THE UPS AND DOWNS OF PRIMARY EDUCATION
An uncertain record of growth During the 1980s, the total number of primary pupils in the world continued to increase; there were 56 million more in 1990 than 10 years before. However, compared to prior decades, the growth rate slowed down.
One region bucked this general trend: East Asia, where a slowdown in the general population growth in countries such as China, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Thailand resulted in 14 million fewer primary school pupils by 1990.
Countries with declining Primary enrolments during 1980-1990
Sub-Saharan Arab States Latin America/ East Asia/ South Asia OECD/Europe
Africa Caribbean Oceania
Angola Lebanon Bahamas China Afghanistan Albania
Liberia Morocco Barbados Rep. of Korea Australia
Madagascar Somalia Chile Singapore Austria
Mozambique Cuba Thailand Belgium
Nigeria Dominica Tonga Bulgaria
Tanzania Dominican Rep. Denmark
Guyana France
Jamaica Germany
Mexico Greece
N. Antilles Hungary
Suriname Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Romania
San Marino
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Yugoslavia
Source: UNESCO Statistical Yearbooks, 1980-1992.
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Other countries also saw a drop in primary enrolments, notably eleven Countries in Latin America and Caribbean, and the majority of the twenty OECD/EUropean countries. In most of these cases, the decline of primary enrolments can be ascribed to population dynamics and reduced numbers of over-age students.
However, the decline in primary enrolments in some other parts of the world is due to other reasons. The harrowing civil wars in Afghanistan, Somalia, Angola, Lebanon, Mozambique and Liberia have taken a heavy toll on primary education and so has the severe economic slump in Countries Such as Nigeria, the United Republic of Tanzania and Madagascar. Moreover, the circumstances of the enrolment drop in certain East European Countries Such as Romania, Albania and ex- Yugoslavia need closer scrutiny.
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The gross enrolment ratios in primary education (GERs, or the proportion of pupils of all ages in primary education to the total official primary school-age population) tell a revealing story about the capacity of school systems.
GERs show that during the last decade, all regions slightly increased their school capacity except for sub-Saharan Africa, where it fell by 3 per cent. But regional averages hide the fact that in far too many developing countries, the capacity for accommodating children in primary school actually diminished in the 1980s, leading experts to call this a "disastrous decade for education". No fewer than eighteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa reported declining GERs throughout the 1980s compared with seven countries in the Arab States, eleven countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and nine in East Asia and South East Asia together.
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However, there are some success stories. Burundi, Senegal, Uganda and Zimbabwe managed to boost their GERs, and Egypt increased its GER by 20 percentage points so that it now can accommodate almost 100 per cent of the school-age population. Furthermore, oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman made considerable strides, as did Yemen, a relatively poor country.
There has also been impressive growth in Latin America, where GERs jumped during the 1980s and now exceed 100 per cent in sixteen countries.
Finally, in the South Asian countries of India, Bangladesh and most notably Iran, the growth of primary school capacity outstripped the growth of the school-age population such that gross enrolment ratios increased by 10-25 percentage points between 1980 and 1990.
Girls `schooling has a positive effect on child survival, family health and nations' economic well-being
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The schooling of girls As study after study shows the powerful positive effect of girls' and womens' schooling on child survival, family health and a nation's economic well-being, it is ironic that the majority of the world's out-of-school children are girls. In most parts of the world, girls are also under-represented at every school level. However, there are signs of improvement: The proportion of girls in primary school worldwide increased from 44 per cent in 1980 to 47 per cent in 1990. Only two regions did not make headway in this area: the Arab States, where the proportion of girls to boys actually dropped from almost 50 per cent in 1980 to only 42 per cent by 1990, and South Asia, where no significant progress was achieved. By contrast, sub-Saharan Africa managed to increase the proportion of girls from 40 per cent in 1980 - the lowest in the world - to 44 per cent in 1990, thereby approaching the world average of 47 per cent.
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