[Senate Hearing 109-155]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 109-155
COMBATING TERRORISM THROUGH EDUCATION: THE NEAR EAST AND SOUTH ASIAN
EXPERIENCE
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINETH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
APRIL 19, 2005
__________
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana, Chairman
CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware
LINCOLN CHAFEE, Rhode Island PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland
GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut
NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts
GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin
LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee BARBARA BOXER, California
JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire BILL NELSON, Florida
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska BARACK OBAMA, Illinois
MEL MARTINEZ, Florida
Kenneth A. Myers, Jr., Staff Director
Antony J. Blinken, Democratic Staff Director
(ii)
?
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Ahmed, Samina, South Asia Project Director, International Crisis
Group, Islamabad, Pakistan..................................... 25
Prepared statement........................................... 29
Awadallah, Bassem, Minister of Finance, Hashemite Kingdom of
Jordan, Amman, Jordan.......................................... 4
Prepared statement........................................... 7
Human Resource Development in Jordan......................... 9
Burki, Shahid Javed, Consultant, Nathan Associates, Potomac, MD.. 15
Prepared statement........................................... 18
Cheney, Elizabeth, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near
Eastern Affairs, Department of State, Washington, DC........... 48
Prepared statement........................................... 51
Responses to questions submitted for the record by Senator
Lugar...................................................... 79
Kunder, James, Assistant Administrator for Asia and the Near
East, U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC 54
Prepared statement........................................... 58
Education Initiatives by Country............................. 70
Lugar, Hon. Richard G., U.S. Senator from Indiana................ 1
Method, Frank, Director of International Education Policy and
Systems, Research Triangle Institute, Washington, DC........... 33
Prepared statement........................................... 36
Nelson, Hon. Bill, U.S. Senator from Florida..................... 3
Additional Statement Submitted for the Record
Chafee, Hon. Lincoln, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island............. 78
(iii)
COMBATING TERRORISM THROUGH EDUCATION: THE NEAR EAST AND SOUTH ASIAN
EXPERIENCE
----------
TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Foreign Relations,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in
room SD-419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Richard G.
Lugar, chairman of the committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Lugar and Nelson.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD G. LUGAR, U.S. SENATOR FROM
INDIANA
The Chairman. This hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee is called to order.
Today, the Foreign Relations Committee meets to discuss
American education assistance programs in the Near East and
South Asia and their contribution to United States national
security. Outdated and poorly funded education systems in many
Near Eastern and South Asian countries have led to an education
deficit. This gap has contributed to the rise of extremist
ideologies that have provided fertile ground for terrorist
recruitment during the last decade. It is imperative that we
focus sufficient attention and resources on promoting strong
education systems as a way to counter extremism at its roots.
The 2003 Arab Human Development Report by the United
Nations Development Program highlights this ``knowledge
deficit'' and concludes that overhauling the region's education
systems should be a critical priority. It notes that these
changes should come from within the region, drawing from its
rich cultural, linguistic, and intellectual heritages.
The lack of educational opportunities for women in the Near
East and South Asia is of particular concern. Statistics show
that while 73 percent of men in Arab States are literate, only
50 percent of women in these countries can read and write. In
Pakistan, only 39 percent of women are literate, compared to 63
percent of males, with the largest disparities in rural areas.
Finding ways to encourage the education of girls and women,
while respecting cultural norms, is crucial to fostering
economic growth, democracy, and stability.
The Bush administration and the Congress have established
the Middle East Partnership Initiative, the Millennium
Challenge Account, and the Broader Middle East and North Africa
Initiative to promote reform. These efforts complement our
bilateral education assistance programs in countries such as
Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Today, we want to assess the effectiveness of these efforts
and ask what can be done better. About 3 percent of total
United States foreign aid to Near Eastern countries, (excluding
Israel), is devoted to education. Can we achieve better results
if we shift aid resources from traditional forms of economic
assistance to education? The United States recently has tripled
its education spending in Pakistan, where the connections
between the education system and the development of extremism
are particularly acute. We need to assess whether national
security benefits could be achieved by taking similar steps in
other nations.
I encourage the administration to devise and implement
programs under the new authorities provided by the National
Intelligence Reform Act, signed in December, to expand
educational and cultural exchanges. Last October, the Foreign
Relations Committee held a hearing to examine the impact of our
visa policies on foreign students studying in the United
States. Several leaders of prominent United States universities
testified on the benefits of international educational exchange
programs and on the importance of maintaining these programs
despite new visa restrictions. The committee hosted two
roundtables that focused on ways to ameliorate the problems of
visa delays without sacrificing national security. I believe it
is essential that we expand student exchange programs, not
scale them back, as they not only serve our national security
interests, but also enrich our society and our culture.
In June of last year, I introduced Senate Resolution 375,
supporting reform and modernization initiatives in the Greater
Middle East, including a Twenty-First Century Trust. This
resolution acknowledged that advancement in educational
opportunities has yet to reach large percentages of the people
in the Near East and South Asia regions. It further noted that
reform and modernization must come from the people of the
region, and cannot be imposed from the outside.
Next month, an Education Ministerial meeting in Jordan will
bring together leaders from the G-8 and the Greater Middle East
and North Africa to address challenges of modernizing education
through collaborative partnerships. I applaud this as an
excellent example of regional coordination.
We have two distinguished panels for today's discussion. On
the first panel, we will hear testimony from Dr. Bassem
Awadallah, former Minister of Planning and newly appointed
Finance Minister of Jordan; Shahid Javed Burki, former Finance
Minister of Pakistan, and now a consultant with Nathan
Associates; Dr. Samina Ahmed, South Asia Project Director for
the International Crisis Group, based in Islamabad, Pakistan;
and Mr. Frank Method, Director of International Education
Policy and Systems at the Research Triangle Institute. Each of
these distinguished witnesses has been active in education
reform efforts in the Near East and South Asia. The committee
looks forward to their unique perspectives.
On the second panel, we will hear from two administration
officials. Mrs. Liz Cheney is the Principal Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs and the point-
person for the Middle East Partnership Initiative. Mr. James
Kunder is the Assistant Administrator for Asia and the Near
East at USAID. Both Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kunder bring a wealth of
expertise to today's topic. We welcome them to the committee.
Let me note the distinguished presence of the Senator from
Florida. Do you have an opening thought or comment?
STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA
Senator Nelson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I do. First of
all, I want to thank you for recognizing the importance of this
subject to our Nation.
We've read in the newspapers recently about Pakistan, for
example, wanting to purchase F-16s. It's not in the $3 billion
package over 5 years that has been promised to support
Pakistan. There's other money in there for P-3 aircraft, TOW-2A
antiarmor guided missiles, and Phalanx close-in weapons
systems. All of that does not include the F-16s. But of the
$1\1/2\ billion that is set aside for domestic assistance, only
$100 million over 5 years is suggested by the administration
for education reform; $200 to $300 million is set aside, to go
directly to budget support in Pakistan. That means that the
Pakistani Government can use it for virtually anything they
want.
