Progress of Secondary Education in Asia

Challenges, Responses and Lessons

R.GovindaNational Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi

Context of Education Development in Asia

Not a long history – the story of building a modern mass education system spans over just 5-6 decades

Struggle against many negative factors – poverty – internal strife and political upheavals – false starts – carrying the burden of colonial legacy

Asia-Pacific region accounts for about 60% of the world population, of which one fifth are adolescents and over 50% are below the age of 25.

Context of Education Development in Asia

A world of paradox – cradle of ancient civilizations – but host to largest number of non-literates in the world

Many of them, especially females and other disadvantaged groups, remain out of school, living in poverty and other conditions harmful to their physical and psychological health; many are at high risk of drug abuse and HIV/AIDS.

Context of Education Development in Asia

Despite handicaps and internal contradictions an objective balance sheet would highlight the remarkable progress made by the continent in a relatively short period of time

It is this story of working against multiple odds and making progress under very unequal and diverse conditions – that makes the experiences from Asia very relevant to the efforts being made to expand secondary education in Africa

This presentation

Not a quantitative picture of growth of secondary education

Illustrations of experiences - challenges and responses that hold lessons for reflection

Illustrations from selected countries from East and South Asia

What factors triggered and sustained expansion of secondary education in Asian

Countries? According to the 2001 World Development Indicators,

the gross enrollment ratio from 1980 to 1997 increased from 29% to 56% in Indonesia, from 64% to 78% in the Philippines from 42% to 57% in Vietnam From 24% to 49% in India

In the case of China and Thailand, the ratio increased over 20% during the same period, from 46% to 70% in China and from 29% to 59% in Thailand. 

Almost all countries in the Asia region have experienced substantial growth in secondary school enrollments over the past decade

Secondary Enrolment Ratios for Selected Countries

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1991 1999 2002 2004

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What factors triggered and sustained expansion of secondary education in Asian Countries? In several East Asian countries, growth in secondary

education has taken place along side faster economic growth – Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia – China presents similar but slightly different scene

In South Asia, success in expanding primary school enrollment, combined with population explosion, is generating considerable demand for expansion of secondary education - this is the case in countries like India, Sri Lanka ( and the Philippines in East Asia)

Yet in all countries, faster growth has been supported by measured steps to increase access by setting targets for growth

Expanding Secondary Education Acting on the Policy Front Many national governments have taken on

the challenge of making lower secondary schooling compulsory

In 1994, Indonesia expanded its definition of basic education to include nine years of primary and junior secondary school

Thailand did the same initially and in the latest Educational Policy vows to make 12 years of schooling universal

Expanding Secondary Education Acting on the Policy Front

India has made 8 years of schooling a Fundamental Right (universal and compulsory) and has drawn up proposals to make secondary education (12 years) universal by 2020

Singapore and Korea have achieved high success in making secondary education universal without making attendance compulsory

Expanding Secondary Education Acting on the Policy Front There is increased feeling among the

leadership that primary schooling is not enough – it does not equip even with basic life-skills for the globalised economy and secondary schooling is essential for any progress in personal as well as national development

Balancing Quantity-Quality-EquityThe Elusive Triangle Secondary education historically has the

tendency to grow in urban areas and richer neighborhoods – in many countries it has been unfavourable to participation of marginalised groups and girls

All countries have attempted to address this issue though in different ways and with different levels of success

Balancing Quantity-Quality-EquityThe Elusive Triangle

Principle 1: Go where you have to – target specific areas which need attention the most

Thailand Targeted expansion programme in rural areas

- Step taken in 1991 to open lower secondary classes on a free-of-charge basis in selected villages

Balancing Quantity-Quality-EquityThe Elusive Triangle India

Programme of building pace-setting schools in rural areas

Building Residential Schools for Marginalised and Ethnic Minority Groups

Programme for bringing back street children and child labourers into school mainstream through Residential Bridge Courses (Andhra Pradesh)

Balancing Quantity-Quality-EquityThe Elusive Triangle

Principle 2: Compensate/Support those who really need – Direct transfer instead of subsidizing schools where they study

Female Stipend Program of Bangladesh All girls in rural areas who enter secondary

school are eligible for a monthly sum ranging from Taka 25 in Class 6 to Taka 60 in Class 10 (between US$0.37– $0.88). Girls receive additional payments in Class 9 for new books and in Class 10 for exam fees.

