Currently, many donors channel most of their aid for education to achieving the two education Millennium Development Goals. However, a more balanced approach is needed, to reflect the further benefits of post-basic education and training.

Post-basic education and training (PBET) is not mentioned in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and secondary education is mentioned only in relation to gender equality. The MDGs emphasise primary or basic education and a simplistic interpretation of this could lead to a policy of diverting education funds away from PBET towards basic education – which has been the case for some donors.

Previously, studies reported that primary education shows the best rates of return to education, yet more recent research shows much higher returns for secondary education and point to the importance of post-basic education.

This study, coordinated by the University of Edinburgh, in the UK, looks at the potential contribution made by basic and post-basic education and training to poverty reduction and achieving the MDGs. Six countries are included in the study – Ghana, Kenya, India, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania.

The study made wide-ranging findings, among them the following:

• Education alone cannot achieve the many economic and social gains associated with it unless there is a supportive educational environment and a positive political, macroeconomic and social environment.
• Primary education can lead to a reduction in poverty, but only if the delivery and transformative contexts are supportive.
• The development of these contexts allows knowledge and skills to be transformed and depends on an adequate level of PBET in the country, among other factors.
• PBET can make two kinds of indirect contributions to poverty reduction: to the maintenance of and improvement in education delivery, and to the broader non-educational environment (such as providing trained professionals).
• Tertiary education is critical for creating a high level of institutional knowledge and skills, which is essential for a country’s economic growth and poverty reduction.

The study makes a number of recommendations, including:

• Poverty reduction and improved equality are more likely if primary education expansion allows a high quality of education to be maintained. Therefore, the rate of expansion must be limited by the rate at which high quality teachers can be trained and employed. 
• If the crises of inadequate teacher supply, limited post-primary opportunities and low skills among tertiary education entrants are to be avoided, the various education and training sub-sectors must not be treated separately.
• Expansion of the primary sector must take into account the quantity and quality of secondary education and other training paths available to school leavers.
• New investments must be made in improving poor people’s access to post-basic education, via financial support for scholarships, fee subsidies and subsidised accommodation.

Source(s):
‘Educating out of Poverty? A Synthesis Report on Ghana, India, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa’, Department for International Development Educational Papers 70, DFID: London, by Robert Palmer, Ruth Wedgwood and Rachel Hayman with Kenneth King and Neil Thin, 2007 Full document.
Further details about this research project ‘The contribution of post-basic education and training to poverty reduction: evidence from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa’ Full document.
Research Project: Beyond the Basics - Education and Poverty Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 10 August 2008

Further Information:
Centre of African Studies
University of Edinburgh
21 George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LD
UK

Tel: +44 131 6503878
Fax: +44 131 6506535
Contact the contributor: rob.palmer@norrag.org

Contact the contributor: kenneth.king@ed.ac.uk

Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, UK

Other related links:
‘Improving basic education: post-basic education and training’

'Does investing in education reduce poverty? Evidence from Ghana, Uganda and South Africa'

'Meeting education development goals: simply a question of money?'