Country studies on out-of-school children

The reforms and efforts that brought basic education in Turkey to its current state, both in terms of access and quality, present valuable lessons for policy makers both in Turkey and in other countries. Today, the ratio of children who successfully complete basic education today is higher than it has ever been in the history of the country. Similarly, the ratio of children who benefit from pre-primary education has never been this high. A significant majority of the children who complete their basic education continue on to high schools. These remarkable strides are fruits of the continuous efforts of the Ministry of National Education in cooperation with UNICEF and other stakeholders. 

The findings of the study are intended to inform education polices and strategies and on-going sector reforms that seek to engender inclusive and equitable programmes towards accelerating progress in achieving universal basic education in Liberia. Specifically, the findings derived from the study will be used in strategizing, designing and implementing policy and programmatic interventions to increase access of education to OOSC.

The study shows that the attainment of EFA and the MDGs in Nigeria by the year 2015 is threatened by its huge OOSC burden. The threat is compounded by the existence of two distinct education access zones in the country, with the northern states trailing behind the southern states. Gender is still an issue, with a poor level of girls’ participation particularly in the northern states, while adolescent boys’ disaffection with schooling is a strong challenge in the south east zone. Rural areas are disadvantaged almost everywhere. All over the country, wealth and socio-economic status confers a definite advantage in terms of enrolment, attendance and completion. There has been quite an impressive list of initiatives to address the demand and supply side barriers and bottlenecks impeding the attainment of EFA and the MDGs in the country, but these have yielded mixed results. The initiatives are being carried out by a wide variety of agencies, with little coordination among them and so very little synergy dividend.

This report is prepared for the Kyrgyz Republic as part of the Global Out-of-School Children Initiative (OOSCI). UNICEF and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) launched a Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children at the beginning of 2010 with a goal to introduce a more systematic approach to address the problem of out-of-school children and guide concrete education sector reforms in this regard.

Education is a right of every child, however, beyond the statement, making it effective implies the interaction of a complex set of public policy measures that, from a comprehensive approach, aim to reduce educational exclusion.

Country profile report highlighting key data and statistics on attendance by age, schooling pathways and main factors contributing to school exclusion using a number of recent surveys. Source: Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA 2009) – Estimated population (UIS 2009).

Country profile report highlighting key data and statistics on attendance by age, schooling pathways and main factors contributing to school exclusion using a number of recent surveys. Source: Demographic and Health Survey (DHS 2009) - Estimated population (UIS 2009)

Country profile report highlighting key data and statistics on attendance by age, schooling pathways and main factors contributing to school exclusion using a number of recent surveys. Source: Demographic and Health Survey (DHS 2008) - Estimated population (UIS 2008).

Country profile report highlighting key data and statistics on attendance by age, schooling pathways and main factors contributing to school exclusion using a number of recent surveys. Source: Household Living Standards Survey (HLSS 2008) - Estimated population (UIS 2008).

Country profile report highlighting key data and statistics on attendance by age, schooling pathways and main factors contributing to school exclusion using a number of recent surveys. Source : Demographic and Health Survey (DHS 2008) – Estimated population (UIS 2008).

Country profile report highlighting key data and statistics on attendance by age, schooling pathways and main factors contributing to school exclusion using a number of recent surveys. Source : Demographic and Health Survey (DHS 2008) - Estimated population (UIS 2008).

Country profile report highlighting key data and statistics on attendance by age, schooling pathways and main factors contributing to school exclusion using a number of recent surveys. Source: Budget Consumption Survey (BCS 2008) – Estimated population (UIS 2008)