Balancing Quantity-Quality-EquityThe Elusive Triangle

Malaysia - Poor Students Trust Fund (KWAPM)

The Fund was created to assist parents who face difficulty in putting their children in school – children have to be from Below Poverty Line families

Matriculation and Post-Matriculation scholarships for Scheduled Caste children in India

Facilitating Transition between and within Secondary Cycle Transition between cycles is fairly high – around

80% - this represents high aspirations among parents and children

But grade transition within the cycle is relatively low in some countries - In some countries around 50% children entering the cycle do not complete the lower secondary cycle Inability to adjust to the academic demands Failure to pass annual examinations Cost considerations – opportunity cost of schooling

Facilitating Transition between and within Secondary Cycle Overcoming Structural impediments

Should lower secondary be attached to primary or be made part of secondary schools?

The former is likely to improve easy transition to secondary classes. But what are the cost implications? And what is the impact on quality of infrastructure provisioning and teacher supply?

Needs careful school mapping exercise – perhaps there is no standard solution for all regions even within a country

Asian countries present too varied a picture

What Kind of Education? Orchestrating Secondary Curriculum In general, lower secondary is not seen as a

terminal stage of schooling. One of the aims is to ensure that as many

students as possible continue into the upper secondary phase, even though a substantial proposition of children do not pass the school final examination and therefore move into working life.

What Kind of Education? Orchestrating Secondary Curriculum

What about diversification? - General trend is to have common general education programme for a longer period of time – India follows a common curriculum for all till grade 10th

East Asian countries have introduced some diversification as well as vocational content at the lower secondary stage - yet this is not significant particularly at the lower secondary level

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China India Indonesia Thailand Malaysia

Vocational Component in Secondary Enrollment

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Upper Secondary

What Kind of Education? Dilemma of Modernisation and Internationalisation Science and Mathematics study occupies prime

place – about 50% of teaching time is devoted to these subjects

Computer literacy forms an integral part of secondary education in all countries though with different levels of skill expectations

How to update and modernize curricula while preserving national identity? - A deep concern to develop curriculum fostering respect for, and preservation of, cultural traditions and indigenous values and ways of life

What Kind of Education? Dilemma of Modernisation and Internationalisation

Citizenship education is firmly built into the curricula of the majority of the countries;

Value education is also emphasized in most countries of the region

Recent curriculum reform in India has introduced peace education as an important component

Who will teach in the new schools: Supply of Qualified Teachers Need for subject specialisation? University

based courses? It is not just fixing the TPR A mixed bag

In India, generalist teachers at early part of lower secondary to university trained specialist teachers during the latter part of lower and upper secondary

China has the tradition of subject specific teachers even during the primary stage

This is an important issue impacting supply of teacher with adequate and possessing officially specified academic and professional qualifications

Who will teach in the new schools: Supply of Qualified Teachers

Need for lead time for proper expansion linked to capacity of pre-service teacher education system

Problem of science and mathematics teachers is almost universal

Demand for English language teachers is also expanding

Who will teach in the new schools: Supply of Qualified Teachers Alternate Measures during lead time

Accelerated preservice teacher training Relaxation of teacher certification requirements Contract teachers with at a lower monthly salary Use of Distance Education for Pre-service training

Setting up of a statutory body for monitoring teacher quality and their certification

National Council of Teacher Education in India There is also a downward linkage of tertiary

education influencing the growth and supply of teachers for secondary education – the case of Karnataka science stream in India

Making the School work What the Developed Countries do, we can also do

(– overcoming ‘We are a poor country’ syndrome) but in our own way

New methods of quality monitoring – establishment of independent Quality Assessment and Monitoring Agency is one such – Thailand and Malaysia

Attempts are being made for empowering School Management Committees to introduce School Improvement Planning as a standard feature of Secondary schools in Karnataka in India

ICT based School Governance Network for Educational Improvement in Northwest China

Making the School work Improving Information system for monitoring school

functioning for Greater Transparency In India, a School Report Card is posted on the internet for

every school in the country Setting basic norms of school provision -

benchmarking Physical infrastructure, academic facilities Teacher-pupil ratio and teacher qualification sufficient numbers of textbooks …..

