) who gain admission into vocational institutions, polytechnics, and other training institutes may not have been captured by the enrolment data given by UNESCO. Morris and Sweeting (1995) go deeper and argue that besides the level of expansion, one should also know the timing of this expansion. According to them, the key periods were those which preceded each significant shift in the economic structure. The periods prior to industrialization saw systems of secondary education which, in general, were selective, elitist and academic with regard to curricular orientation and highly competitive with regard to admissions. They were in effect the centrepiece of a pyramid, one of their key goals being to prepare a

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minority of pupils for entry to the final stage of formal education. Thus in 1965, the enrolment rates in secondary schools in South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong were 35 per cent, 45 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. As their economies grew, so people’s living standards and aspirations increased. This coincided with the increases in the government’s revenues. In the more interventionist societies of South Korea and Taiwan, the state responded to public demand and/or to its own desire to invest in human capital by rapidly expanding secondary education. Consequently, by 1986, the enrolment rates for secondary schools in Taiwan had risen to 92 per cent, in South Korea to 95 per cent and in Hong Kong to 69 per cent. However, this expansion was not always publicly funded (Morris and Sweeting 1995, p. 249).

At the tertiary level, the achievements of Japan and the NIEs are higher. Korea exceeds Japan and it is almost at the level of the developed countries. Singapore and Hong Kong, although showing lower achievements in 1980, later picked up and by 1992 the figures were 22 and 20 per cent respectively (see Table A12 in the Appendix). Japan and Korea also show higher numbers of students per one hundred thousand inhabitants. Again, the figures for the Philippines and Thailand are quite high (see Table A17 in the Appendix). However, one must remember that many students in small countries like Singapore and Hong Kong study abroad and, if adjusted, the figures will obviously be higher for these countries. Looking at the enrolment data, it can be safely argued that a wide coverage of primary education in most of the high growth performing economies of East Asia acted as a multipurpose investment providing positive influences on economic efficiency in occupations which required flexibility and adaptability than anything else. As the economies moved to a higher level, the East Asian societies and governments responded more positively to the demand for secondary and tertiary education. This emphasis on, first, a strong basic education and then moving gradually to higher order education matched very cogently with the economic success of these countries. However, achieving universal coverage in primary education early and then shifting gradually to the next levels of education would not have meant much unless a high quality education was offered to the children. In fact, what the students learn effectively in the schools become economically valuable during their adult life. We, therefore, focus on the quality of education imparted in these countries in the next sub-section.

The Quality of Education The quality of schooling can be examined from both input and output perspectives. The input side can have in-school components such as teachers, curriculum, textbooks, and other facilities as well as off-school

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components such as private educational expenses and the socio-economic background of the parents. The output side may be measured by students’ achievements in in-school tools (test scores, repetitions, dropout rates, etc.) or off-school tools such as performance in the labour market. Certainly, the input aspects do influence the output but the relation between the two has not yet been clearly established. Koo (1999) cites at least five cases where this is so. Firstly, although the effect of off-school input is not negligible, the net effect of in-school input is far greater in terms of students’ achievement test; this seems to be the case more so in developing countries than in developed countries such as the United States. School quality appears to have a substantial effect on subsequent earnings of students in the United States but there is little evidence for or against this relationship in developing countries. Secondly, the effect of in-school input, whether measured in terms of school buildings, laboratories, textbooks, teacher qualifications, nature of curriculum, class size, composition of the student body or expenditure per people, does have an effect on enrolment, on student achievement, and on adult earnings. Thirdly, per student (in-school) expenditure does not adequately reflect quality of schooling because not only is its variation large but there is also considerable variation in unobservable inputs to schooling that do not have market prices. But micro studies in the United States indicate positive though diminishing returns to per pupil expenditure on schooling. Fourthly, the bulk of current expenditures goes towards teachers’ salaries via three classes of inputs: class size, teachers’ experience, and teachers’ graduate education. Although teachers’ characteristics positively affect students’ achievement, class size and measures of teachers’ salaries seem to be less important than expenditures per student. While the size of the class within the range of twenty to forty makes little or no difference in average performance, the teachers’ attitude and experience seem to be more important than his or her academic qualifications in improving students’ achievement. Fifthly, in a country such as Thailand, where the portion of recurrent expenditure for education spent on teaching materials or textbooks is very low, there seems to be positive relationship between students’ achievement and availability of textbooks (Khoman 1988, p. 25) (Koo 1999, pp. 54–55).

Educational Expenditure On the input side, let us look into the expenditure pattern which can broadly capture most of the components discussed above, despite some reservations

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about it. The provision of primary and junior secondary education (that is, basic education) has throughout been treated by most East and Southeast Asian governments as a collective good with large externalities, and hence funded publicly. The public funding relates mostly to the operation of the school system. However, parents have also been participating in terms of the purchase of books and uniforms, the payment of transportation fee, or financing private tuition. This is not the case, however, in post-basic educational expenditures. Table A18 in the Appendix shows the share of enrolment in public and private schools and the share of fees in expenditures in four high growth performing economies of Asia: Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. Except for Singapore, the East and Southeast Asian societies have been relying quite largely on private funding in providing higher secondary and tertiary education, primarily through the payment of direct user fees. Japan, Korea, and Taiwan show one pattern: the majority of students are enrolled in private schools and they raise funds mostly from private sources. The government’s contribution in terms of subsidy and infrastructural support increases in the case of higher education. While the above three economies have relied mostly on a market-driven strategy (with occasional state intervention in the development of junior colleges and technical schools), Singapore has taken an interventionist approach following the manpower requirement technique. Whatever approach followed, all of these countries have faired quite well, until recently, in fulfilling the demand for highly educated graduates driven by economic growth, which has been consistently very high. The Southeast Asian countries benefited from the relocation of Japanese industries following the Plaza accord in 1985, and shifted their emphasis to light exports and service sectors where the demand was growing by leaps and bounds. The transformation of the service sector required skill development, which was facilitated by the early emphasis on basic and secondary education by these countries. As the demand for more value-added goods increased, countries like Singapore opted for greater openness and collaboration with foreign capital for linking up their technology-based industrialization. At this phase, they started to emphasize on quality tertiary education. In other words, education has been demand driven and the East Asian countries were willing to make adjustments to its content and supply based on the requirement. Quite a good balance has been maintained between the demand and supply of skilled labour (perhaps better in Singapore than most other countries, as cited earlier). The Asian crisis, however, created some “disequilibria” in this equation, even in Singapore, resulting in high rates of retrenchment and job losses recently. Nevertheless, the region has been recovering from this crisis precisely because of its timely investment in human capital. It is argued that the private financing of education in these countries has not only helped to develop human capital in line with market demands, but

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also achieved economic efficiency. The efficiency argument can be related to two aspects: 1. the curriculum is likely to reflect the needs of the labour market as students consider higher education as a private investment; 2. there may be a higher level of cost consciousness among school managers. This argument is particularly relevant for managers of private institutions. Now let us look into the expenditures of schools. This is mostly public expenditure, and indicates the government’s commitment to education. Table A17 in the Appendix provides the data on the share of public spending on education in GDP between 1950 and 1992. The table clearly shows that the high performing Asian economies consistently allocated higher levels of funds to education compared to most others. Malaysia has been spending high amounts on education too, and it has been achieving high growth rates in recent years. What is significant is that those countries that have been spending more on education have been rewarded with higher growth rates. They spent much more in the 1950s when most other Asian countries spent very little. As they spent more, they also achieved higher levels of schooling. While the average number of years of schooling in Bangladesh is only about five years (this was much lower in the past), the South Asian countries have nine to thirteen years of schooling, on average. Japan and the NIEs spend more on higher education. However, the ASEAN-4 still spend relatively more on primary education. Korea and Thailand emphasize primary education, while Hong Kong and Singapore spend much more on secondary education. Malaysia spends equally on both primary and secondary levels.

Pupil–Teacher Ratio Let us now look into another input — the availability of teachers. Table A21 in the Appendix gives a comparative picture of pupil–teacher ratio over time. We observe the following: 1. as a country becomes more prosperous and attain demographic transition, the pupil–teacher ratio tends to fall. This has been true for most countries in Asia. 2. The four high performing East Asian economies show a declining trend in pupil–teacher ratios as the per capita GDP increases (35 when per capita GDP was US$4,000 at 1992, and falls to 25 at per capita GDP of US$15,000–US$20,000 in the same year) (see Figure 3). The teacher–student ratio in primary education has, in general, been relatively high in high-performing Asian economies.

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FIGURE 3 Pupil–Teacher Ratio in Primary Schooling during the Stages of Development in HPAES Pupil -Teacher ratio

770

Japan Korea

60

Singapore 50

Taiwan

40 30 20 10 0 500

1000

2000

4000

8000

16000

32000

(1992 US$)

Per-capita GDP at different points in time

NOTE: HPAEs = High Performing Asian Economies SOURCE: Mingat (1995), p. 43, Table 6.

Mingat averages the pupil–teacher ratio at different levels of per capita GDP (1992, US$) for the secondary level and finds a declining ratio with increasing level of per capita GDP (see Table A24 in the Appendix). This relationship indicates that the high performing Asian economies improved their economic condition first, to effect a lower pupil-teacher ratio. On the other hand, as can be seen from Table A21 in the Appendix, countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka achieved lower pupil–teacher ratio even at a lower per capita GDP. Mingat has also reported that all the high performing Asian economies made a special effort to pay teachers a relatively high salary (almost 40 per cent above that of other Asian countries) (also higher in GDP per capita terms than the OECD countries) (Mingat 1995, p. 46). In other words, they have opted for a mix in which pupil–teacher ratio (and consequently class sizes) was high while using relatively highly paid teachers (Mingat 1995, p. 46). As a result, the quality of education did not deteriorate in these countries. The well-paid teachers have been performing very satisfactorily despite a larger class size. However, the class size has been falling in recent years.

Result-oriented Education Another input variable to consider is the curriculum. The nature of the curriculum in East Asian countries has been fairly uniform. Teaching and

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learning are viewed as equally instrumental in achieving maximum success in highly competitive selection examinations. Examinations are considered as the “conducting rod” of the education system in Southeast Asia. Since higher levels of education are rewarded with higher lifetime earnings within a socioeconomic context where there is generally no public safety-net, the education system had to be made meritocratic, competitive, and highly instrumental. However, countries like Singapore and South Korea innovated the streaming system to ensure the selective function of education even in the context of mass provision (for example, to academic/general or technical/vocational streams). The system has encouraged “results-oriented” education with sufficient hardwork and perseverance.6 The curriculum in most of these countries is centrally controlled and inculcates “a strong sense of social cohesion through the promotion of national identity, consciousness and purpose” (Morris and Sweeting 1995, p. 258). This takes a different form in the ethnically homogeneous and multicultural societies. For example, Singapore clearly promotes multicultural nationhood without compromising the quality of education, whereas Malaysia uses the educational system to promote the indigenous Malays. However, in all these societies there has also been an attempt to encourage a sense of globalization and competitiveness so that the younger generation can pick up the right skills to be job worthy and at the same time competitive. This attitude towards “economic literacy”7 has not, however, been assumed by all countries with the same enthusiasm. Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, are far ahead of others in this aspect. China has recently adopted this attitudinal change quite fast. However, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia still have miles to go in this respect. On the output side, we may now look into the intensity of schooling, internal efficiency, and students’ educational achievements. Juster and Stafford (1991) found that Japanese children spend 50 per cent more time in school than American children. They also study at least four to five times more than their American counterparts. However, the authors point out that this trend does not hold for the tertiary level where American students study more outside of classes than Japanese students. The Internal Efficiency of the Educational System The internal efficiency of the educational system is measured by the repetition and dropout rate. Japan and the NIEs have negligible numbers of repeaters and dropouts in a particular cohort reaching various grades of primary level education. Progression to the final grade is nearly 100 per cent in such economies. This means that there is very little wastage of educational resources in these economies. Malaysia has done quite well, with 96 per cent of students progressing to the final grade. However, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia have 10 to 30 per cent dropouts. Table A22 in the Appendix shows

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the coefficients of efficiency in primary education. This is defined as the ratio between the ideal number of pupil-years that graduates would have taken to complete the cycle of education had there been no repetition or dropout, and the number of pupil-years actually spent by the cohort. The coefficients, as reported by Koo (1999, p. 69) are 1 for Japan and the NIEs, and 0.78–0.97 for Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia. Evaluation of the students’ educational achievements are based on the International Association for Evaluation of Educational Achievements (IEA) results. These results show that students in East Asian countries perform better than those from other countries (Koo 1999). Mingat (1995) also reports on an international comparison of the overall achievement of students in school (see Table A23 in the Appendix). In general, students from low-income countries get less in terms of formal learning than students in developed countries. Globally, the OECD average was +.3. The East Asian high-performing students of age 9 and 13–15 got very high marks. Japanese and Koreans normally exceed the international mean. Singapore, with a deviation of +.25 is close to the OECD average, but Thailand is far below the international mean (–.2) while the Philippines and Indonesia lag far behind. In other words, if these scores are any indication, the high-performing countries have been creating a wide pool of “well taught applicants for the further levels of schooling (and thus) helping to filter those that have the highest capacities” (Mingat 1995, p. 16). Secondary education is thus well grounded, providing equal opportunities to all children to move into the upper levels of education. Again, there are variations in quality within the region.

External Efficiency of the Educational System Whether an education system prepares the young generation in relevant and economic ways for the needs of the future is the basic question of external efficiency, argues the Asian Development Bank (1991, p. 41). Indeed, Singapore has achieved an educational system which, according to Yee (1995) is “the best in Asia” by consciously adopting a policy of attracting multinational companies (MNCs) to consolidate its drive to establish a knowledge-based economy. A good education system does not only provide an educated labour force which is adaptable (and hence liked by MNCs) but is also a source of attraction for the expatriates who are always worried about their children’s education when they plan to move out of their home countries. Selvaratnam (1994) underscores this policy strategy of linking the economy, the labour market, and education and continuously upgrading the capabilities of tertiary institutes to meet the demands of market-driven technological changes.

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Of course, in recent years most other Southeast Asian countries have moved gradually towards market-based outward-oriented economic policies. Most of them have improved their institutional set-up as well. Even after all these improvements, the region has been witnessing a slowdown in their growth rates mainly because of falling exports. However, the ADB (1998) thinks that the East Asian countries have been lacking human skills and technological capabilities to run an adequate prudential and regulatory framework for the financial sector. There was also a dearth of sophisticated economic management, which is so vital in running the economy in a globalized environment. The Educational Policy of Singapore Although Singapore inherited a British educational system, it quickly transformed it into a well-structured multi-functional demand-driven system which could meet the country’s need for an educated and skilled workforce. At present, education in Singapore is a highly prioritized sector steered by senior ministers. The hallmarks of the educational system here are careful planning, élitism, nationalism, racial harmony, and state provisioning. It also inculcates sound moral values to live in a multicultural, rapidly changing progressing society.8 Koo (1999) describes well the educational system of Singapore. Singapore’s early growth strategy was formulated to work along two lines. The first concerned the development of human resources while the other emphasized the more technical methods accelerating the expansion of the manufacturing sector in an attempt to restructure and diversify the economy. The school structure was diversified in favour of technical and vocational education, which was structurally inplanted into the formal education system in 1968 (Low et al. 1991, p. 52). Accordingly, while the number of first tier (degree) students increased by seven-fold and that of the second-tier (diploma) six-fold in thirty years, the increase in student enrolment was markedly skewed towards science and technology, accounting and business management programmes, which was in line with Singapore’s manpower needs for its push towards high-technology-oriented manufacturing, trading, and the service sector. Admission into tertiary institutions is merit-based with the central goal of building a needs-based pool of Singaporeans with the right mix of education and skills rather than a supply driven and bloated higher education system (Koo 1999, p. 72).

