WITH a record 210 million people out-of-work worldwide and employers reporting too few workers to hire with the right skills, the World Bank Group (WBG) has appealed to governments, donors, community leaders, and employers to focus more on education that prepares young people for the jobs market rather than on the time they spend in school.Launching its education strategy for the next decade on April 12 in Washington DC, United States of America, the WBG averred that better learning for all students worldwide was vital because economic growth, better development and significantly less poverty depend on the knowledge and skills that people gain, not the years spent in a classroom.According to the strategy, while a diploma may open doors to employment, it is a workers skills that determine his or her productivity and ability to adapt to new technologies and opportunities. Knowledge and skills also contribute to an individuals ability to have a healthy, fulfilling life, an educated family, and be involved in their community as citizens and voters.The WBG also noted that the last decade brought remarkable progress in education, with millions more children now in school as a result of more effective education and development policies and sustained national investments. The number of out-of-school children of primary school age, it noted, fell from 106 million in 1999 to 68 million in 2008. Even in the poorest countries, average primary school enrollment rates surged above 80 per cent and completion rates above 60 per cent, the report affirmed.In the new strategy, the bank reaffirmed its commitment to helping countries get all children into school by the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). But with conditions in the world changing rapidly from a record surge of young people at the secondary and tertiary levels in the Middle East and many emerging economies, to the rise of new middle-income countries anxious to boost their economic competitiveness by training more skilled, adaptable workforces, developing countries must transform gains in schooling into improved learning outcomes.The new strategy also called for stronger systems to improve the quality and reach of education in three areas.The report stated: First, the WBG will prioritise and finance reform of countries education systems as a whole to improve the quality of student learning. The Bank Group will focus on increasing accountability and results as a complement to providing school buildings, teacher training, and textbooks. Strengthening education systems means aligning their teacher policies, governance, management, financing, and incentive mechanisms with the goal of learning for all.Second, the WBG will match new education financing with results. The strategy highlights examples of recent innovative projects in Bangladesh, Jamaica, and Vietnam, which have used results-based financing and other incentives to improve student and school performance, and can serve as models for other countries.Third, the WBG will build a leading knowledge base for education reform of what works and what doesnt in education reform, using impact evaluations, learning assessments, and new system assessment and benchmarking tools that are being developed. By benchmarking education reform progress against international best practices, the Bank Group will help countries diagnose the strengths and weaknesses in their reform efforts and better target future investments.Education Minister, Prof. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai said: I strongly endorse the key messages of the World Banks new education strategy. For my country, Nigeria, Learning for All is our goalto ensure that all our children, girls and boys, poor and well-to-do, north and south, can go to a good school and learn what they need to have successful and happy lives.During the last 48 years, the WBG has substantially contributed to educational development around the world. Since launching its first education project in 1962 to build secondary schools in Tunisia, the bank has invested $69 billion in education via more than 1,500 projects.
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