Introducing National Testing Programme is another method adopted by some countries to impact on school quality

Reaching the Unreached through Alternative Models Alternative modes of Delivery tend to have lower

per student costs than conventional schools even while providing access to populations and areas that are typically more expensive to serve.

Different models in differing combination are being tried out: Distance Education; Open Learning; Non-formal Education outside the school

Indonesia’s Equivalent Non-formal Education Programme (Paket B and Paket C) – Transfer to and from the formal school is ensured through legislation

Reaching the Unreached through Alternative Models

Different countries have adopted Distance Education model with varying levels of technology - simple postal correspondence to internet based courses The case of National Open School in India –

emergence of State Open School in different States Air Correspondence High Schools in South Korea The Philippine Nonformal Education Project Indonesia – Open Junior Secondary School –

supported by audiocassettes, radio programmes and TV or video programmes – follows a group-study model

Use of dedicated Educational Satellite in India with several thousand points for downlinking – providing for interactive learning

Reaching the Unreached through Alternative Models China plans to train during next 10 years, One million

persons with applicable skills in rural areas and with secondary vocational education diploma. Among them, there will be 350,000 skilled farmers in crop and animal farming and product processing; 450,000 skilled in farm business management and 200,000 skilled in different disciplines and sciences and technologies of importance to rural areas.

The Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) of Pakistan has been running since 1986 the Women’s Secondary Education Project (WSEP) through distance learning - to make secondary education available to women who did not have access to formal high schools after completing middle-level education (up to Grade 8).

Public Financing of Secondary Education – How and How much? Is there and should there be a role for private

providers in expanding secondary education? This was not a serious issue in those countries

which have already achieved high levels of enrollment – they did this at a different time

But in countries which are trying to expand now – in the present day world of WTO and economic liberalisation – discourse on this issue cannot be shut out

Public Financing of Secondary Education - How and How much? The central issue is Not “if public spending on education

has to increase” or “if the State has to take major responsibility for expansion”

There is fast, almost uncontrolled, expansion of self-financing private schools in many developing countries - Poorer the country more serious is the issue

Questions to explore: How to ensure that scarce public resources benefit the

really needy in the expansion process? More important - How to attract private resources to public

education?

Lower Secondary

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India Indonesia Philippines Thailand

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Government-supportedprivate

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Upper Seecondary

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India Indonesia Philippines Thailand

Public Financing of Secondary Education - How and How much? The Indian case is interesting

One, should government supported privately managed schools be the route to achieve private – public partnership and attract private resources for public education system?

Two, there has been a significant increase in participation of Non-Governmental and Corporate sector in promoting primary education – could this be the route for attracting private resources for secondary education?

Old models may not be relevant – need for out-of-the-box thinking

In Conclusion …

Merely looking within the formal school walls is not enough – break the intergenerational spiral of low or no education by reaching out-of-school youth through non-formal education – create a literate environment

We are operating in a new world of ICT which has the potential to change almost every dimension of school provision – demands new way of looking at expansion – not merely building school rooms and appointing teachers

In Conclusion …

Socio-political realities have enormously changed - Children are now Growing up in a Pluralistic World – More than ever before

Expansion should not mean giving more of the same … Capability and right attitude to ‘live together’ in a world underscored by cohabitation of multiple perspectives of religion, culture, language and ideology are critical requirement for everyone

Secondary Education is the right period to imbibe this capacity for learning to live together