The State of Global Education
It's nice to begin the new year with a promising people-management trend: taken as a whole, the global population is becoming much better educated.
One indicator of this trend is that, among the countries participating in the World Education Indicators (WEI) program, younger adults have generally completed more years of education than their elders. In fact, most WEI-participating countries – which include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Paraguay, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uruguay and Zimbabwe – have effectively achieved universal primary education.
What's more, with the exceptions of India, Indonesia and Paraguay, the completion of lower secondary education (what might be termed "middle school" in the U.S.) has become a reality for the majority of young people in WEI countries. For example, in Chile, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, more than three quarters of school-age citizens have completed lower secondary education.
But there's still plenty of room for educational progress around the world. After all, the completion of higher levels of education is less common. When compared with the upper secondary graduation rates (roughly equivalent to U.S. "high school" graduation rates) of wealthier industrialized nations, the rates among WEI countries are comparatively low. Furthermore, despite global educational gains, there are still an estimated 130 million children of primary school age around the world who do not have access to basic education, notes the International Labour Organization (ILO). Millions more children, predominantly in developing countries, never reach grade five, which is considered a standard benchmark of minimal learning achievement. "Close to one-sixth of the world's population is unable to read and write," states a recent ILO report.
The gender gap in education also remains a serious global problem. Nearly two thirds of the primary-school-age children around the globe who do not have access to basic education are girls, reports the ILO. Even when girls are allowed to attend school, they are not given the same access to education as boys. In South Asia, for example, an average six-year-old girl can expect to spend six years in school – three years less than a six-year-old boy. Nonetheless, some progress has been made in recent years. In the countries participating in the WEI program, with the exception of Zimbabwe, gender differences in educational attainment levels are decreasing across successive younger generations and, in some cases, have been eliminated.
Meanwhile, many of the world's most developed nations are attempting to reform their education systems to better meet the demands of the 21st century. Developing partnerships between the public and private sectors is a growing strategy. One good source of information about such partnerships comes from the National Association of Manufacturers. It reports, for example, that Agilent Technologies' "Inspiring Minds" K-12 education program is aimed at improving student achievement in science and math and at encouraging technical fields of study among young women and other groups underrepresented in the technology industry. Not only has the company donated equipment and cash to K-12 schools, it has forged a personnel policy that permits employees to take up to one hour per week, or four hours a month, of paid time off for volunteering in programs sponsored by Agilent.
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For a look at what major corporations are doing to develop partnerships with schools in the U.S., please see
http://www.nam.org/secondary.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=507
For more findings from the World Education Indicators program, please see
http://www.oecd.org/media/publish/pb00-03a.htm
For more information on international education trends, see
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2000/11.htm
One indicator of this trend is that, among the countries participating in the World Education Indicators (WEI) program, younger adults have generally completed more years of education than their elders. In fact, most WEI-participating countries – which include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Paraguay, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uruguay and Zimbabwe – have effectively achieved universal primary education.
What's more, with the exceptions of India, Indonesia and Paraguay, the completion of lower secondary education (what might be termed "middle school" in the U.S.) has become a reality for the majority of young people in WEI countries. For example, in Chile, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, more than three quarters of school-age citizens have completed lower secondary education.
But there's still plenty of room for educational progress around the world. After all, the completion of higher levels of education is less common. When compared with the upper secondary graduation rates (roughly equivalent to U.S. "high school" graduation rates) of wealthier industrialized nations, the rates among WEI countries are comparatively low. Furthermore, despite global educational gains, there are still an estimated 130 million children of primary school age around the world who do not have access to basic education, notes the International Labour Organization (ILO). Millions more children, predominantly in developing countries, never reach grade five, which is considered a standard benchmark of minimal learning achievement. "Close to one-sixth of the world's population is unable to read and write," states a recent ILO report.
The gender gap in education also remains a serious global problem. Nearly two thirds of the primary-school-age children around the globe who do not have access to basic education are girls, reports the ILO. Even when girls are allowed to attend school, they are not given the same access to education as boys. In South Asia, for example, an average six-year-old girl can expect to spend six years in school – three years less than a six-year-old boy. Nonetheless, some progress has been made in recent years. In the countries participating in the WEI program, with the exception of Zimbabwe, gender differences in educational attainment levels are decreasing across successive younger generations and, in some cases, have been eliminated.
Meanwhile, many of the world's most developed nations are attempting to reform their education systems to better meet the demands of the 21st century. Developing partnerships between the public and private sectors is a growing strategy. One good source of information about such partnerships comes from the National Association of Manufacturers. It reports, for example, that Agilent Technologies' "Inspiring Minds" K-12 education program is aimed at improving student achievement in science and math and at encouraging technical fields of study among young women and other groups underrepresented in the technology industry. Not only has the company donated equipment and cash to K-12 schools, it has forged a personnel policy that permits employees to take up to one hour per week, or four hours a month, of paid time off for volunteering in programs sponsored by Agilent.
====================================================
For a look at what major corporations are doing to develop partnerships with schools in the U.S., please see
http://www.nam.org/secondary.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=507
For more findings from the World Education Indicators program, please see
http://www.oecd.org/media/publish/pb00-03a.htm
For more information on international education trends, see
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2000/11.htm