And it seems to me--and thank goodness you are sensitive to
this, as our chairman, recognizing the desperate need for
education in, not only Pakistan, but other areas, other
countries in that area--of the money that we give to them, it
is one of the greatest benefits to the free world to elevate
the educational awareness and attainment of people in that part
of the world?
And so, in the course of this hearing--and I must admit,
I've got to go to another one; we're confirming the Deputy
Secretary of Defense in another committee--but I wish the panel
would address: How big is the education program in Afghanistan
by comparison to Pakistan? What is your estimation of the
amount of money that Pakistan could use to truly reform its
education system over the next 5 years? And if there were real
reform in the Pakistani education system, what types of jobs
will these young people be able to find with the new skills?
And perhaps the second panel could discuss: How much does
the Pakistani Government actually spend on education annually?
What is the percentage of their budget for that? And if you
ranked the priorities in Pakistan, where would education be on
that scale? And then, overall, why doesn't our aid to Pakistan
support that goal of education?
I must admit that in a couple of trips to Pakistan, in
discussions with a number of officials there, it seems like
we've got a long way to go and that we could better further the
interests of the United States if we'd be serious about getting
the money, not to the government, but making sure that it gets
right down there to the level of education.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Well, thank you very much, Senator Nelson.
The panel can be reassured that you start with strong
bipartisan support this morning, as well as a desire to hear
more.
I will ask that you testify in the order that I introduced
you. If it is possible, please either give your statements or
summarize them within approximately a 10-minute period of time.
The Chair will not be unduly rigorous about that, because we've
come to hear you. At the same time, we want to have ample
opportunity, as Members appear, for questions. We also have a
second panel. As life goes on, we will have rollcall votes
coming along at 11:30 or 11:45. So, we can accomplish a great
deal in that period of time, but I'm hopeful that you will help
me in that respect.
Let me, first of all, call upon you, Dr. Bassem. We are
delighted that you are here. We congratulate you on your new
assignment in your country.
STATEMENT OF BASSEM AWADALLAH, MINISTER OF FINANCE, HASHEMITE
KINGDOM OF JORDAN, AMMAN, JORDAN
Dr. Awadallah. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am
honored and privileged to represent the Government of the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan this morning in front of you, and I
wish to thank you and to express our gratitude, and that of His
Majesty the King and the Government of Jordan, to you,
personally, for taking the initiative to look at reform and
development in the Middle East and to pay a lot of attention to
the need for a Marshall Plan for the reform and the development
of our part of the world.
In particular, your emphasis on education is extremely
important, and we very much value and appreciate the emphasis
that you have given to this, and this hearing, which we are
proud to participate in.
The Chairman. Thank you.
Dr. Awadallah. Mr. Chairman, I have taken the liberty of
sending the testimony that I'm going to make, and the remarks
that I'm going to make, in to your office, and you most
probably have a copy of it.
The Chairman. We do, and it will be published in full. And
that will be true for each of the statements that you have
written. They will be published in full in the record; so that
if you choose to summarize, please know that your full text
will be a part of our hearing record.
Dr. Awadallah. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I will depart from the written statement. I will just use
some relevant parts of it and try to limit myself to the 10-
minute----
The Chairman. Thank you.
Dr. Awadallah [continuing]. Deadline that you've given.
Mr. Chairman, the most important point, which you referred
to in your introductory statement, is about the demography and
the demographic explosion that we will face in our part of the
region.
Some statistics. By 2010, we will have 146 million people
who will seek employment in our part of the world, 185 million
by the year 2020. With unemployment rates now at about 15
percent, we will need to create close to 50 million jobs in the
coming 5 years, and 100 million jobs by the year 2020. This is
doubling the current level of employment just within the first
two decades of this century. So when we speak about reform in
the Middle East, it's not because this particular
administration of the United States has paid attention to it,
it's because of the need for reform; because if we do not have
reform, there is no future for our part of the world. And it
starts with educational reform.
In Jordan, we have a population of 5.35 million people. Our
population is growing at 2.4 percent per annum. And we have a
demographic composition of a predominantly young people; 72
percent of our people are under the age of 29, 60 percent of
our people are under the age of 25, and 51 percent of our
people are under the age of 18.
Now, our ability in Jordan to transform into a knowledged-
based economy and to join the ranks of the more advanced
nations will be significantly determined by the contribution
capacity of the young and the growing population; and there is
only one way to do that, and that is educational reform.
This is exactly what the Government of Jordan, under the
leadership of His Majesty the King, did in 1999 upon his
accession to the throne. Through a public/private partnership,
he got together more than 180 people to come up with a
blueprint for reform for Jordan, to accelerate reform; hence,
the homegrown nature of that kind of reform.
We identified what we needed to do in our public schools.
We identified the need to introduce kindergartens for early-
childhood development in public schooling. We identified the
need to introduce English in grade one in our public schools,
and not in grade five. And we identified the need to bring
computer skills to the curriculum of our school system.
Five years later, we have spent more than 250 million U.S.
dollars. More than 85 million U.S. dollars came from the Senate
and the House and the administration of the United States in
support of this initiative. And we are proud to say that our
educational reform not only includes brick and mortar and the
construction of new schools, but it includes the training of
teachers, it includes the development of e-learning
capabilities, the revamping of our curricula to introduce e-
content. And the introduction of an e-learning platform that
was designed by a Jordanian company, and now that is being
exported to Saudi Arabia, to Bahrain, and even to the New
Jersey system of education.
So, we are proud of the amount of achievement that we have
made over the past few years, and we have started to see the
results, in terms of the achievement of the public school.
Perhaps most importantly, Mr. Chairman, we had a dichotomy
in our society between those who had and those who did not
have. Those who had, could afford to go to private schools,
could afford to have personal computers and learn English, and
even French, in their private schools; and those who didn't--
and those are the majority of the people of Jordan--had to go
to a public schooling system, where they did not see a computer
throughout their education, until they graduated, and where
they only received English at grade five. Today, that dichotomy
is being addressed, and equal opportunity is being given to
everybody in Jordan through an education system. We believe
that that's where equal opportunity starts, this is where
reform starts, and this is where pure and good governance comes
along.
Mr. Chairman, one of the major ideas that we initially
started with, which was the introduction of computers and
English language in public schools, was not very favorably
accepted by our people. They thought that this was being
imposed on us, and, Why do we need to introduce computers, when
kids did not have milk in school? They said, ``Instead of the
computers, why don't you have milk?'' Five years later, there's
a tremendous buy-in by the people of Jordan for the need for
educational reform. They all know, they all realize now, that
through the educational reform initiative, their kids are being
offered equal opportunity, and that if you offer them
computers, it is not mutually exclusive to offering them milk
or anything else in schools.
