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The New Education Crisis
April 21, 2011
Last year, the Center for Global Development convened a roundtable of education experts to discuss global education policy, including what is hindering progress and where the focus of current efforts should be. The roundtable was led by former CGD Visiting Fellow Desmond Bermingham, who asked attendees to reflect on his essay Reviving the Global Education Compact and assess how the development community is doing on global education reform. (Desmond has since joined Save the Children as Director of the Education Global Initiative.)
I asked Desmond to prepare an open letter drawing on the views of experts at the meeting in defining the current key challenges.
Desmond’s letter focuses on a looming crisis in global education. Access is still far from complete – but the real crisis is that children in developing countries are learning little. For extensive evidence of a learning crisis, see this paper from Lant Pritchett and for more on how and why to focus on learning outcomes, see Charles Kenny’s arguments. Slow progress in the education sector is not just about the supply side and the inputs; it is about the demand side too – and readiness of governments and donors to innovate.
Meanwhile the new World Bank Education Strategy 2020 has just come out. A quick perusal suggests a welcome emphasis on incentives and on learning as the fundamental outcome (more commentary to come on the Education Strategy 2020).
So what comes next for donors, governments, civil society advocates, and education ministers? Please share your comments.
One Response to “The New Education Crisis”
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April 29th, 2011 at 2:57 am
In my country, South Africa teachers develop themselves for personal gains not necessarily to enhance teaching and learning. Infact teacher only want a qualification that will help them to earn more while they ignore importance of developing children.
For a country like South Africa things were suppose to be different given the political and social status. Learners in the predominantly Black’s school learn far less then expected. This problem can be associated with the type of teachers you will find in this category of schools and what their qualifications, attitude and aptitude are.
Taking into account what the future needs of the country are and the demands of the industry in terms of the economic growth, South African education department needs to move with speed to address the problems.
One cannot believe that there are teachers that are still intimidated by computers in this era. These are teacher who cannot keep abreast with the latest developments and trends in education.
My advise to the Department of Basic Education in particular will be:”First things First and Do the basic things right”.