1. Insular Southeast Asia
EFA Policy Conference
18-22 February 2008, Jomtien

2. Outline of Presentation
General Summary of the draft Insular South-East Asia Synthesis Report
Comments and Recommendations Received
Remaining Gaps that Need to be Addressed
Timelines

3. General Summary of the draft Insular South-East Asia Synthesis Report

4. Goal 1: ECCE Operational definition of ECCE in the subregion:
developed effort targeting young children through activities that stimulate and facilitate their physical, psychosocial, emotional, spiritual and mental growth and development in preparation for further education
integral part of the education systems and is provided for by various education policies and development plans
although neither compulsory nor part of the formal education ladder

5. Goal 1: ECCE
Emerging approach to ECCE in the subregion is total protection and development of children through convergence of efforts from various relevant agencies of the government in partnership with local government, the community and the civil society, as well as with private providers.
ECCE provision is based on a holistic framework that encompasses nutrition, health, learning environment, cognitive development, care and protection and quality of child minders or teachers.

6. Goal 1: ECCE
Policies and legislations for ECCE provision and coordination are in place
Indonesia: Education System Law of 2003
Malaysia: Childcare Centers Act 1984 (amended 2007)
National Education Act of 1996
Philippines: Daycare Act of 1990
Early Childhood Education and Development Act of 2000
Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001
Implementation and coordination of ECCE is a multiagency and multisectoral concern
(involving government entities responsible for education, health, family welfare, community development, as well as private and civil society groups, among others)

7. Gross Enrolment Ratio in ECCE
Goal 1: ECCE
Gross Enrolment Ratio in ECCE
Participation in ECCE among young children has improved across the subregion
** UIS estimation
-n Data refer to the school or financial year (or period) n years or
periods before the reference year or period
Source: UIS
However, geographical variation reflects average gap size of 70 percentage points from the highest and the lowest province/state/region

8. Goal 2: Primary/Basic Education
Policies, legislations and plans are in place to achieve Goal 2
Indonesia: Education System Law of 2003
RENSTRA and the
National EFA Action Plan
Malaysia: National Education Act of 1996
Ninth Malaysia Plan and the
Education Development Master Plan 2006–2010
Philippines: Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001
Medium-term Philippine Development Plan and the
Philippine National EFA 2015 Action Plan

9. Goal 2: Primary/Basic Education
Progress
Overall, progress was achieved towards Goal 2
However, the pace is slow (except for Malaysia at the primary level)
NIR* remains below 50 percent
*NIR data for Malaysia not available

10. Goal 3: Life Skills Operational definition
Life skills are defined across the subregion as comprising basic and practical skills. Basic skills consist of literacy and numeracy while practical skills concerned with livelihood (employment or entrepreneurship) and even advance academic skills. Acquisition of life skills is considered a lifelong process that starts with literacy and numeracy at the primary level as enabling skills for further learning

11. Goal 3: Life Skills
Youth Literacy for Indonesia and Malaysia improved while that of the Philippines declined

12. Goal 3: Life Skills
a Not applicable
** UIS estimation
+n Data refer to the school of financial year (or period) n years or period after the reference year or period
-n Data refer to the school or financial year (or period) n years or periods before the reference year or period
Source: UIS
Varied trend in progress in transition rate from primary to secondary level.
-Indonesia also showed modest improvement
-Malaysia recorded a substantial improvement
-Philippines showed a significant decline
Percentage of enrolment in TVET at secondary level slightly decreased

13. Goal 4: Literacy
The definition of literacy across the subregion varies primarily according to the means by which literacy is measured.
Indonesia: literacy is defined as having three levels of competencies: (a) Level 1 pertains to basic reading and writing, and numeracy skills; (b) Functional Level which is level 1 plus life skills; and (c) Advanced Level which is Level 1 plus academic and professional skills.
Malaysia:literacy rate as the percentage of the population aged 15 years and above who can read and write with understanding a short simple statement related to everyday life
Philippines: two levels of literacy for statistical measurement: (a) Basic Literacy which consist of the reading and writing with comprehension; and (b) Functional Literacy which include basic literacy plus numeracy skills (literacy is measured in eight major languages)

14. Goal 4: Literacy
Indonesia has the most substantial increase in adult literacy rate from 81.5 % in 1990 to 90.4% in 2004.
Malaysia improved adult literacy rate from 82.9 % to 88.7%
Philippines, although having the highest adult literacy rate, experienced a decrease in its literacy rate from 93.6% to 92.6%

