Maghreb : Engineering, incentives, and public accountability for a better education reform

Documents Report - Overview (PDF) Report indicators  (PDF) Others indicators Learn more Data on Maghreb Main feature story  Questions/answers Education and knowledge Sector brief on education Learning for development in Mena region (1999)

The most remarkable educational achievements in Mena region

Over the last 40 years, Mena countries on average dedicated 5 percent of GDP and 20 percent of government expenditures to education, and achieved:

• The closing of the education gender gap. Gender parity for basic education is almost complete.
• An equitable access to education at all levels of instruction and improvement of certain basic competencies.

Progress needed in secondary and higher education

In more than half of the MENA countries, approximately two-thirds of the students major in the fields of social science and humanities rather than in science and mathematics. Given that technological innovation and adaptation is increasingly playing a prominent role in the development process, MENA schools may be producing the wrong mix of competencies.

Low impact of education on social and economic development

The low impact of education on economic growth means:

• A low quality of instruction to contribute to growth and productivity.
• A foreign direct investment gravitating to countries that have better education outcomes.
• High levels of public sector employment, and low numbers of dynamic and internationally competitive economic sectors.

The region needs to reshape its education systems to face up economic, demagraphic and financial challenges

The objective of basic level of instruction for all has been reached but the the future path taken will need to address 3 realities:

The knowledge Economy: Competitiveness depends today on firms that employ a well-educated, technically skilled workforce and are capable of adopting new technologies and selling sophisticated goods and services.
Most Mena countries continue to use a more traditional model of pedagogy (for example, copying from the blackboard, and little interaction between teachers and students).
The “Youth Bulge” : As a result of the high fertility rates of the 1960s and 1970s, Mena has among the largest youth population in the world (less than 24 years). This youth bulge will substantially affect demand for education.
If current rates of school dropout are retained, the labor force will be increasingly populated by adults who have not completed secondary or higher education.
Sector financing constraints : In most countries, demographic changes and calls to change the content and process of education provision will require additional resources. Mena governments already spend a substantial level of resources on the sector and growth in spending has usually outpaced economic growth.
In sum, education systems in MENA will have to change to adapt to new demands from the labor market and from the increasing number of youth.

A new framework for education reform

Future education reforms need to be guided by 3 new approaches:
Good engineering : The focus is on determining the right mix of inputs as schools, teachers, and equipment to produce a desired outcome to reach a certain level of enrollment.
Incentives aligned with outcomes : Those incentives concern educational process actors' motivations. It is important to devise mechanisms that link education outcomes with the rewards (or penalties) to teachers and school directors.
Public accountability  : It focuses on the ability of parents, students, and other stakeholders to influence the formation of education objectives, policies, and resource allocation, either at the national or local levels. The premise is that if the majority of the beneficiaries can persuade policy makers to improve education policies, education outcomes will improve. Conversely, if education is designed to serve the interests of only a few, the benefits from investment in education will be narrowly distributed.

This report argues that there is a positive interaction effect when all three types of reforms are implemented in concert. Partial and isolated reforms may lead to some improvements in performance, but integrating all three components described here is likely to produce more successful reforms.