Every child in Singapore undergoes at least ten years of general education (six years of primary plus four years of secondary education). The system emphasizes on literacy, numeracy, bilingualism, physical and moral education, and creative and independent thinking. There is a continuous effort at improving students’ creative potential to meet the challenge of the twenty-first century.

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Computer-based programmes are being introduced to take advantage of the flourishing information technology. Efforts are being made to reduce a part of the burden of the traditional curriculum to allow students to think and enjoy activities which foster bonds and develop a sense of responsibility and commitment to the family, community, and country. However, the entire educational tree is geared towards employment (see Figure 4). As far as achievement in the different levels of schooling is concerned, Singapore is now in the same league as Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. The primary enrolment rate crossed 100 per cent as early as 1965. Both boys and girls have had equal access to schools. This has created a solid base for the subsequent expansion of secondary and tertiary education. The gross secondary school enrolment more than doubled in thirty years, reaching nearly 70 per cent in 1992. Secondary education remains merit-based and almost entirely publicly funded. Pre-university education is also financed almost solely by the state. At least three-fourths of tertiary education is financed publicly. Government funding of education has been almost monotonic since 1979, averaging 14.7 per cent (Peck 1996, p. 138). The rate of funding has been higher than the corresponding rate for gross national product (GNP) (11.3 per cent) and total recurrent expenditure of the government (11.6 per cent). Singapore’s expenditure on education increased 54 times, from S$63 million in 1959 to S$3,400 million in 1994 (Quah 1998, p. 110). Singapore spent 5.4 per cent of GDP on education in 1992 when the Asian average was 3.8 per cent. Taiwan, China, of course, spent more than Singapore (7 per cent). Despite the economic slowdown, some countries in Southeast Asia have been continuing their budgetary support for education. The recent financial crisis has forced Singapore to cut down government expenditure substantially, but with no axe on the educational budget. Singapore depends very little on private financing. There are some independent schools in Singapore, but these again are outcomes of government initiatives allowing some operational autonomy. There are no private institutions at higher levels in Singapore, but private fees account for about 25 per cent of the total educational expenditure. To get a further insight into the input side, let us look into the current expenditure on education in the East Asian countries. As can be observed in Table A20 in the Appendix, more than 60 per cent of current expenditure is for teachers’ salaries. Singapore spent nearly 86 per cent of expediture on this. Japan and Korea too spent more on teachers’ salaries. They, however, spent less on teaching materials. Singapore has changed its policy thrust and more is now being spent on educational infrastructure and teaching materials, including IT facilities, in addition to paying teachers more attractive salaries. They have been promised additional study leave to prepare themselves to become better teachers.9 Singapore’s higher education has also been developed to make available a pool of high-level skilled personnel for the manufacturing and service sectors. The system has linked its form and

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FIGURE 4 The Education System in Singapore

Typical Age

Universities

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

Years of Schooling

Employment

Apprenticeship

GCE A-level POST SECONDARY EDUCATION

Institute of Technical Education

Polytechnics

Centralised Institutes Junior Colleges

19 — 14 18 — 13 17 — 12 16 — 11

GCE O-level

S 5N

GCE N-level

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Normal (Academic)/ Normal (Technical) course 4 years

Special/Express course 4 years

15 — 10 14 — 9 13 — 8 12 — 7

PSLE

11— 6 Orientation Stage P5-P6

PRIMARY EDUCATION

10 — 5

9 —4 Foundation Stage P1-P4

8 —3 7 —2 6 —1

S

i i

f d

i

Si

SOURCE: Ministry of Education, Singapore.

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size, output and quality to the rapidly changing needs of its export-oriented and high technology-driven economy. The research and development facilities provided in universities, polytechnics, and independent institutions such as Digital Labs or the Institute of Molecular Sciences are indeed quite lavish, and they maintain close contacts with the private sector to improve the technological base of industries. One of the major strengths of Singapore’s education system has been its capacity to change in desired directions (Gopinathan 1995, p. 100). Since the mid-eighties the system has undergone a number of innovations leading to greater decentralization, professionalism, and curriculum flexibility. The government since then has been encouraging greater space for criticism and participation, and revealing hard facts like under-achievement by some groups. The greater use of school management committees and democratization of the school curriculum have been well received. At the polytechnic and university levels, a greater drive for quality, innovations, techno-preneurship, evaluations by highly competent external evaluators, followed by speedy actions, indicate the commitment of the leadership to prepare the nation for the challenges of the next millennium. However, there are concerns as well. The ADB’s Asian Development Outlook (1998) while giving enough appreciation to Singapore in its continuous effort to improve its R&D (research and development) status, feels that it will still require more sophisticated information infrastructure and basic scientific and technological development. At a time when the developed world is moving towards cyber business, Singapore has only less than half the number of Internet hosts per head of population than the United States, and the incidence of personal computer availability is equally inadequate. Singapore, of course, has a developed telecommunications system. It is now aiming to become one of the most dynamic international financial centres. A highly skilled workforce is a prerequisite for this and, apparently, Singapore is aware of this requirement. Moreover, very competent professionals such as accountants, lawyers, actuaries, economists, management consultants, system analysts, and computer programmers with easily available facilities for continuing education and training have to complement such a workforce. The tertiary education system, though quite aware of its responsibility, still has to change its gear more quickly to prepare the society for such a great transition. So far, the higher education system has been quite successful in producing a group of graduates who are knowledgeable and disciplined in learning and applying quickly imported technology and, if needed, modifying some of the designs and technique. And they have proved themselves quite productive when assigned redesigned jobs. The need for analytical skills and discipline was not critical in this phase of development. However, if Singapore really wants to graduate as a developed nation, the old system of education may not suffice. In the next century, a developed nation, in some cases even a developing nation, will have to face a globalized and technologically developed economy where

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there will be no option but to depend increasingly on innovation to initiate higher value-added processes of production in order to remain competitive. The education system then will have to shift its focus to develop the creative potential of students. Of course, this does not mean that the system will have to abandon the traditional system altogether. Instead, there will be a need for a new but balanced educational system which combines both appropriate traditional and new creative features. It seems that Singapore has been promoting the best of all these systems. University education in Singapore is highly supervised and yet students spend a lot of time outside their classes as well. Chieh (1999) foresees at least three major areas in the shift which the education system has to undertake if it really wants to play an effective role in transforming Singapore’s economy and society. 1. In the next phase, the education system will have to provide students with a broad base of cross-disciplinary knowledge to facilitate them in life-long, independent learning. The acquisition of process skills, that is “learning how to learn” will be crucial at this phase of transition. Both teaching and assessment objectives will then have to change as well. Instead of lecturing only, the teachers will have to stimulate students to explore open-ended alternative ways of approaching a new pattern. The tertiary institutions should, in fact, be the centre of continuing education, facilitating the updating of older knowledge and encouraging students to think and innovate. 2. The creative-thinking skills of students anchored in analytical plan and discipline will have to be developed through workshops and other forms of idea generation. The drive for technopreneurship should be pushed even further. 3. There should also be enough scope for a balanced development of non-academic aspects of education, such as interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence needed for good teamwork, and human networking. These traits will have to be acquired in order to compete effectively with the world class application of R&D and technological innovations. Singapore is apparently preparing itself to produce the required group of knowledge workers who will be creative individually but with the ability to work in groups, can tap global resources, and can retool themselves through lifelong learning (see Figure 5 for the expected outcomes of education that Singapore is planning to give to its future citizens). Despite some elements of extravagance in the claims made on behalf of the educational system, one positive factor is that it is a dynamic sector which tries hard to “contribute to enhanced human agency, greater civic tolerance and pluralism, and indeed in meeting the legitimate claims of the state for national cohesion and economic viability” (Gopinathan 1997, p. 52).

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FIGURE 5 Outcomes of Education All Post-Secondary and Tertiary Students

Potential Leaders

Students should:

Potential leaders should:

Be morally upright, be culturally rooted yet understanding and respecting differences, be responsible to family, community and country

Be committed to improving society

Believe in the principles of multiracialism and meritocracy, appreciate the national constraints but see the opportunities

Be pro-active in surmounting our constraints

Be constituents of a gracious society Be willing to strive, take pride in work, value working with others Be able to think, reason and deal confidently with the future, have courage and conviction in facing adversity Be able to seek, process, and apply knowledge Be innovative — have a spirit of continual improvement, a lifelong habit of learning, and an enterprising spirit in undertakings Think global, but be rooted in Singapore

Have compassion towards others Be able to inspire, motivate, and draw out the best Be able to chart Singapore’s destiny and lead

Be able to forge breakthroughs in a knowledge-based economy Be creative and imaginative

Have the tenacity to fight against the odds

SOURCE: Ministry of Education, Singapore, August 1998.

The need to focus more on environmental studies in Southeast Asian educational institutions can hardly be over-emphasized. Except perhaps Singapore, the other Southeast Asian countries have not yet given appropriate emphasis on the promotion of environment-friendly development. Despite its small size, Singapore has been expanding the green base of the country, putting adequate emphasis on the control of pollution, and providing students and the public alike with opportunities for knowing more about the environment through

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the Science Centre, natural conservation, zoological and botanical gardens, bird parks, etc. Everywhere, the need for preserving the environment is well emphasized. However, unless there is a regional effort for a better environment, a country like Singapore will remain vulnerable to others’ anti-environment actions. The haze problem in 1997 cost Singapore US$29.6 million (Siddiqui 1999), 88 per cent of which represented welfare loss. Countries like Singapore and Malaysia had to suffer such a huge loss mainly because of the lack of policy awareness in Indonesia and its failure to control private greed from destroying a public good. The uncontrolled clearance of forests by burning caused such a crisis. Such environmental issues and many others ought to be included in the curriculum of tertiary educational institutions of the region.

The Lessons Learned The discussion so far has revealed a number of key trends with regard to the contribution of education to development in East Asia in general, and in Southeast Asia in particular, which may be of interest to Bangladesh. We will first summarize these trends and then examine the educational features of Bangladesh in broad strokes. Next we will look for relevant lessons for Bangladesh from the above findings on East Asian/Southeast Asian education and development.

Key Trends in the Contribution of Education to Development in East Asia/ Southeast Asia Although it is true that a single factor (for example, the role of education) cannot take us far in explaining the spectacular growth achieved until recently in East Asia/Southeast Asia, it still makes sense to focus on it as a very important player among many other factors interacting with each other in producing the outcome which we have observed in the region. Indeed, almost all commentators, including the World Bank (1993) which initiated the discussion on the miraculous achievement of East Asia, have given special credit to human resource development facilitated by, among others, a very well thought-out educational system. However, it should also be re-emphasized that education policy has always been encapsulated within the economic and development policies of the successful countries of Southeast Asia. These countries opted for outward-oriented industrialization, facilitated foreign direct investment, and increased technological capabilities steadfastly. Education, in fact, acted as an engine of the growth process which needed continuous formation and upgrading of human capital. But again, the relationship between economic growth and education, particularly secondary and tertiary education, is quite

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problematic. An increasing percentage of young people are joining the age cohort requiring quality secondary education but providing this will remain uncertain in some countries. The quality of tertiary education will also have to be continuously improved as the demand for skilled and scientific personnel conversant with technological and financial advances originating from industrialized countries will continue to grow. These countries will have to apply some of this knowledge to produce goods and services required by a global economy. In the light of the above discussion, the following key trends in educational contribution to development in East Asia/Southeast Asia in general, and Singapore in particular, can be cited. 1. Priority to Primary Education: The East Asian (including Southeast Asian) countries have in general given greater priority to primary education even at an early stage of their economic development. Almost all the East Asian countries which later demonstrated very high performance in the growth process actually achieved 100 per cent coverage of primary education as early as in 1965. Simultaneously, they have made efforts to retain the students in schools (not true for all of them) and to provide them with good quality schooling, as demonstrated by the achievements of their students in international competitions. 2. Positive Outlook towards Education: Both for cultural and economic reasons, the high performing societies in this part of Asia have been able to create an environment where people attach high value to education. In other words, there is a positive social demand for education in this region. Here the education is not only geared to abstract academic learning but also tuned to their material condition of living. The education in Southeast Asia has been designed as a system and not an ad hoc arrangement, keeping in mind what the students are going to do after they leave the schooling system. For example, the streaming system in Singapore allows different types of education to young people according to their intellectual ability and aptitude, thus providing several options for everyone. As a result, students and their parents know their options in advance. In South Korea, Taiwan, and China the societies value education so much that they willingly participate by paying a major part of the cost even at the secondary level. However, the governments in these countries also pay dearly for the management of the system. It is because of this high value that people attach to education that there is no need for making it compulsory in some countries. Even today Singapore does not have legislation making primary education compulsory, and yet its record in achieving universal primary education is nowhere debated.

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3. Emphasis on Basic Education: The East Asian societies have also put special emphasis on lower secondary education which in combination with primary education has been providing basic education. The universal coverage of basic education for relevant cohorts, providing quality education without many dropouts is yet another striking achievement of the region. The sequencing of educational support, by putting additional emphasis on higher levels of education as these economies grew, is indeed a distinguishing feature of the region. 4. Public Spending on Education: The governments in Southeast Asia have never shied away from spending adequately on education. As stated earlier, Singapore increased its educational expenditure 54 times within thirty-three years, starting from 1959. Even a late-comer like Malaysia has been spending lavishly on education. Most Southeast Asian countries, in particular Singapore, have not cut their educational budgets despite the Asian financial crisis, although they have severely cut other expenditures. Singapore, in fact, has increased its educational budget and uses it almost entirely on the primary and secondary levels. Only about a quarter of the expenditure at the tertiary level is shared by the parents through the contribution of fees. However, most other NIEs (for example, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea) have tapped private resources, even at the secondary level, via user fees. The dependence on private financing has been remarkably high, even compared with most OECD countries. The private institutions in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China account for 50–70 per cent of students in secondary and tertiary levels which, of course, receive government subsidies, but with some public monitoring and control. Sharing of the cost with private sources may have contributed towards the healthy management of an equilibrium between supply and demand for qualified labour at different stages of development in these countries. There are again some variations (see boxes). 5. Focus on Vocational Learning: These countries have in general placed some emphasis on vocational courses in secondary education. The enrolment for vocational education was around 40 per cent at the upper secondary level in the first stage of development (Mingat 1995, p. 50) and this proportion gradually declined with the increase in the level of per capita GDP. At a higher level of development, the emphasis shifted back to a general type of education. However, Singapore innovated a quality technical education system through its polytechnics, which also put emphasis on general education. The technical education imparted here is greatly valued by the private sector which collaborates intensely with such institutions to develop new products and to train/retrain their workforce.

