The World Bank provides support to education systems throughout the developing world.  Such support is broadly aimed at helping countries attain the twin objectives of Education for All and education for success in the knowledge economy.  An important goal is to tailor Bank assistance to region- and country-specific factors such as demographics, culture, and the socio-economic or geopolitical climate. Consequently, a top priority is to inform development assistance with the benefit of country-specific analysis examining what factors drive education outcomes; how do they interact with each other; which factors carry the most weight and which actions are likely to produce the greatest result; where do the greatest risks and constraints lie; and so on. The biggest obstacle to universal primary completion, for example, may vary substantially, ranging from distance to schools or dying teachers in some geographical contexts to language of instruction or corrupt or incompetent administrators in others.

Some thrusts of Bank assistance across the six regions include efforts:

in Sub-Saharan Africa (AFR) to help education systems cope with the urgent need to look beyond EFA even while HIV/AIDS, armed conflict, and continued growth in the primary school-aged population pose large obstacles to achieving the education MDGs

in East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) to build region-wide capacity for student learning assessments and for monitoring and evaluation and to help middle-income countries address issues related to access (reaching the last 10 percent of out-of-school children), quality, governance, financing, and public-private partnerships. 

in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) to address diverse needs ranging from support to the poorest groups in low-income countries to assistance to middle-income countries aspiring for education systems and labor market skills on par with OECD countries.

in Latin America and the Caribbean (LCR) to address issues of inequality in terms of access and learning achievement, strengthen education system responsiveness to labor market needs by reforming secondary education, and promote donor harmonization. 

in Middle East and North Africa (MNA) to build region-wide capacity for education research and assessment of learning achievement, address the ICT needs of the education sector, and mainstream approaches to integrate vulnerable children and youth in education assistance as far as possible.

in South Asia(SAR) to accelerate progress toward achievement of the MDGs, with attention to strengthening governance, school management, and teacher accountability as well as reintegrating women and minorities in society in conflict-affected countries.