Publication: The Adequacy of Public Expenditure on Education and the Needs Post-COVID-19: April 2023
Loading...
Date
2023-11-15
ISSN
Published
2023-11-15
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Education needs to recover the space it lost in national budgets because of COVID-19. Many LICs and LMICs decreased the prioritization of education spending with the onset of COVID-19. Half of these countries reduced their annual spending on education in 2020, compared to 28 percent in 2019. Emerging evidence suggests that after falling in 2020, the share of education in national budgets of LICs and MICs recovered in 2021 but by 2022 it remained below its 2019 pre-pandemic level. Meanwhile, many HICs protected education shares over that period and some even increased resources specifically for learning recovery. Education financing needs to expand to ensure sufficient per-capita spending to meet national education goals. Given variation across countries, common international benchmarks on education spending should not be used deterministically to assess the adequacy of financing. Spending per school-age child, the most accurate indicator of financing adequacy, averages US53 dollars in LICs, US318 dollars in LMICs, US980 dollars in UMICs and US7,800 dollars in HICs. These stark differences surpass differences in countries’ living standards and costs of delivering education services. Many LICs and LMICs that meet common international benchmarks on education spending (such as 4-6 percent of GDP or 15-20 percent of public budgets) still spend very little per school-age child due to their small state budgets and large young populations.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2023. The Adequacy of Public Expenditure on Education and the Needs Post-COVID-19: April 2023. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40619 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Republic of Madagascar : Mitigating the Impact of the Crisis on Education(Washington, DC, 2013-09)This report reviews the tools and mechanisms which could contribute to offsetting the negative effects of the current crisis on primary school outcomes in Madagascar. In a context of rapid deterioration of key education indicators, including enrollment and survival, key education stakeholders are faced with the challenging task of identifying tools and mechanisms that may contribute to rapidly restoring access to education. While a variety of programs have been implemented in the past, limited evidence exists on their potential impact on key factors influencing school outcomes. In addition, given the limited domestic and international resources at the disposal of policy-makers, priorities need to be established that will focus on the most urgent and important aspects of the current situation. This report aims at providing key stakeholders in the sector with information on existing tools and mechanisms that could potentially be used to put a halt to the rapid decline of the sectors. The analysis also identifies interventions with a strong potential to offset the effects of the crisis over the short and medium term.Publication Using Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys to Monitor Projects and Small-Scale Programs : A Guidebook(World Bank, 2010)The goal of this guidebook is to serve as a starting point for civil society organizations, as well as Bank teams interested in conducting Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys, both on a small and larger scale. It is designed to lead a research team from idea inception to results dissemination, while emphasizing the importance of utilizing evidence to influence policy, regardless of whether it is on a macro or micro-level. Though the World Bank has been at the forefront of efforts to measure the effectiveness of service delivery, it is hoped that Bank teams and civil society alike will take the research one step further and empower citizen users to keep service providers accountable through information dissemination and citizen engagement efforts.Publication Nepal : Priorities and Strategies for Education Reform(Washington, DC, 2001-07-18)The modern education system in Nepal is one of the youngest in the world and operates within a political democracy that was established only in 1991. While parts of the system have been well designed and are implemented effectively, others remain in an embryonic stage and are only partly effective. This report identifies a number of key constraints which currently are hindering the development of the system and suggests priorities and strategies for organizing and managing the required changes. Six aspects of the current status are highlighted: Levels of literacy and educational attainment remain low. While access to all levels of the education system has increased considerably, participation remains unequal across income and social groups and the benefits of public subsidies are inequitably distributed. The quality of education is low. High repetition and dropout rates throughout the system are wasting valuable resources. The system does not serve the labor market well. This report recommends the government to: ensure within the coming decade that all children enroll in and complete a five year primary education while developing the structures and processes for expanding a strengthened basic cycle of schooling for eight years, and expanding levels of adult literacy; develop an integrated cycle of secondary education; improve the quality of university education and tertiary education; develop an comprehensive teacher management system; and decentralize the system.Publication Basic Education Public Expenditure Review Phase II : School Based Management in the Philippines, An Empirical Investigation(Washington, DC, 2013-06-10)The main objective of this study is to provide a rigorous empirical understanding about the current status of School Based Management (SBM) and the relationship between SBM and learning outcomes in the Philippines with a view to identifying the pathways to improving SBM implementation for improved student achievement. The study makes three potentially important contributions to the policy analysis in support of the implementation of Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA) in general and SBM in particular; (i) construction of the Basic Education Information System - National Achievement Test BEIS-NAT Panel Database for 2005-2010; (ii) methodology for policy analysis of SBM; and (iii) Findings from analysis of SBM. These studies have some findings; the findings are grouped into four categories: (a) SBM implementation, (b) resource allocation, (c) principal professional development, and (d) data and information management. Needless to say, these issues are inevitably interrelated so it is important for us to integrate the findings to derive policy implications.Publication Niger - Public Expenditure Tracking Survey : Education and Health - Survey Questionnaire(World Bank, 2009-11-18)The objective of the first Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) for Niger is to increase understanding of the link between public spending and service delivery at the facility level in order to contribute to improving the effectiveness and accountability in the use of public