Education Reform in Mozambique Lessons and Challenges

by Fox, Louise; Santibañez, Lucrecia; Nguyen, Vy; André, Pierre

• ISBN13: 9780821389751
• ISBN10: 0821389750
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-05-10
• Publisher: World Bank Publications

Summary

Coming out of civil war, Mozambique had an enormous education deficit. In 199, five years after the peace treaty, 80 percent of the labor force reported to have no education at all, and school enrollment outside the large cities was miserable. Since then, Mozambique has come a long way in improving access to lower and upper primary through sustained investments in education infrastructure and introduction of important reforms. The primary education reform programs implemented in 2004, combined with a continuing program of school construction and teacher training, resulted in a 70% increase in enrollment in EP1 over 4 years with the highest gains for the poorest and most vulnerable children. Yet there was only a slight increase in student/teacher ratios. How did Mozambique do this, and what are the lessons going foward? The most important part of the reform appears to be the removal of the national school fee for primary level and the provision of free textbooks. These reforms provided the boost that poorer households needed to get their children in school. Continued investments in school construction helped as well. However, despite these efforts, there is still an education deficit. In 2008, over 1 million children who should be attending primary school were not. Over half of the children who began grade 1 in 2000 did not complete grade 7 by 2008. One reason is that school costs remain high, especially for grades 6 and above (EP2+). And quality is still not adequate in many schools. As a result, the transformation of the labor force is slow, as over half of the females who entered the labor force in the decade since 1997 did not even complete EP1.Analysis of employment and livelihood opportunities indicates that the transition out of subsistence agriculture requires primary education. This means that to achieve inclusive growth, the key strategic objective of the education system needs to be ensuring that as many children as possible start and finish primary school with competency in the basic subjects, as well as the skills to allow them to find productive economic activities and make these activities payThis book is aimed at policy makers in the education field. .

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
About the Authors	p. xiii
Abbreviations	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
The Education Challenge	p. 2
Organization of This Report	p. 6
Notes	p. 7
References	p. 7
Conceptual Framework and Data	p. 9
Education Supply and Demand	p. 10
Data and Sources	p. 12
References	p. 14
Analysis of the Effects of the 2004-05 Reforms: Outputs and Outcomes	p. 15
Primary Education	p. 15
Costs Affect Access	p. 18
2004 Reforms	p. 20
Effects of Late Entry, Long Completion Times	p. 21
Vulnerable Groups: Orphans	p. 24
Completion Rates	p. 27
Secondary Education	p. 32
Private Sector Education Is Growing	p. 36
Quality at Issue	p. 37
Notes	p. 39
References	p. 40
The Effects of the Primary Reforms: Econometric Analysis	p. 41
References	p. 44
Does Education Matter for Poverty Reduction? A Livelihoods Perspective	p. 45
Household Enterprises and Poverty Reduction	p. 47
Education Needs of the Labor Force	p. 48
Notes	p. 51
References	p. 51
Investing in Education: Tough Choices Ahead	p. 53
Policy Tradeoffs and the General Question of Access	p. 54
Emphasize Primary or Secondary?	p. 58
Policy Options for Mozambique	p. 59
Education in Mozambique: A Bright Future	p. 68
Notes	p. 70
References	p. 71
Appendixes	p. 73
Additional Tables from the Analysis	p. 75
Primary Education: Enrollment Rates and Factors Affecting Enrollment	p. 75
Secondary Education: Enrollment Rates and School Expenditures	p. 82
Simulation of Enrollment Rate Scenarios	p. 89
Main Simulation	p. 89
Standard Errors	p. 90
Simulation with Double Transition Rates	p. 90
Econometric Estimation of the Program Effect	p. 93
The Basic Model: Effect of the Program for the Exposed Group	p. 93
The Extended Model: Effect of the Program for Each Age	p. 97
Other Determinants of Enrollment	p. 101
Notes	p. 101
References	p. 101
Boxes
Mozambique At a Glance	p. 2
Map of Provinces in Mozambique	p. 3
Education System in Mozambique	p. 4
The "Malleable" Nature of Education Supply	p. 11
Description of Survey Data Used in the Analysis	p. 13
Difficulties of Assessing Reform Impact	p. 42
Household Enterprises	p. 47
Two Common Tradeoffs in Education Policy	p. 60
Would Early Childhood Development (ECD) Programs in Mozambique Get Children to Start School on Time?	p. 62
Conditional Cash Transfers in Mozambique: A Simulation Exercise	p. 64
"Rules of Thumb" Financial Training Can Improve Business Management for Household and Micro Entrepreneurs	p. 69
Figures
Gross Enrollment Rates in Primary Schools, 1997, 2003, 2008	p. 16
Age-Relevant Enrollment Rate by Consumption Quintile, 2008	p. 17
Comparison of Annual Per Student Expenditures on Obligatory Contributions (fees] in EP1, 2003 and 2008 (constant 2008 prices)	p. 19
Comparison of Annual Per Student Expenditures on Obligatory Contributions (fees) in EP2, 2003 and 2008 (constant 2008 prices)	p. 20
Net Enrollment Rates in Primary Schools, 1997, 2003, 2008	p. 22
Children Attending EP1 and EP2 Schools by Age, 2003 and 2008	p. 23
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