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6. Quality of Education: On the whole, these countries have been able to achieve a high level of educational outcomes (in terms of average duration of study of a cohort) and in quality (high retention rates and high level of formal learning) while keeping the burden on public finance at reasonable levels. Although at an early stage of their development they had higher pupil-teacher ratios, as the economies improved the ratio dropped correspondingly. Even at the high ratio period, the system did not compromise on the quality of education. Highly motivated teachers, usually well paid, made this possible. 7. Equity Aspect of Educational Spending: The education system has been strictly merit-based and not allowed only the children of élites to grab the benefits of higher education. There has always been an element of equity built into the distribution of public resources because of its merit-based priority. In addition, sufficient scope for schooling for poor but meritorious students has been provided as part of the system. 8. Intangible Outcome of Education: It will be quite naive to look at only the budgetary elements of the educational system. There are many “intangibles” in the educational system of the high performing economies of this region. For example, the education system does give attention to detailed planning and design, provides real options to the people, and instills a sense of value and pride in one’s surroundings. The education is thus “result oriented” and geared to the needs of the society and economy. For example, Singapore’s education always reminds students about the smallness and the vulnerabilities of the country besides the need for maintaining racial harmony and competitiveness. 9. Upgrading the Knowledge Base: Most of these countries continue to upgrade the knowledge base of their high-level and mid-level manpower through training and continuing education. This is particularly true for Singapore and Korea. 10. Practical Learning: They ensure that the undergraduate level of education produces very high quality graduates who can take over the responsibility of leadership, including the bureaucracy. For example, in the National University of Singapore, there is one highly trained teacher for every ten students deeply involved in teaching through person-to-person contact (tutorial system) besides the formal lecture. The level of student care is indeed high here. The involvement of science teachers in lab-based teaching is also substantial. 11. Motivated Teachers: Teachers in general have been well paid and motivated to give the best to the students. Highly trained teachers from both within and outside the region have been attracted to the universities and polytechnics in Singapore. This is also true for Malaysia.

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12. Maintaining a Fine Balance: The tertiary education system in a highperforming country like Singapore strategized itself in relation to the importance of the linkage between education, the labour market and growth, the uncompromising pursuit of high quality, and the generation of new ideas and innovations to succeed in a competitive environment. Thus, emphasis was initially given to a diversified and need-based education system. As the economy of Singapore approaches the cyber age, the need for creativity and innovations is being further emphasized by the policy-makers. Support for technopreneurship and greater collaboration between higher educational institutions and Western universities speak eloquently about the vision and farsightedness of its leaders for a higher order educational development to cope with the challenges of a fast-changing globalized economy. Its emphasis on R&D development, and further collaboration with the private sector via the MNCs also indicates Singapore’s desire to remain on top of the ongoing innovations and technological change. While emphasizing high-tech educational achievements, Singapore has not abandoned the traditional skills-based secondary education either. It is maintaining a fine balance between the existing and emerging patterns of educational development. The system also keeps students aware of the environmental changes in and around the region through both curricular and extra-curriculur activities. However, the students, though hardworking and disciplined, have to be further initiated towards a more flexible and creative pattern of learning. As yet, they tend to be glued to pre-designed texts and supervisor’s guidance. Before we comment on how far these lessons can be useful for a country like Bangladesh, let us first look into the broad features of its educational architecture.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

This document is reproduced from Education for Development: Lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh, by Atiur Rahman (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2002). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies < http://www.iseas.edu.sg/pub.html >

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Implications of East Asian Education Policies for Bangladesh

Educational Features of Bangladesh The constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh obligates the government to adopt effective measures for the purpose of: 1. establishing a uniform, mass-oriented and universal system of education and extending free and compulsory education to all children to such stage as may be determined by law; 2. relating education to the needs of the society, and producing properly trained and motivated citizens to serve those needs; 3. removing illiteracy within such time as may be determined by law (Article 17, Bangladesh Constitution). Despite such a thrust on education, the sector has been performing dismally since independence. The adult literacy rate is effectively still hovering around 40 per cent (the latest government figure claims it as 60 per cent) compared with 70 per cent in the developing countries as a whole. This is an increasingly competitive race in which Bangladesh lags far behind. The government of Bangladesh had earlier declared its commitment to “Education for all by the year 2000” but progress has been far behind the targeted goal. The quality of education has also been far from satisfactory. To provide a better view of the educational architecture, let us now focus on the prime measures taken by the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) in the education sector since independence. The GOB has taken a number of measures, including taking over the responsibilities of private primary schools under the Primary Education (Taking Over) Act, 1974. Later on, the Programme of

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Universal Primary Education (UPE) was initiated. A separate Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) was created in 1981 with its administrative structure down to the sub-district level. This action was followed by the promulgation of the Primary Education (Compulsory) Act, 1990, and the creation of the Primary and Mass Education Division (PMED) in 1992, which provides administrative support to policies and programmes for the universalization of primary education (UPE) and removal of illiteracy. In addition, a Compulsory Primary Education Implementation Monitoring Unit (CPEIMU) was created in November 1990, to help monitor the implementation of CPE and also to carry out the Child Education and Literacy Survey biennially. CPE committees have been established at ward, union, sub-district and district levels for social mobilization in favour of primary education at the grass-root level. For the implementation and management of non-formal education (NFE), a separate Directorate of Non-formal Education (DNFE) was established in 1995 (PMED 2000). Figure 6 portrays the strategic framework of basic education in Bangladesh. FIGURE 6 Strategic Framework of Basic Education in Bangladesh

Universal Primary Education 6–10 years

Compulsory Primary Education

Bangladesh Goal by 2000

Increased Enrolment and Access Preparedness for School/ECE 4–5 years Non-Formal Basic Education 8–14 years Adult Education 15–45 years

Increased Attendance/ Retention

95% Enrolment Contributing To Basic Education for All

Enhanced Completion/ Achievement

Continuing Edcation SOURCE: PMED (2000)

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

70% Completion 62% Adult Literacy Rate

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In order to achieve education for all, Bangladesh has initiated programmes for: • • • •

Increasing the enrolment rate Reducing the dropout rate; Lowering the illiteracy rate; and Improving basic learning competencies.

Basic education in Bangladesh is delivered through two systems: the formal system, and the non-formal system. The existing Strategic Framework of Basic Education in Bangladesh (Figure 6) adequately reflects the government’s policies for attaining maximum benefit out of public and private endeavours both in the formal and non-formal systems. The key agencies engaged here are the Directorate of Primary Education and the Directorate of Non-Formal Education under the Primary and Mass Education Division and the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board (BMED) under the Ministry of Education (MOE). Apart from these, there are community and private organizations, as well as non-government organizations (NGOs), who offer basic education to the disadvantaged and children who have dropped out of non-formal education centres. The formal system is the predominant one, while the non-formal system is complementary and supplementary to it (Figure 7). Some NGOs also run adult education centres with financial support from the GOB and development partners. Formal Education Formal education is offered in Bangladesh for five years at the primary level, five years at the secondary level, and two years at the higher secondary level. Higher education comprises two to five-year courses, and beyond. A parallel system of religious education also exists, with similar steps through Ebtedayee, Dakhil, Alim, Fazil, and Kamil madrasah for Muslims, Sanskrit Toles for Hindus; Pali Toles for Buddhists, and English Seminary for Christians. According to official records, there are about 63,534 primary schools, 13,000 secondary schools, 10 cadet colleges, 1,700 general colleges, and 27 government and non-government universities. There are 168 institutions offering technical and engineering education of different types and at different levels. The number of government medical colleges stands at 13 while that of private medical colleges is 5. In addition, there are 24 Homeopathic, 5 Ayurvedic and 10 Unani systems of medical colleges, and 68 teacher-training institutions of different categories. Besides these are the institutions for special types of education, such as 239 Sanskrit and Pali Toles, some 3,000 kindergartens, 8,231 Ebtedayee madrasahs, and 78,821 mosque-based Maktabs/Hafezia/ Forkania madrasahs devoted to the early years of religious teaching (PMED 1999).

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FIGURE 7 Organization of the Primary Education System in Bangladesh (B) Non-Formal Stream

(A) Formal National-Level Policy, Project Approval

Primary and Mass Education Division (PMED)

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Assistant Thana Education Officer Compulsory Primary Education Implementation Monitoring Unit Director General Directorate of Primary Education Ministry of Education Non-Formal Basic Education Non-Government Organization Deputy Director of Primary Education District Primary Education Officer Primary and Mass Education Division Parent Teacher Association School Management Committee Thana Education Officer

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Madrasah

Centre Management Committee

Abbreviations: ATEO CPEIMU DG DPE MOE NFBE NGO DDPE DPEO PMED PTA SMC TFO

Madrasah Education Board

Children Youth and Adult

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Madrasah Education in Bangladesh The madrasah education system is a formal one, in addition to the general education stream, and consists of a well-established Islamic religion-based education stream. It was officially introduced in 1882 following the Hunter Education Commission Report. Madrasah education comprises five stages: Ebtedayee, Dakhil, Alim, Fazil and Kamil levels, ranging from five years for the first two stages to two years for the latter three stages. At present, Ebtedayee, Dhakil and Alim have been recognized as equivalent to primary, secondary (junior secondary and secondary education) and higher secondary levels, respectively. Besides, courses on religious education have an important place in the school curriculum of the formal education stream. It is a required subject of study up to Grade 8 and can be studied as an elective subject at higher levels. Efforts are now under way to integrate general education with madrasah education. Ebtedayee madrasahs enrol children of 6 to 10 years. The Ebtedayee curriculum/course includes (1) the Quran and Tazbid, (2) Akaid and Fikah, (3) Arabic, (4) Bangla, (5) English, (6) Arithmetic, (7) Environment Study: Social Studies; and (8) Environment Study: Science. This curriculum resembles that of the general primary education where religious education replaces the Quran, Arabic, and Fikah. The madrasah education is subject to the highest dropout rate (Alam 2000). In addition, prospects of employment for the madrasah graduate in Bangladesh are limited. However, recently, the courses offered in the madrasahs have been updated and modernized so that the madrasah graduate may have access to higher studies in science and technology and find gainful employment. Already, madrasah graduates are moving into medical and engineering courses as well as universities. To create opportunities for higher studies and research in Islamic Shariah, Arabic Language and Literature, Islamic History and Culture as well as a number of modern subjects, an Islamic University has been established. However, in today’s context, it would be necessary and desirable to introduce science and trade courses in all madrasahs, to provide training to the madrasah teachers, and to strengthen opportunities of higher education and research at the higher Islamic institutions. Presently, there are about 8,000 independent and 2,850 Ebtedayee madrasahs under the administrative control of the Ministry of Education. The number of Dakhil madrasahs is 4,487, Alim 949, Fazil 899, and Kamil 120. Almost all of these have been established by the community and are operated by a Managment Committee recognized by the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board. The government pays the salaries of teachers of recognized madrasahs as well as provide development support on a limited scale.

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Non-formal Education Education implies learning irrespective of where and how the learning takes place. Education is also a life-long process, assuming different forms, of which formal schooling is only a part of the whole process. As distinct from the hierarchically structured and chronologically graded formal education system, an accepted definition of non-formal education, according to the National Plan of Action, Government of Bangladesh, is: That form of education which consists of an assortment of organized and semi-organized educational activities operating outside the regular structure and routines of the formal system, aimed at serving a great variety of learning needs of different sub-groups of population, both young and old.

It is recognized that some non-formal education programmes cater to the same learning needs as the schools do, and could provide alternative channels of education which cannot be covered by formal schooling. While the nonformal approaches have room for flexibility and innovation, their efficacy and wide acceptance is dependent on maintaining good quality standards. Children who cannot or do not get enrolled in primary schools, who drop out from schools, adolescents who lapse into illiteracy and who have never benefited from any schooling, would perpetually remain in darkness unless some non-formal opportunities are provided for their education. The DNFE took the initiative to design programmes to cater to the needs of these segments of the population (for example, Integrated Non-Formal Education Programme) and engages NGOs on contract to impart basic education. A good number of NGOs have drawn up programmes for basic education.

Stages and Duration of Education Counting the normal academic sessions, sixteen years of regular study are deemed necessary from entry into primary school to completion of a Masters degree for a general education, or a Bachelor’s degree for professional education, except for medicine which requires one extra year. Without repetition in any class or loss of any academic year for any reason, a boy or a girl gaining admission to Grade 1 of a primary school at the age of six should get his/ her M.A. / M.Sc. degree at twenty-one or twenty-two years of age (Figure 8). The stages of general education and the duration of the courses as well as the official age group of students are summarized in Table 2. Entry into formal technical vocational education takes place after the completion of Grade 8, and into professional education in engineering, agriculture, and medicine after completion of Grade 12.

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FIGURE 8 The Education Structure of Bangladesh Age Grade year 25

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ARTISAN COURSE e.g CERAMICS

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TABLE 2 Stages of General Education and Official Age of Students Stage of General Education Early Childhood Education Primary Education, Grades 1–5 Junior Secondary Education, Grades 6–8 Secondary Education, Grades 9–10 Higher Secondary Education, Grades 11–12 Bachelor’s Degree (General Education) Master’s Degree(General Education)

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— 5-year course 3-year course 2-year course 2-year course 2/3/4 years 1/2 years

4–5 years 6–10 years 11–13 years 14–15 years 16–17 years 18–19/20/21 years 19/20–21/22 years

SOURCE: PMED (2000) p. 21.

From the above discussion, we get a picture of the basic framework of the education system of Bangladesh as well as the overall initiatives taken by

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the government and other organizations to achieve the goal of education for all. Here, a look at the major trends in educational development will be helpful for future policy direction: 1. Bangladesh has one of the lowest enrolment rates in the world. Gross enrolment rates for primary education have averaged only 60 per cent since the 1970s. The secondary gross enrolment was 20 per cent, which is only about a quarter of Singapore’s. 2. The percentage of females in total students enrolled, though improving, still remains lower than males. The combined enrolment for females was 25 per cent in 1993, compared with 45 per cent for males. The dropout rate is also very high. 3. In Bangladesh, sex disparity is very strong in higher education. About 90 per cent of highly educated persons are male, whereas only 10 per cent of highly educated persons are female (Rahman and Ali 1995). 4. The adult literacy improved from 24 per cent in 1970 to 37 per cent in 1993. This is much below the average of even the developing countries (69 per cent). The female adult literacy rate remains very low (25 per cent) compared with that of male (48 per cent). 5. The enrolment at the tertiary level has also not improved much, and increased to only 4 per cent in 1993 from 3 per cent in 1970. 6. The mean year of schooling has been hovering around 2 years for the last decade or so, which is lower than the South Asian (2.4 years) and developing countries average (3.9 years). 7. There is only one scientist/technician per 2,000 population. 8. The educational expenditure as a percentage of gross national product (GNP) has increased from 0.6 per cent in 1960 to 2.3 per cent in 1992, but is still lower than the average of South Asia (3.4 per cent) and the developing countries (3.9 per cent). It is not even half of Singapore’s average. 9. Bangladesh provides only US$5 a year per person for health and education compared with US$150 in Malaysia and US$160 in South Korea. 10. Bangladesh’s education system has failed to promote a uniform, mass-oriented, and universal system of education. There is the English medium system for the privileged, a religious system for the underprivileged, and a secular system with wide variations in resources, quality of teaching, and school organization with differentiated access based on social status (Ahmad 1991). 11. Social and economic stratification has a significant impact on education in Bangladesh. The agricultural wage labour category which comprises about 20 per cent or more of the total population of the country contributed around 17 per cent of the total Grade 1 (primary) enrolment in 1995. Similarly, the non-agricultural wage labour (in both rural and

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urban areas), which makes up more than 20 per cent of the total population, contributed about 14 per cent of the total Grade 1 enrolment in 1995. Thus, both the agricultural and non-agricultural labour household categories are under-represented (especially so in the case of non-agricultural labourers) in the primary schools of the country. Even the NFPE centres of the NGOs have not been able to fully cover these disadvantaged categories (Alam 2000). There also exist strong geographic disparities in the provision of education in Bangladesh. About 47 per cent of highly educated persons come from urban areas, and 53 per cent from rural areas. However, in Bangladesh, about 87 per cent of the total population live in the rural areas, and 13 per cent live in the urban areas. Therefore, the relative participation of urban people is much higher than that of rural people in higher education (Rahman and Ali 1995). In Bangladesh, the majority of the people speak Bengali, and the medium of instruction is also Bengali, in most cases up to secondary level, with some compulsory English courses at all levels. Besides these, there are some kindergartens and English medium schools where the medium of instruction is English. Students, mainly from the urban élite classes, are able to afford to attend these institutions. In Bangladesh, the highest dropout rate prevails in madrasahs and the lowest in kindergartens and non-formal schools (Rahman and Ali 1995). The system is rigid and compartmentalized with high dropout rates (60–70 per cent) and high repetition rates (20–30 per cent). The rates of dropouts and repeaters are much higher for the socio-economically disadvantaged than for their affluent counterparts. The secondary schools, largely non-government but subsidized by public funding, manifests the inadequacies of the basic education. The educational system of Bangladesh has not been based on social demand and does not respond to social aspirations. Thus, Sobhan rightly pointed out, “despite significant changes in the quantitative expansion of the educational system and a substantial increase in enrolment rates, the problem of access to standard quality has become more acute than before with the shift in the labour market” (Sobhan 1997, p. 319). The success rate of higher education has been quite poor despite enjoying a higher proportion of national expenditure for education. Tables A29 and A30 in the Appendix explain the higher share of educational budget for the tertiary sectors, with a low rate of return (6 to 7 per cent), and a lower share for the primary level. In Bangladesh, 24 per cent of the higher educated persons come from families with a monthly income of Taka 5,000 or below. About 55 per cent of them come from families with an income of Taka 5,001– 15,000, and about 21 per cent of them come from families with an income of Taka 15,000 or above.

