Page 67 - Education for Development:George Psacharopoulos University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
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Education for Development: What Policies?c3






                   Secondary education


                       With progress made in primary education coverage, many countries shifted

                   attention to secondary education. Yet, there are about 70 million children
                   without access to it, most of whom in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (World
                   Bank, 2014).


                   Early school leaving


                       Setting never-fulfilled education targets is not only a phenomenon in
                   developing countries. In 2000, the European Union set a goal to reduce

                   secondary education dropouts to no more than 10% by 2010 (European
                   Commission, 2006. Yet, by the stipulated 2010 target year, 16% of males were
                   leaving school early in the European Union. So the target was shifted to 2020.
                       Given the latest data on secondary school dropouts, this target is likely

                   to be missed again. The highest incidence of secondary school dropouts are
                   recorded in Malta (19.6%), Spain (19.0%) and Romania (18.5%).


                   Learning


                       Beyond enrollment and graduation, another objective of education policy is
                   to ensure students actually learn the subject matter.
                       The World Bank (2011) issued its education strategy for 2020 pledging

                   learning for all, meaning that “all students nacquire the knowledge and skills
                   they need to live happy, productive lives”. Although the target year of this noble
                   goal is two years away, one wonders how it would be achieved given the huge

                   gaps in educational achievement documented in the most recent PISA data
                   (OECD, 2018).
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