Education

This chapter is designed as a guide for developing the education policy component of a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). It provides diagnostic tools and research findings that can help countries identify the policies and programs likely to have the most powerful impact on education opportunities and outcomes for poor children and illiterate adults within their country context. Section 19.2 presents the rationale for investing in education as part of a strategy for poverty reduction. It also lays out a conceptual framework for understanding how education sector policies and other factors combine to produce education outcomes.

Section 19.3 focuses on diagnosing education system performance. Good policy begins with sound diagnosis. A three-step process is proposed: (1) benchmarking key education outcomes, (2) analyzing public and private expenditures on education, and (3) using decision-tree analysis to probe more precisely the underlying causes of poor outcomes in a particular country.

Section 19.4 focuses on reform strategies and high-impact programs. Drawing from country experience and research, it summarizes what we know about policies and programs that can redress the problems identified, and looks at the experience to date of low-income countries that are seeking to improve education for the poor. This section analyzes the key policy levers available to ministries of education to improve the delivery of formal education services. It also reviews international experience with the design and delivery of nonformal basic education for youths and adults. Finally, it considers the key policies in other sectors that can have an important impact on education outcomes for the poor, specifically macroeconomic and fiscal policies and the delivery of complementary social services, notably early childhood interventions and child health and nutrition programs.

Section 19.5 provides guidance on assessing the political and institutional feasibility of alternative policies and programs and on setting priorities. It offers suggestions for estimating the costs and implementation timeframe for priority policies and programs, sequencing these realistically, and monitoring and evaluating progress.

Countries engaged in the PRSP process typically face major constraints on resources and capacity and are under time pressure to show measurable progress. It is not expected that all countries will have the data or the time to carry out the full diagnostic process set out in this chapter, nor will they all have the capacity to implement the full range of reforms discussed in Section 19.4. The “good practice” analytical approach and broad overview of relevant country experience with education reform presented here are intended to provide a comprehensive resource from which client countries can select the tools and policy options that are most feasible and relevant in their context. It is hoped that this resource will contribute directly to the development and implementation of effective poverty reduction strategies.

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