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While South Korea spends US$390 per student at the primary level, Bangladesh spends only US$12.50. The picture is the same with secondary education. Expenditure on a primary student is not even 2 per cent of the corresponding government subsidy given to a university student (Khan and Hossain 1989, p. 141). Table A29 in the Appendix shows the gross expenditure on education in Bangladesh in different categories and tiers of education. Again, the access to higher education is highly skewed in Bangladesh. This is adequately reflected in Table A31 in the Appendix. The table is based on data generated from a sample of 600 graduates who appeared for an oral examination conducted by the Public Service Commission for recruitment into the Bangladesh Civil Service in 1990. From Table A31 in the Appendix, we can see that about 47 per cent of the graduates come from urban areas and 53 per cent from rural areas. In Bangladesh, about 87 per cent of the people live in the rural areas, and 13 per cent in the urban areas. Therefore, the relative participation of urban people is much higher than rural people in higher education. Here it can be noted that, if we consider all thana (subdistrict) headquarters as urban areas, then the figures would be about 66 per cent from urban and 34 per cent from rural areas. The table also shows that about 90 per cent of the graduates are male and only 10 per cent are female. In Bangladesh, the proportions of male and female in the population are almost equal. Thus, this table also shows the low participation of females in higher education. From this table, we can also observe that more than 50 per cent (about 55 per cent) of the higher educated candidates come from families with an income of Taka 5,001–15,000, and about 21 per cent of the graduates come from families with an income of Taka 15,001 and above. The estimated per capita monthly income determining the absolute poverty line in Bangladesh in 1988–89 was Taka 370 for the rural areas, and Taka 500 for the urban areas. Based on this estimate, it was found that 50 per cent of the population are below the poverty line. Therefore, we can say that most of those with higher education come from high-income families. The findings of this table and the national statistics collected from the Household Expenditure Survey (HES) 1988–89 also show that about 76 per cent of the higher educated persons came from the top 17 per cent of the total population, and none came from the bottom 50 per cent. One of the redeeming features of the expansion of higher education is that higher technical education (engineering, medical, agricultural education) has also expanded very fast. The quality of technical education is reasonably good. The supply of technical graduates is good enough to meet the country’s demand. However, there is no dynamism in the demand for these skilled graduates. The poor quality of education in general is attributable to, among other factors, the poor budgeting of educational funds. As can be seen from Table A32 in the Appendix, the major part of the educational budget goes

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to pay the expenditure for establishments (53.34 per cent in 1997–98) and allowances, that is, teachers’ salaries, etc. (32.68 per cent in1997–98). Very little of the educational budget is spent on books, teaching materials, and scholarship for students. The amount budgeted for basic education does not always reach the subsector. Only 62 per cent of the budgeted amount ultimately go to primary education (see Table A33 in the Appendix). On the contrary, university education gets more than its due share. This is not surprising, given the predominance of urban élites in the national power structure, and that most of their children have access to higher education. Hossain (1989) finds that, except in facilitating some occupational mobility at the basic level, education in Bangladesh does very little to improve the productivity of the economy. He also finds that there is no meaningful relationship between agricultural development (for example, the adoption of high yielding varieties) and the secondary level of education. Others have also observed a similar mismatch in higher education. A survey of 258 respondents from 29 organizations, both public and private, reveals that the graduates produced by the universities lack experience in research and the application of theoretical knowledge and hence cannot respond adequately to the needs of economic growth and social demand (Ahmed 1992, p. 24). Over 90 per cent of the respondents expressed this view. Respondents also identified the critical areas of manpower deficiency. The most commonly identified area (59.7 per cent of 231 respondents offering opinion on this question) is marketing management. This is followed by technology (52.8 per cent of the respondents). This finding is quite consistent with the imperatives of a globalized economy. In another survey conducted in 1990 (Rahman and Ali 1995) on 100 selected employees in the public sector with at least ten years working experience and 600 graduates appearing for the PSC examination, most indicated that the higher education imparted by the universities was not good enough for the developmental needs of the country. According to 85 per cent of the respondents, the current education system is not conducive to dynamic development. They opined for more enabling public policy which would put more emphasis on technology and vocation-based education. Fifty-five per cent of them felt that the existing higher education did not help to produce quality manpower. Simultaneously, they felt that the present education system did not make people innovative and inquisitive. While general education does not improve the income-earning capacity of the graduates, the performance of technical education is reasonably satisfactory. Taking income as dependent on the type of education, length of service, regional status (urban/rural), family size and sex, Rahman and Ali (1995), ran a regression (not reported here) and found that technical education yielded a more significant relationship. It was also found that the income earning capacity of the urban graduates was higher than their rural counterparts.

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Based on the above findings, we may argue that the existing education system does not really match the needs of a dynamic economy. Instead, it is strengthening income inequality and adding to the problem of unemployment.

Are the Lessons from Southeast Asia Replicable in Bangladesh? We have now seen the realities of educational development in Southeast Asian countries and Bangladesh. We may now ask the question: are the experiences of the former replicable or transferable to the latter? Transferring a model or experience from one country to another is always problematic. However, one can still learn from foreign experience without trying to replicate the entire model. Woodrow Wilson, writing as early as 1887, suggested the usefulness of learning from other countries. He went as far as to say: ... it is necessary ... not to be frightened of the idea of looking into foreign systems of administration for instruction and suggestions .... But why should we not use such parts of foreign contrivances as we want, if they be in anyway serviceable? We are in no danger of using them in foreign way. We borrowed rice, but we do not eat it with chopsticks .... We have only to filter it (the science of administration) through our constitution (quoted in Quah 1998, p. 119).

The same is perhaps true for most other models. One need not transplant a high-yielding variety of any seed right into the field of a completely different country. The seed need to be acclimatized first, and perhaps “filtered” before getting the desired results. Though not a social scientist, the Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore also expressed similar views while speaking about the danger of imitating some model. ... you can only copy things and external facts, you cannot assimilate truths which lie at the foundation of our human character. If any nation or a people have been successful in giving shape to ideals which are of perennial value, what we have to learn from them is their capacity to absorb and establish their ideals; we must not merely copy the results that others have produced .... I am not against absorbing truths which are of universal value; as a matter of fact, it is our human birthright to claim such truths as our own. But I am against borrowing ready-made models or emphasizing upon the need of imitating isolated external facts which are particular to a particular race or a nation (quoted in Sen and Rahman 1998, p. 120.).

Rose (1991) goes a step further and identifies five elements in this respect: copying, emulation, hybridization, synthesis, and inspiration, while talking about transferability. Quoting Pease (1996), he points out that the successful policy of one country cannot simply be replanted in the soil of another country. Instead, the latter country should direct careful attention to the policy context of the former. The synthesis and hybridization of successful policies have also

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not had the expected returns. Inspiration, of course, influences the latter to some extent in some specific areas of intervention. The presence of honest and competent leadership is, however, crucial in deciding the outcomes. One fact that emerges quite distinctly from the analyses done so far on the transferability of a successful programme is related to the critical role of human resource development. While commenting on the evolution of policy in East Asia, Ranis has observed that: “their overall success was due primarily to their ability to exploit something they did have: their human resources” (Ranis 1995, p. 2). Quah, while talking about the lessons which commonwealth countries can learn from the East Asian experience, has identified a few areas which also include investing in education heavily. He said, “their governments must improve and be committed to economic development and to minimizing corruption: they must also invest in educating and training their populations: and they must introduce comprehensive reforms in personnel management” (Quah 1993, p. 37). In a later study, Quah (1998), however, cautions that most countries will find it difficult to transplant a successful model like Singapore’s because of the cost factor alone. It is indeed costly to pay civil servants high salaries, invest heavily in education, invest in near universal housing, and curb corruption and crime. Thus, the most suitable option, according to Quah, is perhaps emulation. He argues that Singapore’s leaders learned lavishly from the successes of other countries (for example, foreign policy from Switzerland, vocational/technical education from Germany, the work ethics from Japan, etc.). While not adopting in toto, Singapore in fact learned from the institutions of these countries and subsequently improvised them in its own way. So, if Bangladesh wants to learn from the success story of Singapore or for that matter from any other country of Southeast Asia in the field of education, it should not transfer the exact options followed by Singapore to Bangladesh. Instead, Bangladesh should try to emulate and adapt some features of the Singapore story, particularly in the field of education to suit its needs. However, even here education should not be seen in isolation. This has to be placed in the overall developmental context. Of course, this will require a group of honest, dedicated, and visionary political leaders and meritorious, motivated and patriotic administrators who would be willing to learn and then initiate policies which would benefit all citizens, and not only a few vested interest groups. Given this context, we can at least identify a few lessons which Bangladesh can learn from the success stories of Southeast Asia, particularly, in the field of education: 1. Bangladesh has already opted for a more outward-oriented development policy. However, nearly half of the population remaining below the poverty line is a major development challenge for the country.

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Certainly, a greater coverage of primary education can play an important role in both alleviating poverty and helping the country to move into a higher level of development. Bangladesh, in recent years, has been giving greater emphasis on primary education. Given the huge size of its population and the stupendous task of poverty reduction, it should continue to give more emphasis on primary education for both the high rate of return and equity considerations. Despite the danger of a budget crunch as a result of the global recession which is ravaging its Asian neighbours, Bangladesh should continue to invest heavily in primary education covering all the members of both sexes without any hesitation. Bangladesh is fortunate to have a number of very successful NGOs who too have directed their attention towards achieving universal primary education. The Government of Bangladesh should continue to support this strategic relationship with the nongovernment sector, if it really wants to progress towards achieving universal primary education. The top priority and goal must be to ensure that all children complete primary education and have attained minimum basic learning. This requires three things. First, the 10–15 per cent of eligible children not in school must be enrolled. Special programmes are also needed for the hard-to-reach rural and urban poor. Secondly, student flow through the system and completion rates need to be increased. Thirdly, learning achievements on completion need to be substantially improved. Raising the quality is likely to be the key to achieving all three requirements; thus, quality improvements should have top priority. Improving the quality will require additional investments in teacher incentive programmes, pedagogical inputs, learning assessments, and so forth. The share of primary education in the revenue and development budget should also not be allowed to decline, as has happened in recent years. These investments in raising quality could potentially result in resource savings substantially larger than their original investment costs. In extending the coverage and effectiveness of non-formal education, equity reasons also compel greater investments in those bypassed by the formal system. These pertain to the segments of the population most in need of new skills and empowerment. Investments to extend and improve basic education through non-formal means should therefore have a high priority claim on resources. However, additional investments for greater coverage will not suffice, as the effectiveness of learning needs to be sharply increased first. In addition, training programmes for the informal sector — based on models developed by NGO training institutions — should have priority. They should include training for self-employment and gainful income, as well as for wage employment.

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Like Singapore, Bangladesh must pay greater attention to the quality of education given to the future citizens of the country. If needed, it should divert some resources from other sectors to invest in improving the inputs needed to make the schools an attractive place for the children. The rate of dropouts, which now runs at 50 to 70 per cent, must come down to a respectable level. The quality of teachers, the level of their salaries, the supply of softwares for improvement of the content of education should also receive significant attention. Money alone will probably not be enough to generate success in this area. The commitment of the political leadership, the parents, and above all the teachers will be vital in making a dent in the quality of primary education. The community monitoring of primary education should, therefore, be improved. 2. The secondary education system in Bangladesh has been performing most dismally. Given its aspiration to do better in export-led growth, this tier of education deserves far more attention than it is now getting. In recent times, enrolment of female students has increased, but the quality of education is still very poor. The idea of streaming practised in Singapore may prove useful for Bangladesh in order to avoid wastage of resources and young talents in this developing country. In fact, secondary education requires a significant reorientation of the curricula. First, the objectives and content of lower secondary education should be reformed as an extension of compulsory basic education. Secondly, a new purpose should be developed for Grades 9–12 to focus on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed by the majority of students who terminate at this level to lead productive lives. Thirdly, external examinations should be de-emphasized and reoriented to test more useful skills, such as problem-solving rather than rote memorization. In addition to relevance, a second important objective should be to equalize access and quality in the secondary system. Public expenditures need to achieve better results. Budget allocations for secondary education should be linked with performance incentives, such as school improvement plans and performance indicators. Moreover, the distortion of private expenditures through payments for out-of-school tuition needs to be stopped and channelled into more productive in-school investments. Expanding the coverage of lower secondary education is also a desirable medium-term objective from a social point of view. This needs to be achieved through the less costly non-government secondary schools. Making lower secondary education universal at the existing quality levels, while financially feasible, would not be adequate without increased investments to improve the quality.