So the public buy-in and the popular support for reform
initiatives is extremely important to sustain these
initiatives. Beyond just writing about them or testifying about
these initiatives in front of you, our own people need to see
value for these reforms, they need to realize that these
reforms are going to be reflected on their lives in a positive
and tangible manner.
I am proud to say that the partnership we've had with the
U.S. Government and with the U.S. Congress over the last 5
years has been a very, very positive factor in accelerating the
pace of the reforms, and people in our part of the world are
realizing that.
When opposition groups in our Parliament, the Islamic
Action Front, accused us of importing the educational e-
curricula from the United States, we stood tall, and we said,
``We developed this curricula. We, in Jordan. We did it in
1999, even before this administration came to power. We did it
in order to focus our minds and our entire mental ability on
reforming the educational system in Jordan. Yes, it is true, we
got the American taxpayers' money to help us fund these
programs, and the American administration and the Congress were
very positive and understanding and supportive in this effort.
But it was a homegrown effort of educational reform supported
by external powers?'' And this is extremely important to
continue to remember.
One last thing, Mr. Chairman. In the year 2000, in Davos,
in Switzerland, His Majesty met with a group of American
companies, U.S. corporations, led by Cisco--by John Chambers,
of Cisco. They've identified Jordan as one of the areas which
can be an example for other developing countries in harnessing
IT for educational purposes. As a result, an initiative grew.
It's called the Jordan Education Initiative. We have, today, 35
United States--35 corporations, many of them are United States
corporations, including Intel and Microsoft, that are
participating in this public/private partnership to build 100
Discovery Schools in Jordan. I hope you will have the time, on
your next visit to Jordan, to come and visit these schools,
which have become a real shining example of what educational
reform is all about.
This initiative is currently being modeled in the
Palestinian areas. In Davos, in January of this year, we met
with the Minister of Finance of Palestine and with Cisco and
with representatives of the MEPI program in the State
Department, and we all agreed that this example should be
replicated in the Palestinian areas. And it is. It is also
being replicated in Egypt, and it will be replicated in Bahrain
in order to introduce a model house, if you will, of what
educational reform products will be like in 5 years' time. It
will show people how achievement in schools will be able to
change their lives and to offer them opportunities.
Obviously, the main challenge remains, Mr. Chairman, for us
to find the jobs and to matchmake between the educational
output and the input that is required by the labor markets.
This is something that requires governments, private sector,
and academicians and universities, in particular, vocational
training centers, as well, to cooperate together in order to
identify what are the needs, what are the projected needs in
the economies of the Middle East, and how the educational
reform process can help prepare all the young minds, all these
big numbers that I mentioned at the start of this testimony, in
order to get them the jobs, to give them hope, to give them a
vested interest in the moderation and the stability of our
region. Failing that, we are going to have a major catastrophe.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The prepared statement and additional material submitted
by Dr. Awadallah follow:]
Prepared Statement of Dr. Bassem Awadallah, Minister of Finance,
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to share with you my
thoughts on educational reform in the Middle East, the nexus between
education and terrorism, and our efforts in Jordan to place education
at the center of the reform and development agenda. To be sure, the
Middle East is faced with the immense challenge of its demographic
trends: By 2010 some 146 million workers will seek employment, 185
million by 2020. With unemployment rates now at about 15 percent, the
ambitious goal of absorbing unemployed workers in addition to the new
job entrants implies the need to create close to 50 million jobs in the
coming 5 years and 100 million jobs by 2020; that is, doubling the
current level of employment within the first two decades of this
century.
But within this stark statistic lies the hope of regional
renaissance. Regardless of natural resource endowment, the future of
the region will hinge on its ability to harness its human potential.
Human resources, nurtured and provided with the opportunity to produce
and innovate is the only way toward closing the knowledge and
development gap that currently exists.
Hatred, bigotry, and violence are not caused by the lack of access
to knowledge, but rather, by the lack of opportunity. And education is
central in allowing people to seek opportunity.
Education must reflect a culture, a distinct understanding of the
role of the individual and that of society. Closed societies with a
reference point long lost in the past cannot teach knowledge as
culture, but rather teach dogma as truism.
This, Mr. Chairman, should be, in my modest opinion, the starting
point and driver for any educational reform effort in the region. The
central role that education plays is not lost on anyone in the region--
we live in young societies that yearn for it, whether through popular
culture, media, or how we used to do it when I was in school, through
reading.
Terror and ideology are taught as doctrine in many places around
the world. But helping build schools and pay for more teachers is not
the solution--it is part of it though. The solution is the creation of
an incentive-based system of assistance, particularly in education, in
which countries modernizing their educational systems, encouraging
creative thinking, problem solving, and trusting their students to make
their own judgments about what is right and wrong are asssisted.
There are three principal difficulties that challenge education in
East Asia today: (i) The poor quality of basic education; (ii) limited
access to educational opportunities, especially for girls; and (iii)
the inadequate relevance to economic, social, and health needs.
For our part in Jordan, the primacy of education in our development
process has long been established, and we have long sought to invest
heavily in our youth. The focus of Jordan's human resource development
covers wide-ranging activities including public and higher education,
vocational and technical training, and youth development. We find a
pressing need to incorporate enhanced levels of student learning
capabilities to include analytical skills, team-based activity, and
computer literacy at every stage of the education system, enabling
citizens to become increasingly highly educated, broadly skilled,
adaptable, and motivated.
This has been carried out through a 5-year comprehensive program
(2003-2008) at a cost of US$380: The Education Reform for the Knowledge
Economy program (ERfKE), devised in close coordination with the World
Bank and other donors. It sets out a coordinated and integrated plan of
action to meet the current and future needs of society in Jordan in the
context of the knowledge economy. That is, relevant knowledge, adequate
physical environments, and an environment in which students can
discover, absorb, and contemplate values, thoughts, and knowledge.
Since 2002, more than US$180 million have been channeled in human
resource development, 39 percent of which was provided by the United
States (US$70.6 million). Double shifts have been phased out in almost
all schools; about 180 schools are being established, 140 kindergartens
have been established, 650 science laboratories were built and
equipped, while more than 500 schools have already been computerized,
resulting in the ratio of students to personal computers decreasing
from 42 to 16. Further, 14 new vocational training centers have been
established, and 8,000 people have received, or are currently
receiving, increasingly demand-driven training.
Today, Jordan ranks 51st of 127 countries (and first among Arab
States) in UNESCO's Education for All (EFA) Development Index
(measuring primary enrollment rates, adult literacy rates, gender
specific EFA, and survival rate to grade five).
