Primary

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Nepal is estimated at 7.1 percent in FY2019, driven mainly by the service and agriculture sectors. The service sector is likely to grow by 7.5 percent due to a boost in the retail, hotel, and restaurant subsectors, driven by an uptick in tourist arrivals and remittance-fueled private consumption. Agriculture is estimated to grow by 5 percent in FY2019, well above its 30-year average of 3.1 percent, due to good monsoons, increased commercialization, availability of fertilizers and seeds, and improved irrigation facilities.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the youngest population of any region of the world, and that growing working-age population represents a major opportunity to reduce poverty and increase shared prosperity. But the region’s workforce is the least skilled in the world, constraining economic prospects. Despite economic growth, declining poverty, and investments in skills-building, too many students in too many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are not acquiring the foundational skills they need to thrive and prosper in an increasingly competitive global economy.

The objective of this report is to support evidence-based decision making for refugee education in Ethiopia. This study was designed to inform existing and pipeline projects of the Government of Ethiopia, the World Bank, and key development partners, and to provide help with long-term engagement of the World Bank on education in Ethiopia. The research questions for this study, hence, emerge from the knowledge gaps identified by the project teams and other relevant development partners.

Extra-curricular activities (ECA) are instrumental in the acquisition of twenty-first-century skills, which include both intra-and inter-personal skills. Now that basic skills of reading and writing in early grades are taken for granted in many parts of the world, twenty-first-century skills are becoming more important. With robots and artificial intelligence taking on ever greater presence in society, education has to go much beyond the provision of knowledge and basic skills.

There is a learning crisis in Mozambique, with less than half of fourth grade students being able to identify basic words, and less than 1 in 5 reading a paragraph in Portuguese (SDI 2018). Among the factors that are associated with low levels of learning, there is evidence of low instructional dosage (2hr and 5 mins per day), low teacher content knowledge and weak teaching practices in the classroom (Bold et al, 2017; SDI 2018). In this context investing in strengthening teachers’ knowledge and skills is crucial.

This report summarizes the results of an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) conducted in Kiribati from September 21 to October 27, 2016. With funding from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the World Bank and Education Technology for Development (Et4d) carried out the assessment in collaboration with the Kiribati Ministry of Education (MOE). The overall purpose of the EGRA was to inform education policymakers of students’ basic reading skills in years 1-3 of primary school and to identify factors that ontribute to reading development in Kiribati.

This report summarizes the results of an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) conducted in Tuvalu from September 21 and October 27, 2016. With funding from the Global Partnership for Education, the World Bank and Education Technology for Development (Et4d) carried out the assessment in collaboration with the Tuvaluan Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS). The overall purpose of the EGRA was to inform education policymakers of students’ basic reading skills in years 1-3 of primary school and to identify factors that contribute to language development in Tuvalu.

Investing in human capital is essential if Tanzania is to develop economically. Reduce poverty and achieve the aspirations articulated in Development Vision 2025. This economic update discusses where Tanzania stands in terms of its investments in human capital. The analysis is part of the World Bank Human Capital Project (HCP). It relies on both the Human Capital Index (HCI) and data on human capital wealth (HCW). One HCP aim is to measure how much social sectors, among them health and nutrition, education, social protection, and labor, contribute to worker productivity.

Bangladesh has achieved near universal access to primary education and gender equity at the primary and secondary school enrolments. Yet, many school-aged children, from the poorest families, either do not enrol in or discontinue school, due to poverty. Following the government’s vision of education for all, the second reaching out-of-school children (ROSC II) project provides a second-chance education to out-of-school children in targeted rural upazilas (sub-districts) and urban slums.

This report provides updated analysis on the current distribution of resources in preuniversityeducation and identifies directions for further policy analysis, but it does not provide comprehensive policy recommendations. This report provides updated available analysis on sector priorities, demographic trends, coverage, system performance and education outcomes, with a focus on the current distribution of resources in pre-university education in selected entities and cantons.