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3. The polytechnics in Bangladesh are no match to the successful model in Singapore. Marine engineers from Bangladesh are coming to Singapore in great numbers every year to study in its polytechnics. It would benefit Bangladesh to emulate the teaching technique of such institutions? The resources needed would probably be a constraint. However, that should not deter Bangladesh from experimenting on one or two campuses at least. If there is a will there should be a way as well. Reforms in technical and vocational education training (TVET) and higher education are also important for achieving efficiency and equity. Development allocations to TVET institutions need to be increased for the rehabilitation of these institutions. This, however, should be done together with basic management reforms, including the decentralization of authority to make the institutions more flexible and market-oriented. Additional funding for skills training can be channelled for delivery through NGOs for better effectiveness. In higher education, the government needs to be very selective in development allocations to the public universities. Basic reforms are also needed in key institutions, such as the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National University, especially in the internal governance and management of public universities. High priority should be given to lifting the hermitic public control over the expansion of private universities. Politically feasible ways should be sought to achieve greater cost recovery from the beneficiaries. 4. University education in Bangladesh is beset by not only academic but also a host of non-academic problems. The indulgence of the students in party politics, campus violence, and teachers getting involved in partisan politics are indeed crippling whatever is left of higher education in Bangladesh. While Singapore has a high-powered evaluation team to pick scholars from Harvard and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to monitor the progress of its university, placing students on attachments with successful multinational companies all around the world, and encouraging technopreneurship projects on its campuses, the universities in Bangladesh are indeed not even thinking in terms of regaining their old glory. They are far from gaining access to information technologies (except through some individual initiatives) and do not relate education to the needs of the society. Bangladesh can indeed learn much from the commitment of Singapore’s university in terms of involving high quality teachers, low pupil-teacher ratio, and hence high level of contact through tutorials and laboratory guidance, and the thirst for higher level technological and advanced knowledge. A number of private enterprises are involved in encouraging research in places of higher education in Singapore, which can also be

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emulated by Bangladesh. The contribution of the private sector has been substantial in tertiary education in Southeast Asia. Bangladesh could learn some useful lessons from this as well. To establish a more effective system of governance and management of higher education, the powers of the UGC must be strengthened. This includes accreditation of sub-units within universities, adopting normative financing, reviewing and modernizing university statutes to introduce outside representation on governing bodies, and strengthening the management role of the vice-chancellor. The system of degree colleges should be rationalized through stricter accreditation by the national university, by linking financing with performance, providing financial incentives for improvements, and reforming examination systems. Non-public resources should be mobilized to overcome chronic under-funding of higher education. There should also be better financial management of existing resources (such as increased tuition charges in parallel with loan funds, scholarships, and investment in better learning conditions). Public expenditures can be made more efficiently through the adoption of per student (normative) financing and linking subsidies to performance. The provision of private higher education should be encourged by easing the restrictive regulatory framework on private higher education. Investment should also be made in new teaching technologies, including information technology, to improve linkages with world knowledge generation and application. 5. Besides formal aspects of education, Singapore has been trying hard to instill in the minds of young students about the problems associated with the smallness of the nation, the vulnerabilities arising out of the lack of natural resources, its multi-ethnic society, and the demand for competitiveness in the age of globalization. Focusing on “learning to think and thinking to learn” to become more creative and to attain the traits of good citizenship to face the challenge of the next millennium can be a source of immense inspiration for any country. Bangladesh is also multiracial, and vulnerable to natural disasters and political instability. The educational lessons of Singapore can surely be emulated even in Bangladesh if it really wants to get out of its present status of “least developed country”. 6. The emphasis given by Singapore in restructuring education and training to use information technology to mould the society to take advantage of electronic business and maintain a competitive edge can be a great source of learning for Bangladesh despite its low material base. Bangladesh need not stay condemned in a low level technological trap in this fast-changing global scenario and should take the cue from Singapore to attain global standards in at least some areas of business

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and industrialization. Some young entrepreneurs in Bangladesh have already invested their time and energy in the knowledge industry. The youths in general are interested in getting into the IT mode. The progress so far in terms of access to the Internet, and computers, by youths in Bangladesh is encouraging. However, policy-makers need to move faster to equip educational institutions for providing a greater level of IT-based education. They should also try to improve telecommunications facilities, provide a stronger regulatory framework, and subsidized access to information technology for teachers, researchers, and students. 7. Singapore could move towards such a direction in education because of its sustained economic growth over decades. Thus, Bangladesh should also try to attain the fundamentals which could help it to achieve such a growth process if it really wants to emulate the successful features of educational attainment in Singapore. The overall policy thrust is consistent with Southeast Asian development strategy. However, the institutional context varies widely between the two. The willingness to move fast in niche areas of development is also lacking in Bangladesh. It therefore needs to strengthen its institutional context first. Otherwise, there is no guarantee that a partial success in some areas like education can help sustain the momentum of the growth process. The sad experience of Indonesia should really remind us all about the sudden change in gear if institutions are not well-developed. Even the higher level of primary education and lower poverty figures achieved over the years have been slipping backwards because of the political and economic crises in Indonesia. Thus, the issue of governance is very important. Unfortunately, there has not been much change in the policy response by the government. In recent years, the government has been putting more emphasis on universal primary education, but the budgeting reality does not always match policy utterances. A sizeable proportion of the development allocated to each year’s Annual Development Programme (ADP) for primary education remains unspent while that for higher education is usually overspent. The quality of secondary education is so poor that it neither helps agriculture nor industry with the supply of productive workers. The performance of higher education is also dismal. The presence of about 100,000 Bangladeshi students pursuing higher education in the neighbouring country is a glaring example of “educational disaster” for Bangladesh. The perpetual violence in the educational institutions, the failure of the educational authorities to complete the sessions in time, and the poor quality of manpower coming out of the universities are some manifestations of the failure of higher education. Yet technical higher

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education is doing quite well, both in terms of quantity and quality. This means that if a sincere effort is made, Bangladesh can face the challenges of the educational crisis. It can adopt once again the spirit of the Quadrat-e-khuda commission report which set down the people’s aspirations for universal primary education and more appropriate higher education, as enshrined in the country’s constitution. Here, a reminder of some specific recommendations for the education system in Bangladesh can be helpful.

Increased Public Expenditure An absolute increase in public expenditure in recent years has been notable. However, the limited progress can be attributed to, inter alia, the lack of increase in per pupil expenditure as a percentage of GDP per capita. It will be a significant step to increase the per pupil expenditure for the promotion of basic and continuing education, which is necessary for the development of human resources in the country. Such a policy decision is a demand of the time. The existing allocation of 2.1 per cent of GDP will not generate the resources required to achieve all of these priorities. Allocations for education need to be increased to about 3 per cent of GDP by 2003 and 4 per cent of GDP by 2008. Allocating a greater share of the incremental revenues from GDP growth to education would help achieve the targeted share by 2008.

Discouraging Child Labour Parental poverty or destitution for any reason push children into engagement in labour instead of attending school. This is also a strong reason for early dropout. Attempts should be made to attract the poor and destitute children to attend school, with necessary assistance to such children and discouragement of child labour. Local level school planning will be used as a technical measure in this regard. A long-term plan can be made attractive by offering opportunities for earning while continuing education in school. Social mobilization and advocacy should be strengthened against child labour and in favour of schooling for all.

Ensuring Equitable Access to Quality Schooling There are number of areas in Bangladesh which remain under-schooled and unserved. To help ensure that equitable access to quality schooling is available to all children, establishment of new schools and classrooms will be targeted to under-schooled and unserved areas.

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1. New schools should be established in underserved areas meeting certain criteria, such as: (a) no other school within 2 km, and (b) a minimum of 150 students and a minimum population of 2,000. Exceptions are to be made where natural barriers or high population density exists. These criteria apply to new government and non-government primary schools and community — and NGO — managed feeder and other schools. 2. Classrooms, furniture, toilets, and tube-wells should be added to or repaired at government and registered non-government schools, and a community-based school management programme should be introduced. 3. An expansion of facilities and hiring of additional teachers as well as deployment of all teachers should be appropriately targeted to ensure that no segment of the population is marginalized in terms of access to quality primary education. 4. Registration criteria for non-government primary schools should be adjusted over the next five years to ensure qualified teachers, accountability of performance, and ability to provide a minimum of five teachers. Registered non-government primary schools should receive subsidies for teacher salaries and supplementary needs. 5. Targeted programmes should provide resources, materials, and incentives to disadvantaged children to enrol in, remain, and complete their primary schooling. The School Attractiveness Programme and female teacher recruitment on the basis of female–male ratio of 60 : 40 should continue to address the gender balance. The poorest 25 per cent of students should receive free stationery. The ongoing Food for Education subsidy aimed at increasing enrolments and attendance of children from the poorest families should continue, subject to other alternatives to meet the same educational needs. The state alone cannot meet this challenge, which is indeed fundamental to the existence of the nation. The whole society has to be involved in bringing back some order to education. Unless education is restructured, no amount of efforts can change the disorganized and corrupted political culture. Once morality is re-established in education, it will have snowball effects on all other spheres of society including the economy. The world is changing fast. Unless a well-defined plan is put in place, the country will probably be sidelined by others.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

This document is reproduced from Education for Development: Lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh, by Atiur Rahman (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2002). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies < http://www.iseas.edu.sg/pub.html >

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Conclusion

This study has clearly identified a number of areas where education plays positive roles, favouring economic growth in particular (for example, through raising cognitive skills, productivity, reducing income inequality, raising consciousness about better healthcare, ensuring sustainable environment, and enhancing technological innovations) and development in general (through changing mindsets, greater social cohesion, and greater citizenship in addition to providing creative options) for improving a nation’s material well-being. East Asia, including most countries of Southeast Asia, has been able to appreciate the virtuous role of education in development and thus has not only spent more but also more judiciously on education. As a common pattern, they first spent more on primary education, then on secondary and higher education. The education at all levels has been provided to augment material conditions, which are so vital for economic development. After the initial success in expanding primary education, the countries are now moving towards better quality secondary and higher education. Among the East Asian countries, Japan was no doubt the pioneer in achieving universal coverage of primary education. South Korea followed Japan. Others then started to follow the same pattern. Singapore has perhaps been most successful in achieving high expansion of quality education, both at the primary and secondary levels, without having problems of mismatch between the supply of and demand for education. An interventionist government read well the signals of the market and developed an education geared to the needs of the economy and society. It is now moving gradually into a knowledge-based economy and reshaping its educational system accordingly. Not all other Southeast Asian countries have been able to plan and implement their educational development like Singapore. For example, the quality of secondary and higher education in Thailand has already fallen far short of the requirement of its more technology-based industrialization.

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The recent economic crisis in Southeast Asia has further revealed a truth, that only a good educational base can withstand the pressure of an ever-changing global economy. Singapore has not been affected badly because of its welleducated leaders, technocrats, entrepreneurs, and workforce who are willing to learn and change when faced with an adverse situation. Even then, when it comes to the question of access to the high-tech service sectors, business and creative enterprises, the country has been found to be still lagging compared with many of the developed countries. It is, of course, moving fast to prepare itself to graduate into a developed country. However, it still needs to go miles in strengthening its educational base to cope with a changed world. Its decision not to put an axe on the educational budget even during this period of great economic crisis only shows its determination to move in the right direction to compete in the first world. This “can do” spirit is seriously injected in the young minds of Singapore’s educational system. Bangladesh can learn substantially from this positive attitude of Singapore. In a report which was placed at the annual World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland pointed out that the greatest long-term challenges to Asia lay not in the arena of finance or macroeconomy, but involve the need for better “social software such as quality of education, the overhaul of public institutions, the enhancement of science and technology and increasing democratization of political structures” (as quoted in the Sunday Times, 31 January 1999). Judged by these imperatives, for an early recovery from the Asian crisis, quality education appears to be the best bet. Singapore has apparently been betting on this judiciously. Bangladesh, though not caught up in the financial “hurricane” which has been ravaging Southeast Asia, is not doing significantly well in terms of poverty reduction and improving the living standards of the millions. It can surely learn some lessons by investing in the people as did some of the East Asian countries in its early phase of development. Bangladesh has no option but to become a learning society and use technological means if it really wants its vast number of people to become an asset rather than a liability in this globalized set-up. Bangladesh cannot afford to delink itself from the global economic system but yet will have to participate judiciously, keeping in mind the relative strengths and weaknesses of its institutions. Education is one of its very weak sectors. It must concentrate on this sector if it really wants to participate in the global economy. Currently, it is far from this scenario. Bangladesh has to change its mindset and be prepared to change itself into a mode which is conducive to sustainable development. Bangladesh, however, has already shattered several development myths with its sheer resilience and creative skills. Its pioneering role in innovating a successful micro-credit system (a la Grameen Bank), empowerment of poor women, providing non-formal education to school dropouts, near 100 per cent immunization of children, reduction in fertility and infant mortality, spectacular success in the export of ready-made garments,

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flourishing NGOs and civil society despite continuous political instability, and inability of the political leadership to come to a consensus on some broad national issues, only speak about the unrealized potentials of Bangladesh. The way that Bangladesh coped with the most devastating “flood of the century” in 1998, mainly with the whole-hearted co-operation and solidarity of the people from all walks of life, speaks eloquently of the wealth of the nation stored in terms of social capital which can be a valuable resource for the realization of its potentials, which have remained thwarted for a long time. Education, both formal and informal, can indeed play a very important role in arousing the dormant social capital in the people if it can be well strategized. Bangladesh has to invest more vigorously in its creative people and expand education along the lines already indicated earlier. This will help to overcome the rural–urban and income differences in Bangladesh. The urban households earned 150 per cent more in 1997 compared with their rural counterparts. Alam (2000) explains that the income differences between the households is due not only to the household ownership of asset configurations and human capital of the family members but also the location of the households. Though both urban and rural households definitely benefit from public investments in physical and social infrastructures, including schools, colleges, and so forth, it can surely learn from some of the successful educational experiences of Southeast Asia although it should never try to replicate them in toto. It should rather try to study the education systems that have worked so well in Southeast Asia and then develop an educational strategy which would meet the needs of Bangladesh society. Indeed, the education which Bangladesh should try to promote should not be something detached from life.10 The most important lesson for Bangladesh from Asia as a whole should really be in the area of basic education. “Liberal investment in basic education marks the most critical difference between South and East Asia” (Haq 1997, p. 67). One part of Asia can learn from the other if it is prepared to undertake significant reforms of its policy framework by laying strong foundations for growth, which can only be promoted through an educational system which is flexible and relevant in technological, social, and environmental terms. At the end of the day, Bangladesh should have its own educational policy within the context of its sustainable human development agenda.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Appendix

71

Appendix

TABLE A1 Poverty Incidence by Educational Level of Household Heads, in Rural and Urban Bangladesh, 1995–97 Headcount Ratio of Poverty Incidence (percentage of households)

Educational Level (schooling years) of Household Heads

0 (Zero) 1 (One to five) 2 (Six to nine) 3 (Ten and above)

(i) Rural Areas

(ii) Urban Areas

(a) Dec. ’95 N = 3300

(b) April ’96 N = 3300

(c) April ’97 N = 3300

(d) Dec. ’95 N = 3300

(e) April ’96 N = 3300

(f) April ’97 N = 3300

54.6 (48.1) 41.2 (34.6) 27.4 (12.1) 13.8 (5.2)

57.8 (48.0) 43.8 (34.3) 31.4 (12.2) 17.2 (5.5)

56.8 (45.6) 42.2 (35.7) 30.0 (13.1) 18.8 (5.6)

71.7 (28.5) 54.5 (28.9) 40.8 (20.0) 11.5 (22.6)

75.3 (26.3) 63.0 (28.8) 41.8 (20.9) 14.5 (24.0)

77.8 (25.9) 57.2 (28.6) 35.0 (20.3) 13.8 (25.2)

NOTE: Figures in parentheses give percentage of sample households in each (schooling years of household head) SOURCES: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Rural Poverty Monitoring Survey, (Dhaka, April 1997; November, 1998); BBS, Urban Poverty Monitoring Survey (Dhaka, April 1997; December 1998).

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

72

Education for Development

TABLE A2 Monthly Per Capita Income of Poor and Well-off Households by Education of Household Head in Bangladesh, April 1997 (Figures in current taka) Monthly Per Capita Income Educational Level (schooling years) of Household Heads 0 1 2 3 4

(Zero) (One to five) (Six to nine) (Ten and above) (Average)

In Rural Areas

In Urban Areas

(a) Poor N = 1495

(b) Well-off N = 1805

(a) Poor N = 505

(b) Well-off N = 695

382 438 381 618 402

852 849 1332 1419 1001

485 546 623 655 539

1020 1373 2461 3094 2489

NOTE: N gives number of sample households. SOURCES: BBS, Rural Poverty Monitoring Survey (Dhaka, April 1997; November, 1998); BBS, Urban Poverty Monitoring Survey (Dhaka, April 1997; December 1998).