The Middle East region today is home to 130 million children who
constitute 50 percent of the population. While most governments have
made tremendous strides toward extending access to basic education to
all children, the region is characterized by great underlying variation
at the country level. For example, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia have
achieved near universal enrollment, while literacy in Morocco is less
than 40 percent. Similarly, access to education continues to be uneven
across the population.
Clearly much more needs to be done. USAID investments in education
in the region of US$43 in 2003 are not sufficient. Educational reform
will continue to occupy center stage, and we cannot but start with our
young to lead a comprehensive national renaissance. Schools still need
to be built, old curricula need to be revised, new e-curricula needs to
be developed, and youth need to be trained with relevant skills. They
must be provided with the tools necessary to lead productive and
fulfilling lives.
Within the framework of change to meet the economic needs of the
future, and given the similarities and differences between countries of
the region, there are a number of success stories that could be
replicated through adaptation and modification in other locations and
countries in the region. Given the pressing need to improve education
and training, and given the scarcity of resources, it is important for
all countries to consider what the necessary changes are, what
approaches to change can be employed, and how sustainable change can be
achieved. We have much to learn from each other through discussion,
sharing of ideas, debate, and application.
At the heart of any modernization plans in the region must be a
review of the educational systems and a discussion of the modalities
for reshaping them into true vehicles for advancement. Knowledge
societies that cherish innovation and scholarship are the bedrock of
development. The region's history of innovation is indeed a suitable
backdrop for discussion, and a true revival of this tradition lies at
the heart of a meeting of Education Ministers from the Middle East and
the G-8.
A renewed faith in partnership and shared interests is the main
impetus for the meeting. This process was launched at the Forum for the
Future meeting in Rabat, Morocco, in December 2004, where Jordan
outlined its suggestions for cooperation between the G-8 and BMENA
countries in educational reform.
In a preparatory meeting held in London in February 2004, Jordan
presented the following areas as what it expects will be the outcomes
that will emerge from the ministerial meeting on education.
a. A renewed commitment by countries of the BMENA region to
initiate and pursue homegrown and credible educational reform
initiatives.
b. A clear and practical framework of action based on
technical consultations to explore the mechanisms of
implementing educational reforms. This is to be reviewed and
vetted at the Forum for the Future meeting in Bahrain in
November 2005.
c. A commitment by countries of the G-8 to render support
(financial, technical, and political) to the educational reform
efforts in the region.
Agreement has been reached on the agenda for the ministerial to
tackle four main agenda items, as follows:
Agenda item I: Critical success factors for educational reform
a. Political commitment.
b. Financial commitment (importance of budgetary transparency and
access to resources).
c. Building on best practices.
d. Systemwide governance.
e. Monitoring and evaluation.
f. Partnership with schools, parents, civil society, business, and
donors.
g. Systemic approach to reform.
Agenda item II: Literacy and access
a. Support and commit to the framework of action to halve
illiteracy as agreed upon in the Literacy Workshop to be held in
Algeria in April 2005 (agreement on regional program).
b. Support for regional and national plans to enhance access to,
and participation in, education.
c. Develop mechanisms for lifelong learning and out-of-school
children.
Agenda item III: Equity and social inclusion
a. Innovative uses of ICT in special education programs.
b. Specialized outreach programs for disadvantaged students.
c. Mechanisms to provide equal opportunities for girls and people
in need.
d. Inclusive models of schooling.
Agenda item IV: Quality of education
a. Curricula renewal that maintains national identities and
respects cultural particularities while facilitating modernization and
development.
b. E-content development.
c. Quality assurance at all levels based on international standards
and benchmarks.
d. Occupational standards to ensure quality and facilitate labor
mobility.
e. Skills-based pedagogy backed by support for efficient
professional development programs.
The ministerial meeting on education will take place in the period
22-23 May 2005, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting.
Given the wide participation of the private sector and civil society,
the ministerial meeting on education will have a rich pool to draw upon
in its consultations.
On 22 May 2005, a sub-Cabinet meeting on education will be held, in
which roundtables will be formed to discuss each of the four agenda
items outlined above. Each roundtable will include representatives from
BMENA and G-8 countries, as well as representatives from the private
sector and civil society organizations. Discussions will aim at
producing a framework for action within each agenda item. The resulting
frameworks for action will then be collated into a general framework
that will be presented the following day for the ministerial meeting.
The ministerial meeting will then review and discuss the document, with
the aim of reaching agreement on the framework by the end of the day,
and will be making an announcement to that effect.
The support of the G-8 to the reform efforts of countries in the
region is instrumental in their timely implementation and in ensuring
their success. With the realization that regional reforms that reflect
the realities of the region and address the fears of the people and the
deficiencies of the existing systems are undoubtedly necessary, the G-8
countries have much to contribute, in both expertise and resources.
Education is no exception.
Thank you very much.
______
Human Resource Development in Jordan
INTRODUCTION
Following the economic crisis that was witnessed in 1989, Jordan
underwent a series of deep structural economic reform programs that
were primarily aimed at eliminating macroeconomic imbalances and
reinstating macroeconomic stability. However, despite the reform
efforts throughout the 1990s, strong and sustainable growth in real
output continued to be low, and per capita income remained stagnant.
This, combined with the high population and labor force growth, has led
to a marginal reduction in unemployment and poverty levels.
Furthermore, Jordan remained to be faced with a number of other
critical challenges such as a high external debt, a high budget deficit
(after grants), chronic water deficit, and an unproductive private
sector.
Reform efforts were hence revisited in 1999 when His Majesty King
Abdullah II ascended the throne, prompting an accelerated pace and the
launch of new strategies and initiatives aimed at enhancing the welfare
of the Jordanian people and propelling economic growth to higher and
sustainable levels. During the past 5 years, the government began to
focus on devising and implementing measures to combat the critical
challenges facing the economy, while at the same time laying the
foundation for building a new Jordanian model that is commensurate with
the evolving global trends. This new model is based on the premise of
transforming into a knowledge-based society that is built on the vast
potential of the people--its most valuable asset.
With a population of 5.2 million that is growing at 2.8 percent per
annum, coupled with a demographic composition that is predominantly
young (72 percent of the population are below the age of 29), Jordan's
ability to transform into a knowledge-based economy and join the ranks
of the more advanced nations will be significantly determined by the
contribution capacity of its young and growing population. Although
education has always ranked high on the government's development
agenda, the educational system is yet to meet the evolving labor market
requirements of excellence, innovation, competitiveness, and
productivity.
The need for citizens to be highly educated, broadly skilled,
adaptable, and motivated has been recognized and validated. In this
regard, educational reform efforts and investment in human resource
development began to intensify in recent years, and particularly
following the launch of the Social and Economic Transformation Program
(SETP) in November 2001, which made funding more readily available for
such extensive endeavors.
