Workshop highlights key role of education in economic development

Yesterday, in Rabat, Morocco, we kicked off an All Children Learning Workshop for the Middle East and North Africa region. Rachid Benmokhtar, Minister of National Education in Morocco, Matthew Lussenhop, Chargé d’ Affaires, U.S. Embassy Rabat, Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Glaoui Abderrahman, Regional Director of the Islamic Development Bank highlighted in their opening remarks the key role that education plays in economic growth and development.

Low learning outcomes in the Middle East and North Africa region

200 million children in primary school in developing countries still struggle to read and even recognize basic words and numbers. This is of particular concern for countries in the the Middle East and North Africa region. In the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) all of the Arabic-speaking countries that took the test scored well below the average of all participating countries. Of the 65 countries who participated in the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), participating countries from the region scored near the bottom in reading ability. These scores indicate that teaching improvements are needed so that children learn to read well in the rich, yet complex, Arabic language.

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Despite the achievements the region has made in access to and completion of primary school, large numbers of children are failing to learn.

• Of the 7 MENA countries that participated in the PIRLS 2011 international assessment of 4th grade reading achievement, only 1 performed above average. Three of the remaining 6 achieved the lowest scores of all participating countries.
• A similar trend was seen on the TIMMS 2011 international assessment math and science skills. None of the ten participating MENA countries achieved above average scores and, in fact, were the ten lowest performers of all participating countries.
• Nearly 50 % of grade 2 children in 11 districts in Upper Egypt were unable to read a single word correctly.
• In Jordan, children are struggling with conceptual math tasks, with just over 50 % of children able to solve two-digit addition problems and only 32 % able to solve two-digit subtraction problems. In one region of Morocco, 20 % of grade 2 students could not solve basic addition problems and 44 % could not solve basic subtraction problems (such as 4+2; 4-2).

Countries learning from each other

Throughout the week, delegations from Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Sudan, and Yemen will develop country action plans with clear goals for initiating or expanding successful reading and numeracy initiatives at the country level. They will also develop working relationships with their counterparts across the region to share experiences and innovative solutions for continued dialogue and advocacy for making learning a reality for all children. The workshop will provide an opportunity for country teams (including representatives from Ministries of Education, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, research institutions, and development partners) from the region to engage with technical experts, discuss country experiences, and learn from other countries. Working sessions include areas such as textbooks and learning materials, teacher preparation, curriculum, and evaluation.

The workshop is co-hosted by the Global Partnership for Education, Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Islamic Development Bank, ISESCO, BMZ, USAID.