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Appendix

73

TABLE A3 Growth Regressions

Dependent Variable Number of Observations Constant

(1) Basic Regression

(2) Gender-Specific Enrolment

98

108

(3) Manufactured Exports 100

0.0302

0.0137

0.0202

–0.0075 (–6.25)

–0.0056 (–4.000)

–0.0069 (–5.135)

Secondary School Enrolment Rate, 1960

0.0305 (3.861)

0.0357 (2.705)

0.0262 (1.723)

Primary School Enrolment Rate, 1960

0.0250 (4.464)

Per Capita GDP, 1960 (thousands of 1980 dollars)

0.0271 (4.532)

Female Primary School Enrolment Rate, 1960

0.0138 (1.340)

Male Primary School Enrolment Rate, 1960

0.0131 (1.159)

Ratio of Manufactured Exports to GDP, 1995

0.0007 (1.539)

Secondary School Enrolment-Export Interaction, 1960*

0.0005 (0.324)

R2

0.56

0.41

0.57

NOTE: The first column presents Barro’s (1991) results. The other columns present results from Birdsall, Ross, and Sabot (1995a, 1995b). T-statistics in parentheses. *Ratio of manufactured exports to GDP multiplied by 1960 secondary school enrolment rate. SOURCE: Birdsall et al. (1997a), p. 127, Appendix Table 4.A.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

74

Education for Development

TABLE A4 Education and Productivity: Empirical Studies in Selected Countries Study

Database

Results

Patrick and Kehrberg (1973)

Five agricultural regions in Brazil in 1969, individual farmers

Education has a positive and significant effect. Value added in agriculture in modernizing areas, but not in traditional and already modern areas.

Pachico and Ashby (1976)

Four agricultural regions in Brazil in 1970, individual farmers

Additional productivity associated with more education much higher in the two modernizing zones, where additional, non-educational inputs are available.

Lockheed, Jamison, and Lau (1980)

Survey of 18 studies, meta-analysis

A farmer with four years of education had an average productivity of 8.7 per cent higher than one with no education. With complementary inputs, return was higher (13 per cent)

Jamison and Lau (1982)

Survey data on types of farms, Effect of education on output is positive, significant, and education of farmer, physical quantitatively important. inputs, and outputs in Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand

Jamison and Data on prices of farm inputs Moock (1984) and outputs in Thailand

No significant effect of education on prices farmers receive for output or paid for inputs.

Jamison and Survey of 683 rural Moock (1984) households in two of Nepal’s 75 districts

Significant effect of education on farmer efficiency only in wheat production. Ability and family background controlled for.

Fuller (1970)

Survey of workers in two electrical machinery factories in Bangalore, India, 1970.

In-plant vocational training yields higher productivity increases than institutional vocational education.

Berry (1980)

Survey of productivity studies Results of such studies are inconclusive. on urban workers.

Min (1987)

Survey of workers in Beijing, China, factory.

SOURCE: Haddad (1990), p. 5, Table 1. © 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Workers with vocational education have 7 per cent higher productivity than workers with academic education. More years of education not significant.

Appendix

75

TABLE A5 Education and Poverty in South Asia Percentage of Households Bangladesh (Rural, 1995/96)

Incidence of Poverty (Percentage)

Share of the Poor (Percentage)

Level of Education of Household Head’s Spouse Illiterate Below primary Primary graduate Below secondary Secondary graduate HSC passed Graduate & above

64.1 51.6 45.6 30.2 20.0 11.6 9.5

57.3 21.4 10.1 8.7 1.8 0.4 0.3

Literacy Level of Household Head Cannot read Can read Cannot write Can write

59.7 34.9 59.3 34.3

75.3 24.1 77.1 22.9

Level of Education of Household Head’s Spouse Illiterate Below primary Primary graduate Below secondary Secondary graduate HSC passed Graduate & above

58.5 48.31 36.1 18.0 10.6 n.a. n.a.

82.0 9.6 6.8 2.4 0.2 n.a. n.a.

India (Rural, 1994)

Percentage Distribution of Households

Population below Poverty Line (measured by Headcount Ratio)

Sen Index of Poverty

Non-literate Female literate Male literate Both literate

29.7 3.1 32.2 35.1

45 43 39 27

0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

76

Nepal (Rural, 1996) Education of Household Heads Illiterate No schooling but literate Primary Secondary High school Above high school

Education for Development

Proportion of Sample

Proportion of Poor in Sample

Proportion below Poverty Line

63.34 20.33 7.17 3.87 3.77 1.52

75.88 15.68 6.87 2.50 1.68 0.40

51 34 43 29 20 12

Pakistan (Rural, 1993/1994) Share of HH Education of Household Heads (%) No formal education KG, Nursery Primary Middle Matric Intermediate BA, BSc. MA, MSc, LLB, etc.

70.9 2.5 12.8 5.3 5.1 1.7 1.2 0.4

Headcount Ratio

Income Gap Ratio

28.3 24.3 22.0 18.9 13.0 9.3 11.1 0.0

18.2 14.6 17.5 15.9 12.4 15.8 18.0 0.0

SOURCE: Sen and Rahman (1998), Annex Tables 13–16.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Appendix

77

TABLE A6 Education Index and Expenditures vs. Selected Health Indexes

Country

Singapore Hong Kong, China Thailand Malaysia Sri Lanka Maldives Indonesia China Vietnam Myanmar Pakistan India Bangladesh Nepal Bhutan Korea, Rep. of

Public Expenditure Education on Index Education (as % of GNP) 1995 0.83 0.84 0.81 0.76 0.83 0.86 0.77 0.76 0.81 0.71 0.39 0.53 0.38 0.37 0.39 0.93

3.0 2.8 4.2 5.3 3.1 8.4 — 2.3 2.7 1.3 — 3.5 2.3 2.9 — 3.7

Under-five Maternal Life Daily per Mortality Mortality Expectancy Capita Rate (per Rate (per at Supply 1,000 live 100,000 live Birth of births) births) (years) Calories 1996 1990 1995 1995 4 — 38 13 19 76 71 47 44 150 136 111 112 116 127 7

10 7 200 80 140 — 650 95 160 580 340 570 850 1500 1600 130

77.1 79.0 69.5 71.4 72.5 63.3 64.0 69.2 66.4 58.9 62.8 61.6 56.9 55.9 52.0 71.7

SOURCE: UNDP (1998), pp. 156, 157, 162, 163, 128, 129, 130, 160, 161.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

— 3187 2247 2765 2302 2211 2699 2708 2438 2728 2471 2382 2001 2367 — 3159

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

0.84 0.83 0.93 0.81 0.76 0.83 0.86 0.77 0.76 0.81 0.71 0.39 0.53 0.38 0.37 0.39

Country

Hong Kong, China Singapore Korea, Rep. Of Thailand Malaysia Sri Lanka Maldives Indonesia China Vietnam Myanmar Pakistan India Bangladesh Nepal Bhutan

— 6.5 — 11.9 — 20.6 — 20.2 17.1 26.1 27.5 46.0 35.9 46.5 — 44.9 2 2 4 10 5 6 13 13 7 11 19 15 16 21 22 28

Human People not expected Poverty Index to survive to (HPI-1) value age 40 (as % of (%) total population) 1995 1995 — 0 7 11 22 43 4 38 33 57 40 26 19 3 37 42

Safe Water (%) 1990–96 — 0a 0 10a — 7a — 7 12 10 40 45a 15 55 — 35a

Health Services (%) 1990–95 — — 0 4 6 37 34 49 76 79 57 53 71 52 82 30

Sanitation (%) 1990–96

Population without Access to

— 14a — 26a 23 38 39 34 16 45 31 38 53 56 47 38a

0 — 0 — 6 2 7 10 8 — — — 38 — 48 18

Under-weight Children Not Children Under Reaching Age Five Grade 5 (%) (%) 1990–97 1995

NOTE: a Data refer to a year or period other than that specified in the column heading, differ from the standard definition, or refer to only part of the country. SOURCE: UNDP (1998), pp. 146–47, 138.

Education Index

TABLE A7 Education and Health Features

78 Education for Development

Appendix

79

TABLE A8 Adult Literacy vs. Some Demographic Indexes of Selected Countries of Asia

Country

Adult Literacy Rate (%) 1995

Hong Kong Singapore Korea, Rep. of Thailand Malaysia Sri Lanka Maldives Indonesia China Vietnam Myanmar Pakistan India Bangladesh Nepal Bhutan

92 91 98 94 84 90 93 84 82 94 83 38 52 38 28 42

Total Annual Family Population Fertility Growth Rate Rate 1970–95 1995 1.8 1.9 1.4 2.0 2.5 1.5 3.0 2.0 1.6 2.2 2.1 3.0 2.1 2.3 2.6 2.1

Contraceptive Prevalence Rate, any method (%) 1990–95

1.3 1.8 1.7 1.8 3.4 2.2 6.8 2.8 1.9 3.2 3.5 5.3 3.2 3.3 5.2 5.9

SOURCE: UNDP (1998), pp. 176, 177, 148, 149.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

86 74 79 74 48 66 — 55 83 65 17 18 41 49 29 —

Population Doubling Dependency Date Ratio (at current (%) growth rate 1995 1995) 2081 2041 2075 2086 2029 2066 2015 2042 2072 2034 2033 2020 2038 2037 2022 2020

41.5 40.2 40.7 49.0 72.0 55.5 100.8 59.4 48.0 72.0 66.1 84.4 65.5 81.3 87.6 84.5

80

Education for Development

TABLE A9 Rates of Return to Education by Gender Country

Year

Educational Level

Men

Women

Australia Austria Colombia

1976 1981 1973

Costa Rica France

1974 1969

University All All-urban -rural All Secondary University Secondary University All All Secondary University All University University Primary Secondary, Gen Secondary, Tech University Secondary University All All All All Primary Secondary University Primary All All

21.1 10.3 18.1 10.3 14.7 13.9 22.5 14.8 20.0 13.1 13.6 10.0 8.0 4.7 6.9 5.7

21.2 13.5 20.8 20.1 14.7 15.9 13.8 16.2 12.7 11.2 11.7 8.0 12.0 4.5 6.9 5.8 12.0 8.0 8.5 15.5 16.9 22.9 1.7 5.0 7.9 8.4 18.4 40.8 9.0 16.1 13.0 13.5

1976 Germany Great Britain Greece Japan

1974 1977 1971

Peru

1977 1976 1980 1985

South Korea

1971

Sri Lanka Portugal Puerto Rico

1976 1980 1981 1977 1959

Taiwan Thailand Venezuela

1982 1971 1984

13.7 15.7 10.3 17.2 6.9 7.5 29.5 27.3 21.9 8.4 9.1 9.9

SOURCE: Haddad et al. (1990), based on Psacharopoulos, “Returns to Education: A Further International Update and Implications”, Journal of Human Resources 20, no. 4 (1985).

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Appendix

81

TABLE A10 Education, Mortality, Nutrition, and Fertility: Selected Empirical Studies in Developing Countries Study

Database

Results

Arriaga and Davis (1969)

Secondary data Prior to 1930, mortality decline was closely related to on Latin American improvements in living standards rather than medical mortality rates breakthroughs.

Cochrane et al. (1980)

Secondary data on mortality rates, by country

Literacy seems to be the most important variable explaining life expectancy, even higher than the number of physicians per capita. One additional year of a mother’s schooling results in a reduction of 9 per thousand in infant mortality. The effect of a husband’s education is about one-half of the wife’s.

Cochrane (1979)

Review of existing studies

Increased education tends to decrease fertility. The greater decrease in fertility can be related to two factors: a) education of women; and b) urbanization itself raising consciousness among eligible couples. But education is likely to increase fertility in countries with the lowest level of female literacy up to completed primary schooling. In societies with higher levels of female literacy, education lowers the demand for children by altering perceived costs and benefits.

United Nations (1983)

Data from the world fertility survey of 22 developing countries

Confirms negative influence of women’s (and husbands’) education upon marital fertility, desired family size in 20 out of 22 countries. But levels of national development and level of family planning programme efforts enhance or mitigate the strength of the education–fertility relationship. Differential fertility by education is highest in the countries with the highest levels of development. The negative relationship between education and fertility is stronger in urban areas than rural. Ethnic or regional differences in the education–fertility relationship are not of primary importance.

Zachariah & Patel (1984)

Fertility decline in India, 1961–81

Although family planning practice can account for 90 per cent of fertility decline, family planning input variables – manpower, budget, etc. – were much less important than socio-economic factors, such as female education and children’s health in explaining the practice of family planning.

Fertility Survey of Individuals in Thailand (1977) Thailand

For all women married less than 20 years, education is uniformly inversely related to fertility.

Cravioro & Delicardi (1975)

Survey in Southwestern Mexico

No significant difference in parental education between well-nourished and malnourished children.

Christiansen, et al. (1974)

Bogota, Colombia

Significant positive association between parental education and children’s nutrition.

Gans (1963)

Lagos, Nigeria

Children’s weight of literate mothers was greater than illiterate mothers.

Graves (1978)

Kathmandu, Nepal

Mothers with no schooling had more malnourished children than those with schooling.

Levinson (1974)

Rural Punjab, India

Literate mothers had smaller percentage of third-degree malnourished children.

SOURCE: Haddad (1990), Table 8, pp. 16–17. © 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

0.84 0.83 0.93 0.81 0.76 0.83 0.86 0.77 0.76 0.81 0.71 0.39 0.53 0.38 0.37 0.39

668 601 1024 189 432 206 118 149 185 106 89 92 81 47 36 17

Radios (per 1,000 people) 1995

SOURCE: UNDP (1998), p. 128–30, 166–67.

Hong Kong, China Singapore Korea, Rep. Of Thailand Malaysia Sri Lanka Maldives Indonesia China Vietnam Myanmar Pakistan India Bangladesh Nepal Bhutan

Country

Education Index

359 362 321 227 231 66 40 147 247 163 76 22 61 7 3 —

Television (per 1,000 people) 1995 — 24.2 7.7 7.3 12.4 23.0 — 5.4 — — — 11.5 17.6 — — 5.5

Post Offices (per 100,000 people) 1991 533 479 415 59 166 11 57 17 34 11 4 16 13 2 4 9

Main Telephone Line (per 1,000 people) 1995 46.3 — — — — — 14.3 0.4 0.2 0.2 — 1.2 — (.) — —

Fax Machines (per 1,000 people) 1995 48.5 30.1 6.5 0.7 2.0 (.) — 0.1 (.) — — (.) (.) — (.) —

Internet Users (per 1,000 people) 1995

TABLE A11 Education Index vs. Access to Information and Communications of Some Selected Countries

130.0 180.8 108.3 13.6 37.3 1.1 12.3 3.8 2.1 0.4 — 1.2 1.2 — — —

Personal Computers (per 1,000 people) 1995

82 Education for Development

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

1.85 5.05 7.09 1.90 3.50 3.39 2.50 1.54 2.19 5.04 4.83

46 42 22 21 4 2 20 9 10 8 3 27 9 19 14

31 16 8 10 4 1 11 6 3 4 3 26 3 13 9

17 8 7 7 2 # 7 4 2 2 3 20 1 2 6

9 4 6 4 — # 4 2 1 1 2 12 1 2 4

6 1 2 1 — # 1 1 # # 1 10 1 2 2

98 90 70 88 20 54 — 49 43 60 22 76 86 36 62

93 78 58 77 17 46 64 30 29 48 14 64 70 29 51

90 41 46 52 — 24 46 26 16 30 13 46 47 17 36

79 27 32 29 — 18 30 10 6 17 11 26 27 12 24

66 16 7 11 — 5 13 4 2 5 10 23 20 6 14

** ** ** ** 79 ** ** ** ** 93 48 ** ** 97 94

** ** ** **

58 ** ** 83 ** 93 39 ** ** 99

91

** ** ** **

52 85 ** 73 74 87 40 ** 90 83

85

** 96 ** 97

— 58 ** 42 60 74 33 91 95 83

76

** 88 77 88

— 21 50 26 41 57 24 93 80 73

60

Japan Korea, Rep. Singapore Taipei, China

Bangladesh China Hong Kong India Indonesia Malaysia Pakistan Philippines Sri Lanka Thailand

“Asia Mean”

NOTE: ** 100 per cent and over; # below 1 per cent SOURCE: Mingat (1995), Table 3 (based on UNESCO Yearbook).