15. Goal 5: Gender
Countries in the Insular South-East Asia have supported gender equality through various legislations and development plans.
Indonesia: Law 20/2003 (National Education System Act) stipulates that education shall be provided for all citizens and that girls and boys as well as men and women have the same right to accessing quality education
Malaysia: gender and development policies and strategies are embodied in the National Policy for Women (NPW) of 1989
Philippines:1987 Philippine Constitution stipulates as a policy of the state for women to participate in and benefit from development on an equal basis with men; RA 7192 or the Women in Development and Nation Building Act was passed in 1992; Plan for Gender-Responsive Development (PPGD)

16. Goal 5: Gender
ECCE
Latest data show girls performing better across the subregion with Malaysia recording the highest GPI (1.12) in GER in 2005
Primary and Secondary Education
Mixed trend in primary gender disparity in the subregion
(Indonesia, boys; Malaysia, almost parity; and Philippines: girls)
At the secondary level, girls are increasingly outperforming GPI boys in terms of GER and NER in Malaysia and the Philippines while Indonesia’s boys are still at an advantage but latest data shows movement towards parity

17. Goal 5: Gender Life Skills
Indonesia and Malaysia have achieved parity for youth literacy while the Philippines showed widening gap in favor of girls
Adult Literacy
The percentage of literate males are greater than that of females in Indonesia and Malaysia, but latest data shows that both countries are moving fast towards parity
The Philippines’ latest literacy rate shows widening disparity in favor of girls
Quality
Baseline data in survival rate to Grade 5 for Indonesia showed boys at disadvantage, but latest data revealed that the trend was reversed; data for Malaysia and the Philippines show gender gap in favor of girls

18. Goal 6: Quality
Survival rate to Grade 5
Malaysia’s survival rate to Grade 5 has remarkably improved while that of Indonesia and the Philippines have declined

19. Goal 6: Quality
As part of its commitment to EFA 2015 Goals and as a member of E9, Indonesia commits to spend 20 percent of its National Budget on education by 2009 as mandated by the State Constitution.
Malaysia has the highest spending in education as a percentage of total government expenditure both as % of GDP and total public expenditure
Philippines saw an increase in spending for education as a percentage of the total government expenditure. As percentage of GDP, however, education expenditure decreased.

20. Conclusions
The Insular South-East Asia countries’ commitment to EFA has brought the subregion on a generally positive track towards the attainment of 2015 Goals.
Overall, there is a favorable policy environment to engage the unreached and disadvantaged groups in each country
Strategies for EFA have become essential parts of national development plans and programs, as well as subsectoral plans for education.
Specific strategies and approaches and targeted programs have aggressively been pursued to reach particular groups.

21. Conclusions
Despite polices, programs and projects (e.g., free primary education, expanding education infrastructure, etc.) implemented in the past in support of EFA, marginalized and disadvantaged groups continued to face obstacles that prevent them from fully availing of the services provided by the governments.
2005
Malaysia: 125,000 Malaysian primary school-age and 375,000 secondary education-age children not participating in school
Indonesia: 1.2 million for primary and 5.5 million for secondary level
Philippines: has the highest number of primary-age children not participating in school at 2 million and for secondary-age children not enrolled in any high school, the figure is 3.1 million
Source: National MDA Reports

22. Conclusions
Despite significant improvement shown by national aggregates, there exist wide geographical variation.
The seeming disadvantage being experienced by boys in most of the education outcome indicators need special attention. However, this should not result in complacency regarding the barriers still confronting girls in some areas that prevent them from fully benefiting from education services

23. Conclusions
Geographical and geophysical characteristics of the countries in the regions still pose as barriers in the delivery of education services.
For example, remoteness of some areas within main islands and of small islands makes delivery of education services is more expensive and supervision is more difficult. Natural disasters and calamities cause temporary or prolonged disruptions of classes
There is a usual focus on the economics such that there is a tendency to invest more in financial assistance. Put parallel efforts to recognize other issues that adversely affect these groups’ full availment of education services need more attention. Among these issues are language of instruction, appropriate and relevant curriculum, etc.