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COMPONENT OF THE SETP
Human resource development (HRD) comprises one of the major
cornerstones of the SETP, an integrated socioeconomic development
program, spanning a period of 3 years (2002-2004), with the main aim of
attaining sustainable development, and elevating the quality and
standard of living of all Jordanians. Acknowledging the global shift
from a resource-based to a knowledge-based economy, the government
recognized the pressing need to emphasize analytical skills, team-based
activity, and computer literacy at every stage of the educational
system.
Total investment in the Human Resource Development component over
the 3-year period 2002-2004 amounts to US$180.6 million, of which
US$64.1 million has been allocated for 2002, US$81.8 million has been
allocated for 2003, and US$34.7 million has been allocated for 2004
The HRD component of the SETP focuses mainly on investing in public
education, higher eucation, and vocational and technical training.
(1) Public Education
Modernizing the public education system has been an ongoing process
since 1989. Nevertheless, initial reform efforts were mainly focused on
building and expanding school facilities, particularly in the
disadvantaged areas of the country. In recent years, however, efforts
began to focus on transforming and modernizing the educational system
to meet the challenges and needs of a knowledge-based economy through
designing a system that adequately prepares future participants in the
labor force, as well as improving the skills of the current labor
force. The growing mismatch of skills was giving rise to higher
unemployment rates, as secondary education graduates were increasingly
unable to secure jobs in the highly complex and evolving labor market.
In fact, the unemployment rate for this segment currently stands at an
alarming 40 percent.
In addressing this challenge, the government identified the need to
realize lifelong learning in the medium to long term, and to adjust
curricula to meet market requirements. In the near term, early
childhood education opportunities need to be extended and gains at the
basic education level to be consolidated. The SETP will enable the
government to target additional public investments in the qualitative
reform of the educational system to enhance Jordan's competitiveness,
domestically, regionally, and globally.
To this end, the government is concentrating its efforts on
training students to think creatively, flexibly, and critically. The
ultimate goal is to enable students to become socially active and
responsible, to be more productive and work-oriented, and to be more
self-reliant and independent in learning. Therefore, the government is
keen to modernize the educational system by adopting new curricula
development processes that meet the highest standards.
Total SETP investment in public education projects over the 3-year
period 2002-2004 amounts to US$72.6 million, of which US$21.1 million
was allocated for 2002, US$25.2 million was allocated for 2003, and
US$26.3 million was allocated for 2004.
EDUCATION REFORM FOR THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
The guide for government investment in public education is the
ERfKE program, which was devised by the government in close
coordination with the World Bank and other donors. It sets out a
coordinated and integrated plan of action to meet the current and
future needs of learners and society in Jordan in the context of a
knowledge-based economy. The total cost of the first phase of the
project is estimated at US$380 million, and implementation will span
over the 5-year period 2003-2008.
From this new vision for human resource development in Jordan, four
broad national initiatives were identified in transforming the current
educational system to meet the requirements of the new knowledge
economy. These include:
Structuring the educational system to ensure lifelong
learning;
Ensuring responsiveness of the educational system to the
economy;
Accessing and utilizing information and communications
technologies to support effective learning and system
management; and
Ensuring quality learning experiences and environments.
ERfKE represents a landmark step in the progress of change in
education in Jordan, embodying all four initiatives. A relevant and
responsive quality education system is the bridge to the achievement of
these goals. The program sets out in detail the intentions for reform
of early, basic, and secondary schooling within an extensive and
inclusive framework. The need for, and value of, highly educated,
broadly skilled, adaptable, and motivated citizens has been recognized
and validated in the program. These citizens will be the people with
the knowledge and skills to make Jordan's economy competitive in the
global marketplace and maintain and extend the security and stability
of Jordanian society. It is also possible that due to the rapidly
changing social and economic environment, certain skills and areas of
content will consequently have a relatively short lifespan. Therefore,
the knowledge economy will require lifelong learners who can readily
acquire new skills sets and access, create, adapt and share knowledge
throughout their lives.
Jordan has made remarkable progress in education coverage over the
past decade. The net enrollment rate in 2000/2001 was reported at 96
percent for grades 1-6 (primary cycle), 92 percent for grades 1-10
(basic cycle) and 80 percent for grades 7-12 (lower and upper
secondary). The primary completion rate in the same year is estimated
at 100 percent for boys and girls. Significantly, Jordan is also well
advanced with regard to the elimination of gender disparities: In 2001,
female enrollments accounted for 46 percent of all kindergarten
enrollments, 49 percent of all basic education enrollments, and 50.5
percent of the upper secondary enrollments. Reform efforts are intended
to have an additional positive impact upon these encouraging enrollment
and participation statistics.
The reform program is organized into four major interconnected and
interdependent components:
Component I: ``Reorient Education Policy Objectives and Strategy
through Governance and Administrative Reform.'' This component supports
the development and implementation of policies and strategies to
reorient and enable the effective management of the education system to
serve the needs of the individual learner and society at large. It
includes the formulation of a clear vision, the articulation of a
comprehensive and integrated national strategy, and the effective
transfer of authority and responsibility to regional and local
education authorities, including the schools. The intentions and
activities for reform in Component I are crucial elements for initial
and continued success in each of the other components.
Component II: ``Transform Education Programs and Practices to
Achieve Learning Outcomes Relevant to the Knowledge Economy.'' This
component confronts the central issue of education reform as it deals
with the nature of, and expectations for, learning and teaching within
the context of a new curriculum, designed to prepare students for life
and work in the knowledge economy. Furthermore, professional
development and training, as well as providing the resources to support
effective training, are central to this component.
Component III: ``Support Provision of Quality Physical Learning
Environments,'' The purpose of this component is to describe and
explain the goals and activities that have been determined as the most
effective ways in which to improve the quality of education by
improving the physical quality of the learning environment in public
schools. Substantially, this involves the alleviation of overcrowding,
the replacement of unsafe buildings, and the upgrading of facilities to
support the education reform initiatives for transformations in the
learning for the knowledge economy.
Component IV: ``Promote Learning Readiness through Early Childhood
Education.'' The ERfKE project will directly assist the government,
specifically through the Ministry of Education, in partnership with a
wide range of international and local funding organizations,
nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector, in the
implementation of a comprehensive approach to improving the scope and
quality of essential early childhood services. This component has been
subdivided into four main areas of activity and intended outcomes.
These areas cover a series of important themes, and success in each of
them over the next 5 years will make significant inroads into the
realization of better opportunity, support, and achievement of 4-6-
year-old children in Jordan.
Following is a brief on the progress of the ERfKE project by
component:
Component I: Reorient Education Policy Objectives and
Strategy Through Governance and Administrative Reform
--National Public Relations Campaign: Negotiations with the
selected firm started 5 December 2004, and have been
concluded successfully.
