Publication: Is there a Learning Crisis in Punjab?: Initial Data Release from the SABER SD Survey
Loading...
Published
2019-08
ISSN
Date
2021-07-21
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
In 2018, the World Bank released World Development Report which showed that the world is facing a ‘Learning Crisis’. Following up from that report, the Bank has launched the Human Capital Project to mobilize more resources, including for the improvement of learning outcomes. Subsequently, global leaders have been increasingly focused on solving this learning crisis and have renewed attention for Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education. Pakistan is an early adopter of this Human Capital Project, and the new government is taking the lead to address the root causes of the learning crisis. This report aims to help the government with that agenda, by quantifying the extent of the learning crisis, and to highlight the main causes of the crisis. According the World Development Report, the ‘Learning Crisis’ consists of three main elements. The first is that access to schooling is still unequally distributed. While there have been huge efforts to expand schooling, there are still countries (including Pakistan) with millions of children out of school. Children living in regions with violence, children from poorer families and children with physical or mental disabilities are still often excluded. The second element is that even those who are in school are often not learning anything at all. In Malawi and Zambia, for instance, 89 percent of students could not read a single word by the end of Grade 2. In India, that figure is 85 percent. These numbers are important, as children who do not master basic literacy will probably never catch up with the curriculum. In other words, schooling is not necessarily the same as learning. The third element of the learning crisis is that the proximate causes of the learning crisis, low quality teaching, student school readiness, school leadership and school inputs, are not systematically addressed by actors in the system. One of the reasons behind this is that there is no systematic data collection on these factors.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Geven, Koen Martijn. 2019. Is there a Learning Crisis in Punjab?: Initial Data Release from the SABER SD Survey. Systems Approach for Better Education Results;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35978 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Learning Essentials for International Education(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-03-23)The sound of children's voices reciting in unison could be heard from afar, as our mission approached a school in rural Cambodia. Inside a second-grade classroom, students took turns at the blackboard. One pointed with a stick at a list of words written by the teacher, while the rest recited. A colleague approached, wrote on the blackboard the same words in a different order, and asked the children to read. Suddenly, there was silence. Most kids had merely memorized the sequence of the words and could not even identify single letters. This scene is frequent. In the poorer schools of low-income countries, many students remain illiterate for years, until they finally drop out. With some care, the process is observable. Typically the teacher writes on the board some letters or words and asks students to repeat them. The letters may be scribbled, the children often sit at a distance, textbooks may be insufficient, and children may not have anyone at home to help them read. But they do repeat the words in unison, getting cues from a few knowledgeable classmates. The teachers stand by the blackboard, address students at large, and call on the few who perform well. How come this issue has not attracted attention? One reason is that in the middle-class schools of capitals students perform much better. Soon after our rural observations, we observed second graders in a middleclass school of Pnom Penh fluently handling the extremely complex Khmer script. However, the schools of the poor have less time for their students. There is teacher absenteeism, a lack of textbooks to take home, parental inability to make up for school weaknesses, no specific curricular time for reading. The result has been chronic illiteracy, high dropout and high repetition rates. To reduce repetition and maximize enrollments, some donors advise governments to promote students automatically.Publication Strengthening Teacher Capacity in Bihar through ICT : Designing Innovative Solution to Unique Challenges(Washington, DC, 2014-06)Within this context, there are significant opportunities to harness Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in teacher education, especially to deliver pre-service teacher education. Consequently, the Government of Bihar requested the World Bank to provide support in development of distance education curriculum, related syllabi, content, effective delivery mechanisms, appropriate student support systems, and assessment strategies to meet the needs of its untrained teachers. Many other states and countries are facing similar problems, and will need to prepare comprehensive time-bound plans for untrained teachers to acquire the prescribed qualifications (both academic and professional). Thus, experiences in Bihar might provide models for developing an ICT-based teacher education system that can be used as a useful reference point by others facing similar problems. This report outlines these experiences and shares lessons learned through the process to date.Publication Efficient Learning for the Poor : Insights from the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2006)This book integrates research into applications that extend from preschool brain development to the memory of adult educators. In layman's terms, it provides explanations and answers to questions such as: Why do children have to read fast before they can understand what they read? How do health, nutrition, and stimulation influence brain development? Why should students learn basic skills in their maternal language? Is there such a thing as an untrained teacher? What signs in a classroom show whether students are getting a quality education? How must information be presented in class so that students can retain it and use it? What training techniques are most likely to help staff put their learning into use? This book is intended for use by policymakers, donor agency staff, teacher trainers, supervisors, and inspectors, as well as university professors and students.Publication Learning Poverty Updates and Revisions(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-07)The July 2021 release of learning poverty estimates involves several changes to the data underlying the country-level learning poverty figures. This document provides details of the key changes made. Some country-level estimates have changed or become available for the first time due to new data from recent assessments: TIMSS 2019, PASEC 2019, and SEA-PLM 2019. In cases where new assessment data call for a change to the learning poverty estimates, the corresponding enrollment data used for learning poverty calculations have also been updated so that the enrollment year is as close as possible to the assessment year, depending on data availability. In the latest release, country-level estimates of learning poverty are available for 120 countries.Publication Learning in the Face of Adversity(Washington, DC, 2014-10)The goal of this study is to provide a better understanding of how a school system can operate efficiently under adversity. The results of this work will be useful in identifying relevant policies in the Middle East and North Africa region. Palestine refugees are achieving higher-than-average learning outcomes in spite of the adverse circumstances they live under. Their education system the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) operates one of the largest non-governmental school systems in the Middle East. It manages nearly 700 schools, has hired 17,000 staff, educates more than 500,000 refugee students each year, and operates in five areas, including the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. This study examines three: West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan. Contrary to what might be expected from a resource-constrained administration serving refugee students who continually face a multitude of adversities, UNRWA students outperform public schools in the three regions the West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan by a year's worth of learning. This study was undertaken to better understand the reasons for success at UNRWA schools and their positive variation from comparable public schools. Econometric techniques were used to analyze international (TIMSS and Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA) and national learning achievement data. Pedagogical practices and classroom time-on-task were observed using structured methods (Stallings model). Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) tools were used to better understand the policies and implementation strategies for school and teacher management and for monitoring and evaluation. Additionally, qualitative data were collected and analyzed in line with an education resilience conceptual framework to better uncover factors that help students develop the skills to learn despite the adversities they face.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03)Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.