24. Who are the marginalized and unreached groups in the subregion?
street children and working children;
religious, linguistic and ethnic minorities as well as indigenous peoples;
persons/children with disabilities or with special need;
children of very poor families;
population in remote areas; and
children in more difficult circumstances (i.e., places affected with armed conflict, disasters and calamities)
The number of groups officially considered to be at a disadvantage varies in each country:
For example, Malaysia has identified the children of families residing in remote areas and the ethnic minorities of Orang Asli.
For Indonesia, these include street children and working children, as well as children with disabilities.
In the Philippines, these are the Muslims, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and special needs, children affected by armed conflict, street children, children in drugs and youth offenders , children of poorest families, child, youth and adult living in remote areas, displaced children due to calamities and disasters

25. Some Emerging Concerns/Issues
Need to improve the monitoring and evaluation system
more innovative approaches beyond the traditional outcome indicators may be required for deeper analysis of disparities and to better aid decision-making, planning and investment programming.
data should also provide specific information on the special target groups such as indigenous people, street children and child labor, among others.

26. Some Emerging Concerns/Issues
Consensus has been noted regarding the crucial role of governance and accountability in reaching the EFA goals
balanced combination of political will and public investment managed with high degree of efficiency, transparency and accountability (has worked positively in Malaysia)
adoption of appropriate, efficient and effective approaches in the delivery of education services that consider the geographic characteristics of the countries in the subregion (decentralization in Indonesia demonstrated such approach through several capacity-building programs and adequate subsidy to the field offices and the local governments)

27. Some Emerging Concerns/Issues
Fostering and sustaining strong linkages among education stakeholders (e.g., other government agencies, NGOs, LGUs, private business sector, and the communities) and efficiently capitalizing on their support and contributions have been proven as effective means to augment public expenditure on education (as demonstrated by the Philippines)

28. Initial General Policy Recommendations
Improve the reliability of reports and information from the local levels, especially on the marginalized and disadvantaged for better planning and investment programming;
Increase and restructure budget allocations for basic education to address the differentiated needs of schools/learning centers and learners;
Improve the mechanisms for transparency and accountability of the education system from the national down to school levels so that the public will be informed and be involved;

29. Develop key strategies to promote and facilitate coordination, partnership and cooperation with community/civil community organizations, donors, UN agencies and other education stakeholders. Optimizing benefits from such partnerships should be among the objectives of all programs and projects;
Improve strategic equivalency programs, especially for those who continue to experience barriers to complete participation in the formal basic education system. Ensure that such program is continuously reviewed to assure its relevance and that its strategic purpose is still being served; and

30. Foster intrasubregion interaction and cooperation for information sharing of best practices concerning reaching the unreached and the marginalized. This may also serve as venue to confront common problems and develop strategies on the best approach for the delivery of education services to groups such as migrant workers.

31. Comments and Recommendations on the Draft
Philippines:
-Corrections in the texts
Malaysia -
Indonesia
-It seems that many information and data did not come from the National MDA Report
-Include Muslim religion in the five ‘recognized religions’ in Indonesia (p.55)

32. Comments and Recommendations on the Draft
Has to be more discussion on tested literacy and self-report –based on performance tests
Initial literacy should be in mother tongue
Clarification on Indonesian financing scheme in the light of decentralization program
Indicators fro Brunei Darussallam, Singapore and Timor Leste available. Why were they not included?
Updated dataset from UIS
Verification on the existence of ALS IP curriculum in the Philippines

33. Remaining Gaps in the Report
Clarifications sought in the first draft (e.g., selection process of Strong Republic Schools –Philippines; Laws on decentralization-Indonesia; and request on information the latest Malaysian population survey)
Request for clearer/better copy of education system cahrt from Indonesia and the Philippines
Request for details/input to Table 4. Scholarship and Other Financial Incentive Programs in the Subregion
Request for input on reasons for some trends
Input for textboxes

34. Remaining Gaps in the Report
Inclusion of discussion on geographical variations in performance in selected indicators based on country data templates
Inclusion of specific policy recommendations
Incorporation of additional comments and recommendations from countries
Final list of references

35. Timeline and Next Steps
18-22 February Policy Conference 25 February -Final Draft -Preparation for printing -Printing
Disparities in net enrolment rates in basic education have been decreasing
as Government’s equity based initiatives (e.g. additional school infrastructure,
reducing cost barriers) begins to take effect. For example, in
primary education, variance has decreased from 31.9 in 1998 to 13.2 in
IV-Goal 2: Assuring Expanded and Equitable Access
Figure 20: Junior Secondary NER By Province
74 EFA Mid Decade Assessment Indonesia
2004. Much of this variance is due to variations within provinces rather
than between provinces. For example, on average across basic education
throughout the period, the variance due to within province inequality
Much of this variation is due to larger economies of scale for
education service delivery in more densely populated provinces. Many
of the higher spending provinces have scattered populations and small
school sizes, making it difficult to utilize staff and other resources cost
efficiently. 35

36. Thank You!