--Gender issues: Further attention will be given by the Ministry of
Education (MOE) in regards to gender issues and ERfKE as
the MOE has indicated that part of the curriculum renewal
process under ERfKE will investigate the gender
stereotyping in the curriculum and work on addressing them.
There will also be a gender specialist attached to the
project (funded by CIDA) for the next 2-3 years to assist
in integrating gender further into ERfKE activities.
--Integrated Education Decision Support System (EDSS): An inception
report was completed and an awareness workshop on the
nature and purpose of EDSS was held in October 2004.
--National Learning Assessment: A National Learning Assessment Test
has been administered and the results are currently under
analysis.
--Learning Readiness Assessment: Pre-pilot, pilot, and main surveys
have been administered, analysis is underway, and the final
report is scheduled for March 2005.
Component II: Transform Education Programs and Practices
--Curriculum and Learning Assessment Framework: The General
Curriculum and Learning Assessment Framework document has
been appraised and approved.
--Institutional Capacity Building of DCT and Exams: An
international consultant is in the process of following up
on the implementation of an integrated plan and designing a
leadership training plan in the MOE.
--Curriculum Development: A master schedule for curriculum renewal;
phasing and resource acquisition completed.
--Monitoring and Review of Curriculum Implementation: A UNESCO
consultant submitted an inception report on M&E needs of
ERfKE.
--ICT Training of Teachers, Principals, and Administrators: 18,000
teachers successfully completed training on ICDL, 600
teachers completed training on Worldlinks and 14,000
teachers on Intel.
Component III: Support Provision of Quality Physical
Learning Environment
--Construct 160 new schools to replace confirmed existing unsafe
facilities: 40 schools funded by WB (construction phase)
are all under construction; 42 of the 45 schools funded by
EIB (design phase) are ready for construction; 38 schools
funded by the Arab Fund (construction phase) are under
construction; 9 of the 26 schools funded by IDB
(construction phase) have been awarded; approximately 15
schools are to be funded by the KFW (design phase).
Component IV: Promotion of Learning Readiness Through Early
Childhood Education
--Development and Monitoring of Early Childhood Development (ECD)
curriculum: The curriculum is in place, and was officially
launched under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania
along with the Kidsmart program on September 1.
--Recommendations for the monitoring and evaluation framework for
the national curriculum has been prepared.
--Learning Readiness Assessment: Pre-pilot and pilot surveys have
been completed, and the main survey has also been
conducted. Analysis of the main survey is underway and the
final report is scheduled for March 2005.
--Train Trainers, Teachers, Supervisors and Principals: 89 teachers
successfully completed training on Wisconsin and have been
certified in 2004.
--Buildings and Facilities Extensions Design phase: The design of
140 KGs is underway.
--Furnishing 100 KG Classrooms: A contract for the renovation of 4
KGs has been signed, and delivery is scheduled for the end
of January 2005.
(2) Higher Education
Universities are increasingly assessed by their relevance and
contribution to national economic performance and quality of life.
While there has been rapid quantitative expansion of the higher
education system in Jordan, it has not yet been accompanied by a
sufficient qualitative shift. Jordan's capacity to reach its goal of
becoming more competitive within the global economy will be largely
dependent upon the orientation of its higher education graduates.
There are currently 21 universities in Jordan (13 private and 8
public), with around 150,000 enrolled students. The government has
recently identified the major issues for higher education reform, and
will embark on a major reform agenda that will encompass the following:
Focusing on quality control issues to enhance the level of
higher education.
Updating and modernizing the higher education curricula to
meet the hard and soft skill requirements labor market (both
domestic and international).
Revisiting admission requirements to allow students to
pursue their desired career tracks.
Allowing for the licensing of new private universities.
Channeling more funding for higher education.
Promoting research and development.
Amending the necessary legislation to allow for greater
private sector participation in higher education and allow for
their affiliation with prominent higher education institutions.
SETP projects will work in tandem to improve the performance of
public higher education institutions, strengthen the accreditation
process with the aim of meeting international standards, and improve
the reputation and standards of universities in the areas of
computerization, information technologies, and English language
teaching.
The total cost of this subcomponent over the 3-year period 2002-
2004 is US$49.6 million, of which US$19.8 million was allocated for
2002 and US$29.8 million was allocated for 2003.
(3) Vocational and Technical Training
Recognizing that there has been limited change over the past
several years in the provision of vocational and technical training,
the reform of this sector has recently become a government priority.
Vocational and technical education has tended to emphasize the supply
of narrow, occupationally specific skills as opposed to broad-based,
labor- and global-market relevant skills.
The SETP aims to reorient the focus of existing vocational and
technical training programs from an information-based training model,
to one that is demand-driven, competency-based and provides the
employability skills required to increase worker productivity,
technological adaptation and innovation. Specifically, the SETP will
reactivate the Higher Council for Vocational and Technical Education
and Training to improve the coordination of vocational training
programs and services; computerize training centers to encourage the
acquisition of information technology skills; develop competency-based
training programs and curricula that are more responsive to labor-
market needs; upgrade instructor skills; encourage private sector
participation in adapting training to meet their human resource
requirements; and support additional activities for upgrading and
updating the current technical labor pool. Furthermore, support will
also be provided for specialized, regional-based technical vocational
training centers, such as training centers for women and training
centers responsive to domestic labor market needs, such as those for
the hospitality services, electronics industry, construction industry,
and metal industries.
The total cost of this subcomponent over the 3-year period 2002-
2004 is US$41.6 million, of which US$18.9 million was allocated for
2002, US$19.4 million was allocated for 2003, and US$6.7 million was
allocated for 2004.
INTRODUCING ICT INTO THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
EduWave Project
One of the main pillars of educational reform is the increased
access to information and communications technology (ICT). Extensive
efforts have been made at computerization of schools, as 500 schools
that include about 173,000 students have been computerized, resulting
in the ratio of students to personal computers decreasing from 42 to
15. Moreover, 32,000 teachers have been trained on ICDL, and an
additional 2,070 schools now have Internet access. Providing schools
with computers alone, however, does not ensure a transformation in the
educational process. The deployment of the necessary tools that will
allow students, teachers, and administrators alike, to effectively use
ICT for their own benefit is as imperative as the hardware itself.
With over 1.5 million students in schools, the educational system
in Jordan directly affects over one-third of the population. The
government realizes that a special initiative should be adopted to
bring students, teachers, and administrators up to pace. Thus, and as a
result of a true partnership between the Jordanian public and private
sectors, the national Jordanian e-learning initiative was launched in
September 2002.