6.02 10.49 7.90 9.17

92

80

70

60

50

92

80

70

60

50

92

80

Growth Ratio 92/60

70

Higher Education (%)

60

Secondary (%)

50

Primary School (%)

Years 19..

Countries

TABLE A12 Gross Enrolment Rates and Growth Ratios in Asian Countries (1950–92)

Appendix 83

84

Education for Development

TABLE A13 Internal Efficiency and Adjusted Enrolment Rates in Primary Education in Asian Countries

Countries

Proportion of Grade 1 Getting To Primary Grade 4 (%) Around 1980

Japan Korea, Rep. Singapore Taiwan Bangladesh China Hong Kong India Indonesia Malaysia Pakistan Philippines Sri Lanka Thailand “Asia Mean”

100 97 100 100 32 75 100 45 75 99 42 66 99 86 79.7

Around 1990 100 100 100 100 51 89 100 68 88 98 52 79 99 91 86.7

SOURCE: Mingat (1995), Table 4.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Adjusted Primary Education Enrolment Rate (%) 1950 100 85 67 88 12 12 50 10 26 57 22 67 77 67 52.6

1960 100 93 87 96 17 32 95 17 38 74 31 65 91 76 65.8

Appendix

85

TABLE A14 Relation Between 1950/60 Educational Policy and Further Per Capita GDP Growth (dependent variable is the growth ratio 1960–92; mean 4.83, standard deviation 2.95) Model 1

Model 2

Model 3

Model 4

Model 5

Model 6

1960 Per-capita 0.0015 (1.8) 0.0010 (0.6) 0.0014 (1.6) 0.0008 (0.6) GDP Gross Enr. Rate Primary 50 –0.07 (2.7) Secondary 50 –0.09 (1.2) Higher 50 –0.55 (1.8) Primary 60 Secondary 60 Higher 60

–0.08 (2.2) –0.04 (0.4) –0.26 (0.9)

Adj. Enr. Rate Primary 50 Secondary 50 Higher 50

–0.06 (2.6) –0.10 (1.4) –0.36 (1.2)

Primary 60 Secondary 60 Higher 60 R2 (Adj R2)

–0.07 (2.9) –0.01 (0.3) –0.48 (1.6) –0.07 (2.2) –0.05 (0.4) –0.14 (0.5)

0.63 (0.47)

0.47 (0.24)

0.62 (0.46)

0.47 (0.23)

–0.07 (2.3) –0.01 (0.1) –0.15 (0.6) 0.51 (0.37)

0.45 (0.28)

NOTES: “Primary 50” means primary enrolment ratio (adjusted or not adjusted) for the year 1950; the t-statistics associated with each coefficient are given in parentheses; the obre of observation is 14. SOURCE: Mingat (1995), Table 5.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

5–6 4–5 5–6 3–5

3–6 3–5 4–4 3–5

Philippines Malaysia Indonesia Thailand

China Laos Myanmar Vietnam

102 101 110 101a 130 88 115 94a 104 107 — 137a

CE

9 6 9 —

6 9 6 6

9 8 5 5 — — — —

37 — 12 —

0 6 — 1

%OA (1990)

u 183 — —

u u u —

— u u u

OOS (1990)

50 44 39 52

61 54 51 49

76 66 59 53

1980

GER

43 42 39 52

64 58 58 45

73 74 69 68

1990

— — — —

10.2 — — —

12.9 11.7 12 10.7

1980

All Levels e.sch.y

— — — —

10.5 — 9.7 —

13.3 13.3 — —

1990

NOTES: PP = Age group for pre-primary education CE =Years of compulsory education Ent = Apparent intake rate (%), that is, number of new entrants into first grade as a percentage of eligible age population %OA = Percentage overaged in Grade 1, that is, percentage of students enrolled in Grade 1, or first level, education who are above the official entrance age. OOS = Number of children out of school (in thousands) u = Universal primary education GER = Gross enrolment ratio (%) of children aged 6–23. e.sch.y = Expected number of years of formal education a Includes repeaters SOURCE: Koo (1999), Table 3.1 (based on UNESCO, World Education Report, 1993)

3–5 5 3–5 4–5

Japan Korea Hong Kong Singapore

PP

Ent (1990)

First Level

Access to Schooling

TABLE A15 Access to Schooling in East Asian Countries 86 Education for Development

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

75 58 41 32 42 17 23 —

69 46 23 28 37 16 — 40

71 55 49 34 54 27 25 —

59 50 35 30 54 25 — 44

73 56 45 33 48 22 24 —

64 48 29 29 46 21 22 42

4 4 3 3 2 3 2 3

— 3 3 3 3 3 4 4

111 93 114 88 120 84 — —

110 92 100 97 103 104 89 106

113 93 119 92 130 113 — —

112 93 115 100

121 123 93 111

112 93 117 90

125 98 97 —

111 93 107 99

112 114 91 109

6 6 6 6

5 5 5 5

Philippines Malaysia Indonesia Thailand

China Laos Myanmar Vietnam

SOURCE: Koo (1999), Table 3.2.

98 85 77 71 94 71 65 61 96 88 72 70

92 81 63 57

97 87 75 70

93 76 64 59

3 3 2 3

3 3 5 4

101 109 — 107

101 111 106 106

101 105 — 110

101 109 108 109

101 107 108 108

101 110 107 108

6 6 6 6

1980 1990

1990

1980

1990

1980

2nd

1st

Female

1990

Male

1980

Total

1990

No. of Years

1980

Female

1990

Male

1980

Total

Secondary Level

Japan Korea Hong Kong Singapore

No. of Years

Primary Level

TABLE A16 Primary and Secondary Level Education: Gross Enrolment Ratios

Appendix 87

5 — — — 4 — — —

77 50 — 60 50 54 — —

— 44 — 79 62 72 — —

21 41 — 36 45 46 — —

— 52 — 18 34 28 — —

— 6.8 — — 1.1 0.8 — —

26.3 3.1 2.4 — 0.6 0.3 — 0.9

— 7.4 — — 2.1 1.7 — —

22.1 5.2 5.3 — 1.8 0.6 — 3.4

24.4 7.2 9.2 15.7 1.7 1.2 4.8 —

24.2 4.1 3.8 12.7

1.2 0.4 4.7 2.1

2,621 2,738 679 419 838 367 1,284 1,763

166 116 516 —

Philippines Malaysia Indonesia Thailand

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

NOTES: Stu-Inh = Number of students per 100,000 inhabitants % students (1980) = Percentage of students (and graduates) at ISCED level in 1990, and enrolment in higher education at each ISCED level as a percentage of total enrolment Level 5 = Education at the third level, first stage, of the type that leads to an award not equivalent to a first university degree Level 6 = Education at the third level, second stage, of the type that leads to a first university degree or equivalent Level 7 = Education at the third level, second stage, of the type that leads to a postgraduate degree or equivalent Stu = Student Grd = Graduate SOURCE: Koo (1999), Table 3.3

117 44 478 214

2 9 — 4 — 4 — 3

60 61 — —

78 72 — —

35 31 — —

19 22 — —

22.7 24.9 — —

20.3 7.5 6.3 6.3

34.5 49.3 — —

40.4 21.3 14.0 9.1

28.7 37.7 — —

30.5 14.7 10.4 7.8

2,065 2,328 1,698 3,899 — 1,201 — 963

Japan Korea Hong Kong Singapore

China Laos Myanmar Vietnam

5 8 — — 3 5 — —

1990

1980

1990

1980

1990

1990

Level 7

1980

Level 6

1990

Level 5

1980

Female

1990

Male

1980

Total

% Students (1990)

1990

1980

Stu-Inh

Gross-Enrolment Ratio (GER)

TABLE A17 Third-Level Education: Enrolment Ratios and Distribution 88 Education for Development

46 82

45

% Private % Fees

% Priv. Fin.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

77 81

59

% Private % Fees

% Priv. Fin.

na

72 na

28 na

na

55 na

45 na

Korea

na

0 —

100 na

24

27 24

63 24

S’pore

na

63 na

37 na

na

40 na

60 na

Taiwan

62

77 82

23 10

42

44 80

56 19

Japan

59

75 72

25 36

69

59 88

41 58

Korea

na

0 —

100 na

10

27 10

63 10

S’pore

1980

62

68 100

32 16

44

47 92

53 10

Taiwan

64

77 83

23 15

40

42 77

58 17

Japan

64

81 75

19 34

43

61 58

38 29

Korea

75

0 —

100 25

4

32 4

68 4

S’pore

1993

47

70 69

30 14

45

51 91

49 6

Taiwan

NOTES: “% Public” (private) indicates the percentage of enrolment in public (private schools); “% Fees” indicates the percentage of financing for public or private schools via direct user fees; and “%Priv Fin.” indicates the overall percentage of the resources mobilized (in senior secondary and higher education) that are financed via direct user fees. SOURCE: Mingat (1995), Table 7, p. 19.

23 4

% Public % Fees

Higher Ed.

54 21

% Public % Fees

Senior Sec.

Japan

1970

TABLE A18 Share of Enrolment in Public and Private Schools, and Share of Fees in Expenditure in HPAEs

Appendix 89

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

9.7 8.6 7.3 6.0 4.5

3.8

3.1

2.9

2.8

1.7

“Asia Mean”

SOURCE: Mingat (1995), p. 33, Table 13 (based on UNESCO Yearbooks).

13.7 13.1 11.1 12.1 5.1 7.8 11.3 7.8 9.0 9.5 3.6 11.6 11.5 8.7 12.8 11.3 9.8 11.0 3.9 7.3 10.3 5.9 7.9 8.6 2.8 10.9 10.3 8.2 12.0 8.8 9.0 9.4 3.3 5.4 9.0 5.1 5.5 7.1 2.8 9.6 8.3 6.1 11.1 7.5 8.2 7.7 2.3 3.8 8.0 2.7 4.0 5.5 2.3 7.5 7.4 5.8

1992

10.2 6.3 5.1 6.0 1.8 1.3 3.8 1.6 2.6 3.8 1.8 7.4 6.0 4.8

1980

4.9 4.4 5.4 7.0 2.3 1.7 3.1 3.9 2.2 5.5 2.7 3.0 3.3 3.6

1970

5.8 3.7 2.8 5.0 1.5 1.9 2.5 3.0 1.7 6.0 2.0 1.7 2.7 3.4

1960

3.9 3.5 3.1 3.0 na 1.2 2.6 2.8 2.8 4.4 1.7 2.6 4.0 3.5

1950

4.1 3.1 4.2 2.8 na 1.0 2.1 2.3 1.6 3.9 0.9 2.6 4.7 2.6

1992

4.0 na na 2.6 na na 1.5 0.8 1.2 na 0.4 2.4 3.0 0.6

1980

Japan Korea, Rep. Singapore Taiwan Bangladesh China Hong Kong India Indonesia Malaysia Pakistan Philippines Sri Lanka Thailand

1970

1960

Average Duration of Studies (years)

1950

Share of Education in GDP (%)

Years

Countries

TABLE A19 Share of Education in GDP (%) and Average Duration of Studies in Asian Countries (1950–92)

90 Education for Development

Appendix

91

TABLE A20 Public Current Expenditure on Education % of CE in % of CE (1990) 1980 Emoluments

Teaching Pre & Materials 1st

1990

2nd

3rd

Pre & 1st

2nd

3rd

Japan Korea Hong Kong Singapore

60.5a 61.2 — 85.9a

— 1.1 — 2.3

39.5 49.9 33.7 35.8

34.6 33.2 35.7 41.1

11.1 8.7 24.6 17.1

29.3 44.4 29.8 28.7

32.2 34.1 40.7 36.5

22.5 7.4 28.8 30.7

Philippines Malaysia Indonesia Thailand

72.0 64.4

0.5 4.8

77.1b 35.0

— 34.0

22.1 12.4

73.1b 37.9

— 37.7

15.1 14.9

China Laos Myanmar Vietnam

62.0

4.0

55.3

28.3

13.3

56.2

21.6

14.6

68.5a

5.8

27.6

34.3

20.0

32.7

34.4

16.6

—

—

—

—

—

85.6a

—

13.0

NOTE: a Emoluments of total number of personnel b Includes second-level education Pre & 1st = Pre-primary and first level CE = Total current expenditure PCGNP = Per capital GNP SOURCE: Koo (1999), Table 3.9

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

na 33 27 35 52 33 33 51 32 36

38

Bangladesh China Hong Kong India Indonesia Malaysia Pakistan Philippines Sri Lanka Thailand

“Asia Mean”

37

na na 30 29 39 29 39 36 31 36

35 58 33 44

36

46 33 33 41 29 31 41 29 na 35

26 57 30 41

34

54 27 30 43 32 27 36 30 31 23

25 48 31 33

80

31

64 22 28 48 23 20 41 34 29 18

20 33 26 26

92

24

na 26 16 23 21 16 26 26 na 20

26 30 27 28

50

24

na na 24 16 15 25 24 na na 20

24 37 29 26

60

22

na na 22 21 13 25 20 33 19 16

20 36 20 24

70

Secondary

23

24 18 29 na 15 22 17 34 26 21

19 39 19 20

80

SOURCE: Mingat (1995), Table 15 (based on various editions of UNESCO Yearbook).

37 57 28 47

Japan Korea, Rep. Singapore Taiwan

70

60

Years 19..

50

Primary Schooling

Countries

23

27 18 22 25 14 19 19 32 21 17

18 23 20 20

92

19

na na na 16 10 na na 22 25 33

27 30 na 10

50

17

na na 11 na na 9 26 27 13 15

23 24 16 11

60

17

16 4 15 20 12 15 34 23 8 8

27 19 12 23

70

17

19 5 12 15 10 10 34 29 9 14

24 28 10 20

80

Higher Education

TABLE A21 Pupil-Teacher Ratio in Primary and Secondary Schooling in Asian Countries

18

19 6 15 na 15 12 na na 16 14

23 28 na 17

92

92 Education for Development

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

2 — 8 8

925a 1,008a — 1,200a

858 825

—

185 210 — 200

234 165

—

Philippines Malaysia Indonesia Thailand

China Laos Myanmar Vietnam —

6 30

2 — 10 4

— — — —

1990

— — —

95b

87 99 — —

100 100 100b 100b

M

96 —

87 100 97 100b

100 100 100b 100b

T

Grade 2

—

— —

87 100 — —

100 100 100b 100b

F

65b

89 —

79 98 88 91b

100 100 100b 100b

T

—

— —

79 98 — —

100 100 100b 100b

M

Grade 4

—

— —

79 98 — —

100 100 100b 100b

F

Percentage of Cohort Reaching

58

85 —

70 96 77 87b

100 99 97b 100b

T

—

— —

70 95 — —

100 99 96b 100b

M

F

—

— —

70 96 — —

100 100 98b 100b

Final Grade

0.78b

0.86 —

0.84 0.97 0.78 0.95b

1.00 1.00 1.00b 1.00b

(1990)

COE

NOTES: a Length may vary from one region to another within a country, or from one grade to another within the first-level education. b Data on repeaters are missing so that the Apparent Cohort Method was used for estimating survival. T = Total; M = Male; F = Female COE = Coefficient of efficiency, that is, the ratio between the theoretical number of pupil-years that it would have taken the graduates to complete the cycle of education, had there been no repetition or dropout, and the number of pupil years actually spent by the cohort. COEs range from O (complete inefficiency) to 1 (maximum efficiency). SOURCE: Koo (1999), Table 3.13.

