Perkins, GillianYemtsov, Ruslan2013-06-132013-06-132001-030-8213-4927-9https://hdl.handle.net/10986/13891Before the breakup of the Soviet Union, Armenia had a highly developed and expensive education system, matching the needs of the command economy. The country is now facing a challenge to sustain universal coverage and performance standards in primary-secondary education with a small fraction of the former budget, while reorienting the system to the needs of a democratic society and market economy. The purposes of this paper are to clarify the case for rationalization by quantifying the future cost implications and affordability of various educational policy options, and to identify further measures needed in Armenia to promote restructuring and to secure adequate financing of the education system over the medium term. The paper examines recent evolution of the structure of inputs and expenditure to general education in Armenia in comparison with international norms and practice, and outlines various approaches that have been proposed for restructuring the system in the context of the government's sectoral reform strategy. Conclusions are drawn concerning the depth of rationalization and the financing strategy that would be needed to sustain universal access and quality of the system over the medium term. Finally, some of the practical and institutional obstacles to actually implementing rationalization are identified, and measures are proposed to help overcome these constraints.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOACHIEVEMENTADAPTABILITYADDITIONAL FUNDSAGE GROUPAGEDAIRANNUAL COSTSBASIC EDUCATIONBASIC LITERACYCALLCLASS SIZECLASS SIZESCLASSROOMSCOMPARATIVE ASSESSMENTCOMPOSITIONCONSTITUTIONAL COMMITMENTCURRICULACURRICULUMCURRICULUMCURRICULUM REFORMDECENTRALIZATIONDROP-OUT RATESECOLOGYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC TRANSITIONEDUCATION BUDGETEDUCATION OUTCOMESEDUCATION POLICYEDUCATION PROJECTSEDUCATION REFORMEDUCATION SECTOREDUCATION SERVICESEDUCATION SYSTEMEDUCATION SYSTEMSEMIGRATIONEMPLOYMENTENROLMENT RATESHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHUMAN DEVELOPMENTIMMIGRATIONINCOME LEVELSINNOVATIONINTERNATIONAL STANDARDSLABOR MARKETLEADERSHIPLEARNINGLEARNING ACHIEVEMENTLEARNING OUTCOMESLOCAL AUTHORITIESLOCAL COMMUNITIESMINISTRIES OF FINANCEMOTIVATIONNATIONAL EDUCATIONPAPERSPARENTSPARITYPOLICY DEVELOPMENTPOVERTY REDUCTIONPRIMARY SCHOOLSPRINTINGPUBLIC EXPENDITUREPUBLIC FUNDINGPUBLIC SCHOOLSPUPILSQUALIFIED TEACHERSQUALITY EDUCATIONQUALITY OF EDUCATIONREDUNDANCYREGIONAL EDUCATIONSAFETYSCHOOLSCHOOL BUILDINGSSCHOOL LEAVERSSCHOOLINGSECONDARY EDUCATIONSECONDARY LEVELSECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUMSMALL SCHOOLSSOCIAL COHESIONSOCIAL DEVELOPMENTSOCIAL POLICYSTANDARDSTEACHERTEACHERSTEACHERS SALARIESTEACHINGTEACHING MATERIALSTEACHING PERFORMANCETEACHING PERSONNELTEACHING STAFFTEXTBOOKSTEXTBOOKSUNIVERSAL ACCESSVOCATIONAL EDUCATIONSTUDENT TEACHER RATIOEDUCATION FOR ALLWorld Bank10.1596/0-8213-4927-9