South Asia Regional Report

1. South Asia Regional Report Reporting period: July to December, 2008 UNGEI GAC Meeting, Paris, November 2008

2. South Asia Regional Overview: Progress • All countries show increased GPIs for available indicators between 1999 and 2005. Specifically: • GPIs for survival and transition are high in parts of Pakistan e.g., Punjab • Nepal is close to gender parity in enrollment in primary schooling • Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have achieved gender parity in primary and secondary schools • Maldives has achieved gender parity in primary schooling, on track for secondary schooling • Bhutan has seen a steady increase in girls’ enrollment • Afghanistan has seen a surge in school enrolment for all children, including girls • Effective ECCE education initiatives in India encourage greater participation of girls at the upper primary level • Some good practices include the female stipend project in Bangladesh, mid-meal scheme in India and the mobility support for female teachers in Pakistan

4. Regional Overview • In 2005, 79 girls enrolled for every 100 boys in South Asia • In 2005, 17 million children were out of school in South and West Asia, 66% among whom were girls • Gender disparity has widened in favour of girls in some parts of the region • There are disparities across and within countries • School age population will continue to increase in South Asia as a whole until 2050, in most countries

5. Percentage of Out of school females Sri Lanka Pakistan Nepal Maldives India Bhutan Bangladesh Afghanistan 2005 0 20 40 60 80 100 1999 Out of School Girls in South Asia Source: GMR , Bangladesh data based on nat’l estimates of 2004 data presented in 2005, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka on UIS estimates.

7. Survival Rate to Grade 5

9. Transition from Primary to Secondary Education

10. Net Attendance Ratio of Girls to Boys in Secondary Education

11. Percentage of Female Teachers

12. South Asia Regional Overview • Analysis • GPIs do not tell the whole story • Access an issue in and within countries (esp. Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan, where security issues add an added barrier) and India • Parity to equity and equality to address • Overall participation: survival, completion, transition to secondary and tertiary education (as shown in the earlier graphs) • Equity in education w/ disparities in countries which have achieved parity (e.g., Bangladesh) • Gender Equality in education • Too few female teachers and absenteeism • Limited qualitative data pertaining to gender equality, equity and quality issues in education (the Nepal study is an exception) to complement quantitative studies which do not tell the full story and better explain the numbers • How do we assess whether education in south Asia is fulfilling its transformative role? • Does the focus on female teachers re-enforce gender stereotypes?

13. The Regional Partnership (July to December 2008) • Supported country partnerships through: • Evidence based knowledge (additions to the issues paper series) • Technical assistance in partnership consultations in Bangladesh and Nepal • Young champions for Education Refresher Training • Training Manual for country level roll-outs of the Young Champions model underway • India partnership consultation planned for November 2008 and February 2009

15. The Country Partnerships(July to December) • The Nepal partnership has made visible progress as a result of the greater awareness about the importance of girls’ education following the June UNGEI GAC meeting • A recent event on education and gender equity was organised by the Nepal UNGEI co-chairs MOE and UNICEF, involved nearly 200 female parliamentarians, was addressed by the finance minister and resulted in a written commitment to girls’ education signed by 197 female parliamentarians • Activities planned for this year include training of the gender focal points and women’s cells of teacher unions and continued involvement of female parliamentarians as advocates for girl’s education

16. The Country Partnerships (July to December) • The Bangladesh partnership held a consultation meeting to agree on the positioning of UNGEI, composition of the partnership and the next steps to take the partnership forward • It was agreed that, In spite of achievements of gender parity at primary and secondary level, more work needs to be done to make education for all children, both equal as well as equitable • The partnership would contribute to MDG 2 and 3, be multi-sectoral in its composition, and co-chaired by the government • The partnership would approach education as a continuum, starting from early childhood development to primary though secondary school, secondary to work and tertiary, and be the only such partnership in the country

17. The Young Champions • Active in 5 countries • In the process of expansion in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In the Maldives, champions raise awareness about and focus on the link between education and substance/drug abuse • Radios continue to play a key role in countries where movement is restricted (e.g., nationwide radio broadcast on hand-washing facilitated by the Afghan young champions on global hand-washing day • Young champions training manual to be contextualized and adapted by countries for country level roll-outs

19. Thank you