funds. Specifically, this PETS focuses on identifying the discrepancies, inefficiencies and delays in public spending execution for selected expenditures in the education and health sectors. The medium to long term goal of these PETS is to launch a process aimed at continuous improvements in public expenditure efficiency and equity by focusing on capacity building in this area in the ministries of education and health and in the Institute of National Statistics (INS). The main challenge faced by a tracking survey in a country like Niger is the availability and accuracy of records keeping. The Niger PETS highlights a general lack of systematic information recording. The quality of records in the education sector is low and data often incomplete. This is especially a problem when a higher level agency distributes resources to lower level agencies. The absence of downstream records indicates a lack of systems for downward accountability and can facilitate the diversion of resources. This compares unfavorably with a country such as Ghana, where the quality of record is good between the central agency and district offices.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication The Journey Ahead(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31)The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.Publication Economic Recovery(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04-06)World Bank Group President David Malpass spoke about the world facing major challenges, including COVID, climate change, rising poverty and inequality and growing fragility and violence in many countries. He highlighted vaccines, working closely with Gavi, WHO, and UNICEF, the World Bank has conducted over one hundred capacity assessments, many even more before vaccines were available. The World Bank Group worked to achieve a debt service suspension initiative and increased transparency in debt contracts at developing countries. The World Bank Group is finalizing a new climate change action plan, which includes a big step up in financing, building on their record climate financing over the past two years. He noted big challenges to bring all together to achieve GRID: green, resilient, and inclusive development. Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, mentioned focusing on vulnerable people during the pandemic. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, focused on giving everyone a fair shot during a sustainable recovery. All three commented on the importance of tackling climate change.Publication South Asia Development Update, April 2024: Jobs for Resilience(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-04-02)South Asia is expected to continue to be the fastest-growing emerging market and developing economy (EMDE) region over the next two years. This is largely thanks to robust growth in India, but growth is also expected to pick up in most other South Asian economies. However, growth in the near-term is more reliant on the public sector than elsewhere, whereas private investment, in particular, continues to be weak. Efforts to rein in elevated debt, borrowing costs, and fiscal deficits may eventually weigh on growth and limit governments' ability to respond to increasingly frequent climate shocks. Yet, the provision of public goods is among the most effective strategies for climate adaptation. This is especially the case for households and farms, which tend to rely on shifting their efforts to non-agricultural jobs. These strategies are less effective forms of climate adaptation, in part because opportunities to move out of agriculture are limited by the region’s below-average employment ratios in the non-agricultural sector and for women. Because employment growth is falling short of working-age population growth, the region fails to fully capitalize on its demographic dividend. Vibrant, competitive firms are key to unlocking the demographic dividend, robust private investment, and workers’ ability to move out of agriculture. A range of policies could spur firm growth, including improved business climates and institutions, the removal of financial sector restrictions, and greater openness to trade and capital flows.Publication Media and Messages for Nutrition and Health(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06)The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has experienced rapid and significant economic growth over the past decade. However, poor nutritional outcomes remain a concern. Rates of childhood undernutrition are particularly high in remote, rural, and upland areas. Media have the potential to play an important role in shaping health and nutrition–related behaviors and practices as well as in promoting sociocultural and economic development that might contribute to improved nutritional outcomes. This report presents the results of a media audit (MA) that was conducted to inform the development and production of mass media advocacy and communication strategies and materials with a focus on maternal and child health and nutrition that would reach the most people from the poorest communities in northern Lao PDR. Making more people aware of useful information, essential services and products and influencing them to use these effectively is the ultimate goal of mass media campaigns, and the MA measures the potential effectiveness of media efforts to reach this goal. The effectiveness of communication channels to deliver health and nutrition messages to target beneficiaries to ensure maximum reach and uptake can be viewed in terms of preferences, satisfaction, and trust. Overall, the four most accessed media channels for receiving information among communities in the study areas were village announcements, mobile phones, television, and out-of-home (OOH) media. Of the accessed media channels, the top three most preferred channels were village announcements (40 percent), television (26 percent), and mobile phones (19 percent). In terms of trust, village announcements were the most trusted source of information (64 percent), followed by mobile phones (14 percent) and television (11 percent). Hence of all the media channels, village announcements are the most preferred, have the most satisfied users, and are the most trusted source of information in study communities from four provinces in Lao PDR with some of the highest burden of childhood undernutrition.Publication Remarks at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-12)World Bank Group President David Malpass discussed biodiversity and climate change being closely interlinked, with terrestrial and marine ecosystems serving as critically important carbon sinks. At the same time climate change acts as a direct driver of biodiversity and ecosystem services loss. The World Bank has financed biodiversity conservation around the world, including over 116 million hectares of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas, 10 million hectares of Terrestrial Protected Areas, and over 300 protected habitats, biological buffer zones and reserves. The COVID pandemic, biodiversity loss, climate change are all reminders of how connected we are. The recovery from this pandemic is an opportunity to put in place more effective policies, institutions, and resources to address biodiversity loss.