One of the main pillars of this initiative is EduWave, which is a
comprehensive e-learning solution that was fully designed and developed
by a leading Jordanian IT company. With EduWave, the 1.5 million
students will be connected to a broadband network and will be able to
learn, and access learning content and information inside and outside
their classrooms, during and after school hours. Furthermore, around
35,000 teachers will be able to work and interact with their students
online. They will be able to track individual student performance and
accordingly apply the appropriate educational schemes that suit each
student's individual strengths. Teachers will also have access to a
pool of learning tools, which they can use and reuse to build a variety
of courses and educational material from which students can learn.
Through on-line group study sessions, resources will be maximized, and
teachers along with students will be able to share information and
study sessions across distances. Furthermore, administrators will have
access to educational related data that would help them in
decisionmaking and in better future planning.
The vision is to make learning available in places where there is
none, to enhance resources where there are few, and to open the
learning place and expand the learning day. The prime goal is to make
the learning experience more exciting and effective. EduWave will:
Provide all school students, teachers, and education
administrators with access to information and resources
relevant to their educational needs.
Enhance productivity in the educational sector by
integrating technology, innovation, and cutting edge
educational practices to maximize student benefits.
Provide students with tools to improve their learning and
self-development and to monitor their performance.
Provide teachers with tools to help them communicate ideas
and concepts and measure students' performance and
developments.
Provide administrators with tools that help them develop
full school systems by creating a data bank that can help them
monitor development and performance and adjust resources
accordingly.
Provide the educational sector with a system that utilizes
reusable learning tools to achieve predefined learning outcomes
allowing maximum benefit from all content.
Personalize the learning experience according to every
student's needs in order to maximize performance results.
Offer new and innovative ways for faculty and students to
engage in the process of teaching and learning.
Allow for smooth transition into the new digital era using
easy-to-use tools and authoring tools.
Help bridge the digital divide and close the gap between the
mere presence of technology and its effective integration into
curricula to deliver the skills needed for the 21st century.
Allow easier and more equitable access to education.
Improve the level and quality of education both inside and
outside the classroom.
Increase efficiency in the classroom, allowing for more room
for innovation and creativity.
Allow for customization of the learning experience to
maximize results.
Increase efficiency in the process of student assessment.
Allow for a high level of teacher-student interaction.
Foster innovation and creativity in education, society, and
the economy.
Enhance and complement the teachers' role in the classroom
by allowing for effective guidance and support.
CONCLUSION
Human resource development has always ranked high on the
development agenda of the Government of Jordan. In recent years,
however, a new direction was adopted in the education reform agenda to
ensure that the extensive investment in the human capital will yield
the desired returns of equipping people with the needed skills that are
required by today's evolving labor market.
The course of this direction is also commensurate with the overall
development path that Jordan is taking. The ultimate goal is to build a
sustainable resilient and liberal socioeconomic model that effectively
enhances the welfare of all Jordanians. Without equipping people with
the needed skills to compete in the global market, Jordan's growth
potential will continue to be hindered by the mismatch between the
output of the educational system and the requirements of the labor
market, and the resulting high unemployment rates among the growing
young stratum of society.
Educational reform and the extensive investment in HRD is necessary
for attaining sustainable socioeconomic development. Thus, the
government has identified the weaknesses in the educational system and
is embarking on a sweeping reform agenda to equip people with the
needed skills to compete in the global arena.
The Chairman. Well, Doctor, thank you very much for that
very exciting testimony of optimism and challenge. We thank you
very much.
Mr. Burki.
STATEMENT OF SHAHID JAVED BURKI, CONSULTANT, NATHAN ASSOCIATES,
POTOMAC, MD
Mr. Burki. Mr. Chairman, first allow me to thank you for
giving me the opportunity to appear before you. It's a singular
honor, because under your leadership the United States has
embarked upon a very important program to bring education to
the Muslim masses in what has now come to be called the Near
Eastern Region. And with your devotion and your commitment and
your leadership, I hope both sides, working together, the
countries in the Muslim world and the American Government and
the American Congress, will be able to achieve good results.
Mr. Chairman, in my own introductory remarks, I really
don't have a great deal of--a great deal to say about
achievements. I will focus much more on the problems that my
country faces. And, as you know, these problems are severe,
they need to be handled with a great deal of imagination,
courage, and some commitment of resources. I'll come to the
question of resources. But it's an area that needs urgent
attention. And I believe that it is right for the world to
focus on a country such as Pakistan, which has a very large
population, growing very rapidly. Pakistan today has 155
million people; of this, about one-half of the population is
less than 18 years old. For a person like me, who's been living
in the United States for a very long time, it's interesting to
make a comparison between the structure--age structure of your
population and the age structure of my country's population.
You have twice as many people in the United States, but the
number of young in the United States is exactly the same as the
number of young in Pakistan, with half the population. So that
gives you some flavor of the problem that the country faces.
It is right for donor agencies, including the United
States, to focus on the Pakistani problem. This is not the
first time that this has been done. I was, for many years, at
the World Bank, and my old institution put together a program
called Social Action Program, in which billions of dollars were
committed. Unfortunately, much of this money was wasted; and,
therefore, the new donor involvement in the reform of education
in Pakistan has to be handled with a great deal of care.
Mr. Chairman, one worry that I have is that there has been
an excessive focus on madrasas in Pakistan. It is correct to
focus on madrasas, but, at the same time, it is important to
underscore that madrasas don't provide education to a very
large number of people. Estimates vary. I have seen estimates
from 1 to 5 percent, but it's a relatively small number of
school-going children who are attending madrasas.
The main problem, Mr. Chairman, is in public-sector
education. This has become dysfunctional over time. It caters
to something like 73 percent of the school-going population in
Pakistan. And if this system is not fixed, then we really have
a big problem on our hands. And my view is that if, as the 9/11
Commission report wrote eloquently about this problem, it is
not the madrasa that could provide manpower, pulling foot
soldiers to jihadi causes, it will be the dissatisfied, unhappy
graduates of the public school system, who have spent years in
a system which doesn't provide education, and when they come
out they are not ready to enter the modern economy.
I wish I could tell you the same about Pakistan as we heard
about Jordan, the great achievements that have been made. In
the case of Pakistan, those achievements are still in the
future.
I'm convinced, Mr. Chairman, that the Pakistani problem
will not be solved by throwing more money at the problem. It
has been done before; and, as I said, there was a lot of
wastage, a fair amount of corruption. What is needed is a
reform of the system. And listening to a report, day before
yesterday, at the Woodrow Wilson Center, I was heartened to
note that the United States involvement through AID is now,
indeed, focused on systemic reform, and not just providing easy
access to lots of money to those who are managing the Pakistani
system.
One other thing that I would like to underscore, and this
is something that is not often recognized when people talk
about the Pakistani education, is the enormous role, and
important role, that the private sector has begun to play.
There are estimates which suggest that something like one-
fifth--or one-fourth of the school-going population now is
attending private schools. Most of these schools are run on
profit basis; some of them are run on nonprofit basis. Some of
these schools are run very well. They provide Western liberal
education. And they are producing the types of people that a
country like Pakistan, and an economy like Pakistan, will need.
