What are countries in South Asia doing to meet the learning needs of Out-of-School Children? Urmila Sarkar, Regional Adviser-Education UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia

SOUTH ASIA

Source: Fixing the Broken Promise of Education for All. Findings from the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children Data from UIS.

Analysis is by level of education: Pre-primary, Primary and Lower Secondary; and looks at the age of children in relation to the level of education. Children who have never attended school Children who have dropped out of school Will enter late Will never enter Children in school but at risk of dropping out Who are OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN?

The Five Dimensions of Exclusion

Poverty Socio-cultural practices Disability Conflict Disasters Remoteness Low public investments on social sector

Coverage of the paper Covers Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka Examines key policies and interventions in place to address exclusion in education and learning needs of out-of-school children Focus on interventions from Education, Health, Social Care and Social Protection sectors Reviews Successful interventions, gaps and recommendations linked to: 1. Socio-cultural demand side barriers 2. Economic demand side barriers 3. School-level supply side barriers 4. System bottlenecks

Policy Context: Education system information by Country Official Primary School Entry Age Duration of Primary Education Compulsory Education Age Coverage Compulsory Education includes Lower Secondary? * Legal Guarantee of Free Education * Afghanistan767-16Yes Bangladesh656-10NoYes Bhutan67……Yes India656-14Yes Maldives * Yes Nepal * NoYes Pakistan555-16Yes Sri Lanka555-14YesNo Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015; * EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010 BUT policies can falter on implementation, particularly where there is no credible enforcement mechanism

9 What are South Asian countries doing to reach out-of-school children? © UNICEF/2013/Crette

1. Programmes, policies to address socio- cultural demand-side barriers Community mobilization campaigns to foster positive attitudes to education and change cultural norms on gender roles, child labour:  Empowering marginalized girls and women to demand for education – Mahila Samakhya (MS) initiative, India  Reaching out to OOSC and monitoring attendance through the Compulsory Education Committees, Sri Lanka  Delaying child marriage by providing allowance with conditions to girls years old – Bangladesh Female Secondary School Stipend Programmes  Awareness raising on women’s rights and reproductive health, empowering them to make decisions on their children’s schooling and delaying their marriage – Pakistan Lady Health Worker Programme

1. Programmes, policies to address socio- cultural demand-side barriers Key gaps and recommendations:  Strengthen efforts to change cultural attitudes to child marriage  Put in place and enforce laws regarding age of marriage and child labour  More cross-sectoral approaches between education, health and child protection are needed, which requires coordination across Ministries

2. Programmes, policies to address economic and demand-side barriers Poverty is at the root of multiple, often reinforcing barriers to participation in schooling. Interventions are aimed at offsetting the direct and indirect costs of schooling as well as opportunity costs  large-scale poverty alleviation programmes (PAPs), e.g. conditional and unconditional cash transfers or micro-credit – Bangladesh, Pakistan  Increase enrolment, reduce dropout thru CCTs in Bangladesh and Pakistan; mid-day meals in India  Reduce direct cost of schooling through free textbooks, uniforms and subsidized transport – Sri Lanka

2. Programmes, policies to address economic and demand-side barriers Key gaps and recommendations:  Improve targeting of CCT beneficiaries  more research needed to confirm impact of PAPs on school attendance in South Asia and to understand why and whether conditionality is needed to raise school participation  a holistic approach to the design and implementation of social protection and education interventions to bring more clarity in cross-sectoral objectives, targeting and effectiveness

3. Programmes, policies to address school- level supply-side barriers Lack of schools, poor quality education remains a challenge in most countries. Interventions aimed at increasing the supply of schools:  Large-scale school construction as part of government plan – Bangladesh PEDP III, India SSA  Recruitment of female teachers, teachers from marginalized groups and para teachers – India  Schools with residential facilities for adolescent girls from marginalized communities, with diverse curriculum – KGBVs India Improving quality of education and ensuring children are learning  Scaling up child-friend schools initiative – Sri Lanka, Pakistan  Reducing learning gaps through multi-grade, multi-level programmes integrating continuous assessment – Ability-Based Learning, India, Bangladesh  Multi-lingual education – India, Bangladesh

3. Programmes, policies to address school- level supply-side barriers Key gaps and recommendations:  Address geographical inequality in the distribution of teachers  Undertake an evaluation to determinate to what extent and under what conditions pre- and in-service teacher training have a positive impact on teaching and learning processes  Undertake large-scale diagnostic assessment, formative or classroom-based evaluation with findings feeding into teaching and learning practices  Strengthen, expand efforts to eliminate corporal punishment

4. Programmes, policies to address system bottlenecks Interventions focus around governance, management and public financing reforms:  Granting schools more autonomy through School Level Improvement Plans – Bangladesh  Decentralized funding mechanism to schools to promote equity including based on enrolment of children with disabilities, location of school – Sri Lanka

4. Programmes, policies to address system bottlenecks Key gaps and recommendations:  Sector plans and sector wide approaches should include provision and funding on alternative pathways to education with attention to equivalency and quality  Financial authority to schools should be accompanied by appropriate capacity building, oversight mechanisms and management capacity  Engage and involve community in school-level planning  Ensure rational and increased accountability in teacher management in public schools  Promote progressive investment in education for marginalized children

Conclusion and recommendations Efforts are in place to meet the learning needs of OOSC in South Asia but more needs to be done including: 1.Strengthen education sector wide approaches with increase investments in marginalized groups and alternative pathways to education 2.Put in place more differentiated and nuanced approaches for OOSC 3.Large-scale holistic interventions to address multiple barriers to schooling

1. Systemic review of ECD programmes and early grades of primary schooling to address problems of late entry to school, retention and language transition 2. Evidence on role of school leadership management and teacher education in improving learning levels among the most vulnerable 3. Strengthening data and data collection on OOSC and children at risk of dropping out Areas for further research

EDUCATE ALL GIRLS AND BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA 12 MILLION CURRENLTY OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN ENJOY QUALITY EDUCATION BY 2017

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund Regional Office for South Asia PO Box 5815, Lekhnath Marg Kathmandu, Nepal © 2014 United Nations Children’s Fund