—

— —

— — 4 7

— 986 — —

— 204 — —

Japan Korea Hong Kong Singapore

1980

Hours

Repeaters

Days

Length of School Year (1990)

TABLE A22 First-Level Education: Internal Efficiency

Appendix 93

94

Education for Development

TABLE A23 International Comparison of Overall Achievement of Students in School (Standardized deviation to the “international mean”) Achievement in School in Comparative Terms

Countries

Children aged 9–10 years

Children aged 13–15 years

“International Mean” “OECD Mean”

0.0 +0.30

0.0 +0.35

Japan Korea Singapore Taiwan

+0.8 +0.7 +0.2 +0.4

+0.7 +0.9 +0.3 +0.8

Brazil Canada France Indonesia Italy Nigeria Philippines Thailand

— +0.0 +0.3 –1.0 +0.4 –0.7 –0.4 —

–1.1 +0.2 –0.6 — +0.2 –1.0 –0.6 –0.2

SOURCE: Mingat (1995), Table 6, p. 16.

TABLE A24 Relation between Per Capita GDP (in 1992 US$) and Pupil-Teacher Ratio (secondary level) in Four East Asian High Performing Countries Per Capita GDP (1992 US$)

Pupil-teacher ratio (Secondary education)

650 1000 2000 4000 15000

32.5 29.7 29.0 25.0 20.0

SOURCE: Mingat (1995), p. 44.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Appendix

95

TABLE A25 Adult Literacy vs. Some Demographic Indexes of the Selected Countries of Asia

Country

Hongkong Singapore Korea, Rep. of Thailand Malaysia Sri Lanka Maldives Indonesia China Vietnam Myanmar Pakistan India Bangladesh Nepal Butan

Adult Annual Literacy Population Rate (%) Growth Rate 1995 1970–95 92 91 98 94 84 90 93 84 82 94 83 38 52 38 28 42

1.8 1.9 1.4 2.0 2.5 1.5 3.0 2.0 1.6 2.2 2.1 3.0 2.1 2.3 2.6 2.1

Contraceptive Population Dependency Prevalence Rate Donating Date Ratio (%) any method (%) (at current 1995 1990–95 growth rate 1995) 1.3 1.8 1.7 1.8 3.4 2.2 6.8 2.8 1.9 3.2 3.5 5.3 3.2 3.3 5.2 5.9

86 74 79 74 48 66 — 55 83 65 17 18 41 49 29 —

SOURCE: UNDP (1988), pp. 176, 177, 148, 149.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

2081 2041 2075 2086 2029 2066 2015 2042 2072 2034 2033 2020 2038 2037 2022 2020

41.5 40.2 40.7 49.0 72.0 55.5 100.8 59.4 48.0 72.0 66.1 84.4 65.5 81.3 87.6 84.5

96

Education for Development

TABLE A26 Adult Female Literacy Rate vs. their Paid and Unpaid Acitvity Rates

Country

Adult Female Literacy Rate (%) 1995

Female Economic Activity Rate (as % of male rate) 1995

Female Unpaid Family Workers (as % of Total) 1995

Women’s Share of Adult Labour Force (%) aged 15 and above 1995

Singapore Korea, Rep. Of Thailand Malaysia Sri Lanka Maldives Indonesia China Vietnam Pakistan India Bangladesh Nepal Bhutan Myanmar Hong Kong

86.3 96.7 91.6 78.1 87.2 93.0 78.0 72.7 91.2 24.4 37.7 26.1 14.0 28.1 77.7 88.2

64 68 87 58 55 73 66 82 97 36 46 73 68 66 77 58

77 87 64 64 56 29 66 — — 33 — 6 55 — — 77

39 40 46 37 36 43 40 45 49 26 31 42 40 39 43 37

SOURCE: UNDP (1988), pp. 131, 132, 133, 154, 155, 164, 165.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Appendix

97

TABLE A27 Education Index vs. Incidence of Environmental Hazards in Some Selected Countries

Country

Education Index

Hong Kong, China Singapore Korea, Rep. of Thailand Malaysia Sri Lanka Maldives Indonesia China Vietnam Myanmar Pakistan India Bangladesh Nepal Bhutan

0.84 0.83 0.93 0.81 0.76 0.83 0.86 0.77 0.76 0.81 0.71 0.39 0.53 0.38 0.37 0.39

Annual Rate of CO2 Emissions Loss of Mangroves Deforestation Per Capita (%) 1980–90 1990–95 (metric tonnes) 1995 — 0 0.2 2.6 2.4 1.1 — 1.0 0.1 1.0 1.4 2.9 (—) 0.8 1.1 0.3

SOURCE: UNDP (1988), pp. 128, 129, 130, 180, 181.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

5.1 19.1 8.3 3.0 5.3 0.3 0.7 1.5 2.7 0.4 0.1 0.6 1.0 0.2 0.1 0.1

— 76 — 87 32 — — 45 — 62 58 78 85 73 0 0

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Education for Development

TABLE A28 Trends in Human Development and Per Capita Income in South Asia and Southeast Asia (GDP per capita [1987 US$]) South Asia East Asia Life expectancy (years) 1960 1995 Infant mortality rate 1960 1996 Access to safe water (%) 1975–80 1990–96 Underweight children under age five (%) 1975 1990–97 Adult literacy rate (%) 1970 1995 Gross enrolment ratio for all levels (% age 6–23) 1980 1995 GDP per capita (PPP$) 1960 1995

South East Asia and Pacific

43.9 61.8

47.5 69.3

45.3 64.7

163 74

146 37

127 48

68 50

26 16

46 34

32 51

53 82

66 87

37 52

51 65

51 61

698 1,724

729 3,359

732 3,85

SOURCE: UNDP (1988), p. 206.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

20098 46666 3759 — 3760

6554 — 105

260 35987 2710 540 2170 10301 3051

116013 17008

133021 1.80 11940

Others Secondary and Higher Education Govt. Secondary Schools Non-Govt. Secondary Schools Total

Govt. Colleges Non-Govt. Colleges Non-Govt. Madrasahs

Teacher’s Training College Others Technical Education Engineering Colleges Other Technical Institutions University Education Others

Total Revenue Expenditure Total Development Expenditure

Grand Total (Revenue and Development) Total Expenditure as % of GDP Per Capita Expenditure in Current Prices 160635 200 141.77

136002 24633

487 36906 3134 594 2540 122678 4639

8146 — 122

3892 50257 4596 — 4596

65706 61179 — 633

1991–92

SOURCE: BBS, Statistical Year Book of Bangladesh, 1998.

52685 50034 — 553

1990–91

Primary Education Govt. Primary Schools Mass Education Programme Primary Training Institutes

Revenue Expenditure

226743 276 196.30

167439 59304

584 50460 3770 710 3060 13300 7621

10732 — 145

4930 68031 6110 — 6110

74716 69033 — 753

1992–93

271550 310 231.71

182376 89174

594 53385 3822 720 3102 13500 13100

12154 — 152

5120 72516 6231 — 6231

79438 73525 — 793

1993–94

357327 366 298.01

197030 160297

588 62880 4148 900 3248 15330 88800

13483 — 160

6448 83645 6534 — 6534

85027 77746 — 833

1994–95

TABLE A29 Gross Expenditure on Education by Type of Educational Institutions

332398 255 272.23

209631 122767

— — 4414 — — 16939 5570

— — —

9049 90154 — — —

92554 825958149 — 910

1995–96 (Actual)

384694 274 309.48

229554 155140

— — 4763 — — 18170 8179

— — —

12819 98545 — — —

99897 86149 — 929

1996–97 (R E)

Appendix 99

100

Education for Development

TABLE A30 Public Expenditure Per Student on Primary and Secondary Education (US$) Primary South Korea Malaysia Thailand *Bangladesh India Pakistan

Secondary

389.8 351.2 133.0 12.5 38.1 21.1

352.5 572.5 — 47.1 — 122.6

NOTE: *Figures for Bangladesh are obtained for the year 1989–90 and the rest are for 1985. SOURCE: World Bank, The East Asian Miracle (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); and BBS (1992).

TABLE A31 Higher Educated Persons by Region, Sex, and Income, 1995 Income Class (Tk. per month) Up to 5,000

Urban

80(54) (28) 5,001–15,000 118(36) (42) 15,001–35,000 74(69) (26) 35,001 & above 12(80) (26) Total 284(47) (100)

Region Rural

Total

Male

65(46) (21) 214(64) (68) 34(31) (10) 3(20) (10) 316(53) (100)

145(100) (24) 332(100) (55) 108(100) (18) 15(100) (18) 600(100) (100)

140(47) (26) 301(91) (55) 90(83) (17) 10(67) (17) 541(90) (100)

Sex Female 5(3) (8) 31(9) (53) 18(71) (31) 5(33) (31) 59(10) (100)

NOTE: Figures in parentheses are percentage value. Tk.40 = 1 US$ SOURCE: Rahman and Ali (1995).

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Total 145(100) (24) 332(100) (55) 108(100) (18) 15(100) (18) 600(100) (100)

NOTE: Percentages are given within parentheses. SOURCE: PMED, 2000.

Total

5. Grants

4. Supply and services/maintenance/contingencies

3. Allowances

2. Pay of establishment

1. Pay of officers

Major Heads 56715 (0.85) 4168840 (68.65) 2187190 (32.86) 73364 (1.10) 168000 (2.52) 6654106 (100)

1991–92 57515 (0.77) 4198370 (56.20) 2899775 (38.81) 91752 (1.12) 228200 (3.05) 7471612 (100)

1992–93 57400 (0.72) 4403365 (55.19) 3094005 (38.37) 129815 (1.62) 294200 (3.70) 7878785 (100)

1993–94 96255 (1.12) 4637020 (54.17) 3284045 (38.37) 168645 (1.97) 373640 (4.36) 8559605 (100)

1994–95 137345 (1.46) 5079430 (54.01) 3451411 (36.70) 183089 (1.95) 553161 (5.88) 9404430 (100)

1995–96 136030 (1.37) 5180715 (52.40) 3553713 (35.57) 540885 (5.41) 574196 (5.74) 9989706 (100)

1996–97

TABLE A32 Primary Units of Appropriation (Non-development) in Primary and Mass Education 1991/92 to 1997/98.

158120 (1.38) 6120400 (53.34) 3749916 (32.68) 381417 (3.52) 1065250 (9.28) 11475103 (100)

1997–98

Appendix 101

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

102

Education for Development

TABLE A33 The Implementation of the Primary Education Budget vis-à-vis Other Components of the Education Budget Category

Adjust ADP Allocation as a % of Original ADP Allocation (1978–79)

Primary Education Secondary Education College Education Teacher Training Scholarships Technical Education Vocational Education University Grants Commission Miscellaneous

61.9 78.2 77.9 91.8 155.0 58.6 103.0 118.0 275.0

SOURCE: “Human Development in Bangladesh”, Report prepared under the UNDP (Dhaka, 1 March 1992), p. 125, Table 6.10.

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Notes

103

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Notes

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Though a growth rate of 5 per cent per capita for over three decades is unprecedented, Germany, Italy, and France came quite close in the 1950s and 1960s. However, there is no other comparable performer. Even Japan, the much-acclaimed forerunner of the East Asian miracle, recorded only 1.5 per cent per capita growth during the period from the Meiji restoration to 1940. These achievements need to be adjusted against many other fallouts of development, such as pollution and other environmental degradations and infrastructural bottlenecks, as well as poverty (for example, in Indonesia). The problem arises from the fact that educational expenditures are considered as consumer spending as well as a contribution to higher income in the future, but these two cannot be easily separated. If we consider the factor of unrealized incomes, the problem becomes even more complex. Whether individuals realize their incomes or not from the investment in education, families and the state continue to spend on it. In such a situation, it is not easy to draw a balance between the two sources of spending. For this reason, some commentors argue that since micro returns are difficult to measure, it is better to estimate the macro returns, which can be derived from the increase in material and intellectual capital. In macroeconomics apparently, the continued costs of education are compared with total individual incomes, or the national income. Shultz (1961) used both approaches but preferred the macroeconomic one. One should, however, assert this with a note of caution. The Philippines could not demonstrate higher levels in the standard of living vis-à-vis its Southeast Asian neighbours despite having a higher rate of literacy. Education alone perhaps cannot guarantee a higher standard of living for a nation. However, it can still be argued that the situation could have been worse had there been lower levels of education in this country. Coombs (1985) indeed captures some of these changes of emphasis on development and education. Perceived anew, the basic objective of education was: ... to improve people’s quality of life — not just of some people but of all the people, with special emphasis on the poorest and the most

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

104

Education for Development

disadvantaged who had thus far been bypassed by the development process. Economic growth based on increased productivity was still viewed as being of fundamental importance. But the broader end now in view was not simply a rise in the GNP. It was growth with equity, which militated against human exploitation and ensured a fair distribution of the fruits of development. Greater emphasis on more equitable distribution, the economists now argued, was not only a moral imperative but an imperative for healthy economic growth and future political stability. The new concept also rejected the old theoretical notion that economic and social development were distinct and separate processes and that the first must precede the second. Instead, the new thinking recognized that the two were inseparable and must go forward hand-inhand. Half-sick farmers could hardly be expected to have the stamina to boost their productivity, just as half starved children were in no condition to learn the intricacies of reading, writing and arithmetic (Coombs 1985, pp. 18–19). 6. 7. 8. 9.

See Speech by the Minister of Education, Singapore, on the Budget session given on 19 March 1998. Personal communication with Mukul G. Asher (January 1998). Personal communication with Mukul G. Asher and B. Rao (January 1998). The national education policy, which is now being vigorously pursued by the Government of Singapore, has the following explicit purpose (see Webpage of Ministry of Education). To develop national cohesion, the instinct for survival and confidence in the future: • • •

•

By fostering a sense of identity, pride, and self-respect as Singaporeans; By knowing the Singapore story — how Singapore succeeded against the odds to become a nation; By understanding Singapore’s unique challenges, constraints and vulnerabilities, which make us different from other countries; and By instilling the core values of our way of life, and the will to prevail, that ensure our continued success and well-being.

10. “Thus when I hear, ‘what should we learn, how should we learn, which system of education is relevant and what way’, then I strongly feel that education is not something which is detached from life. What should we learn and what we want to be — these two are intimately interrelated. You cannot pour more water in a pot than what it can accommodate” (Rabindranath Tagore, Collected Works of Tagore, vol. 13, p. 694, translated by Atiur Rahman).

© 2002 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

References

105

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The Author

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The Author Atiur Rahman was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, and is currently working as a Senior Research Fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Bangladesh.

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