So, I say this, because it is my view, that in designing a
reform program for the education sector, it is extremely
important to include within it the role of the private sector
and how a private/public sector partnership could work.
Mr. Chairman, I have, as I was requested, put in a
reasonably long statement for the record, but I'll just like to
conclude by offering you, very quickly, 12 suggestions that I
think would be appropriate for the reform of the sector.
As I said, my first suggestion is that reforming the entire
public sector should be the main area of focus.
Second, there is now evidence, from many parts of the
world, to indicate that for functional literacy it is important
to have children stay in school, not for 5 years, but for a
much longer period of time; as long as 10 to 12 years.
When I was at the World Bank, I was responsible for the
region of Latin America and the Caribbean, and folks in Chile
did some very interesting analysis and came to the conclusion
that it is rather wasteful to say that compulsory education is
only for 5 years, if you really want to make a difference to
how well people get equipped with knowledge and behavioral
change. And they suggested something like 10 to 11 years.
I would like to see something very similar done, in the
countries of the Muslim world, that just focus on primary
education can be wasteful. It has--children have to be kept in
school for a much longer period. And this particularly applies
to female education, where all these countries, barring none,
have fallen way behind.
I've already indicated, and that's one of my suggestions,
that we should just not focus too much attention on money, but
we should focus a great deal of attention on reforming the
entire system, particularly, the institutional aspects of this
system. One area that needs tremendous attention, so much so,
in one conversation I had with President Musharraf, not--in
fact, very recently--I said to him that he should make this his
passion, the education of girls, because I am of the view,
which everybody shares in the development field, that a country
that condemns its women to backwardness condemns itself to
eternal backwardness. And, unfortunately, Pakistan has done
that, and continues to provide all kinds of obstacles for the
advancement of women. And so, women's situation, starting with
education, has to become a very important part of this program.
It is important for the reformers to develop a
comprehensive approach that includes curriculum improvement,
teacher training, improving the physical infrastructure,
improving the quality of textbooks, and so forth. So there are
lots of things to be done.
What is very important, Mr. Chairman, is improving the
quality of governance in the country, particularly in Pakistan.
My longer paper talks about why Pakistan's educational system
has become dysfunctional. It became dysfunctional because it
was politicized. And so, politics has to be taken out of the
system.
And one other initiative which is taken by the present
government, to--which I hope it does not backtrack from--is a
devolution of government authority right down to the community
level. And we saw this in Latin America, that whenever you
brought education closer to the people, it worked very well,
and this is something that Pakistan should do.
It is my view that the donor community should provide some
of its assistance directly to nongovernment organizations,
private-sector institutions, and for student assistance. Some
of the schools that I talked about, which are providing
excellent education, are not accessible to children of poor
families, because they charge very high fees. So, it is
important to put together a program of providing assistance to
children of poor families who can access these institutions.
When I was at the World Bank in Mexico, we started a
similar program in which the banking system was used in order
to provide scholarships and low-cost loans to the students.
One other aspect which should come into play is the
economic significance of the Pakistani diaspora in the United
States. It's a subject about which I've done some work. There
are about half a million Pakistanis in this country. Their
total income is roughly equal to 25 percent of Pakistan's GDP,
so it's an enormous resource that is available, in terms of the
proportion of GDP generated by this particular group. Pakistani
diaspora is one of the largest in the world, and I know that
these people are now very keen to help education in Pakistan
through the creation of various foundations, and so forth. So,
it would be an appropriate time to get this particular group
involved.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, the role of the state. My own view
is that the state should unburden itself from directly managing
public-sector institutions, but play much more of a role in a
regulatory sense. Regulate the training of teachers, regulate
the certification of teachers, regulate the certification of
schools, develop a core curriculum that must be taught in all
schools, whether they are madrasas or Western oriented, and so
on. So, this is the kind of role that a state should be
playing, rather than spending scarce resources on managing
universities, colleges, and schools. And this, I think, should
become a primary interest on the part of the donor community.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll stop with that.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Burki follows:]
Prepared Statement by Shahid Javed Burki, Consultant, Nathan
Associates, Potomac, MD
EDUCATING THE PAKISTANI MASSES: THE WORLD NEEDS TO HELP
Introduction
Let me start this brief presentation with the main conclusions that
I have to offer with respect to the deteriorating state of education in
Pakistan and how this could affect the rest of the world. I would like
to underscore the following six conclusions. One, it is right for the
world to worry about the larger impact of Pakistan's dysfunctional
educational system, especially when it has been demonstrated that
poorly educated young men in a country as large as Pakistan pose a
serious security threat to the rest of the world. Two, it is timely for
the world's donor agencies to offer help to Pakistan to reform its
system of education so that it can produce people who have the right
kinds of skills to operate in the modern economy. Three, it is correct
to focus on the reform of the madrasa system but it would be imprudent
to give too much attention to this part of the educational system in
the country. Four, the part of the system that really needs attention
is the one managed by the public sector. This is the system that looks
after the education of some 90 percent of the school going age.
Reforming it is of critical importance. Five, the problem of public
education will not be solved by throwing more money into the system.
What is required is systemic reform. Six, and finally, the private
sector has an important role to play in reforming the educational
system. This is an area in which the large and well-endowed communities
of Pakistanis resident in the United States could also participate.
I will develop these conclusions in five parts. In the first, I
will provide a quick overview of Pakistan's demographic situation and
how it has affected the system of education. In the second part, I will
give a brief description of the structure of the educational system in
the country from the time of independence in 1947 to the early 1970s
when it began to deteriorate. The third part will provide a quick
overview of the reasons that led to slow collapse of the educational
system. In the fourth part I will indicate the lessons Pakistan can
learn from attempted reforms in other parts of the world to improve its
own system. In the fifth and final part I will suggest some approaches
to the reform of the Pakistani system.
Pakistan's demographic situation and how it has impacted on the system
of education
Pakistanis, both policymakers based in Islamabad and the public at
large, were slow to recognize that the country's large and increasingly
young population was mostly illiterate and was singularly ill-equipped
to participate in the economic life of the country.
Pakistan's young did not even have the wherewithal to participate
in the process of ``outsourcing'' that had brought economic
modernization and social improvement to many parts of India. The
economic and social revolution that India is witnessing today could
have also occurred in Pakistan but for a number of unfortunate
developments discussed below. For the moment we will reflect on the
problem Pakistanis face today--in 2005.
In 2005, Pakistan is the world's sixth largest country, after
China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil. Its population
is estimated at 155 million; of this, one-half, or 77 million, is below
the age of 18 years. Pakistan, in other words, has one of the youngest
populations in the world. In 2005, the number of people below the age
of 18 in the United States was less than those in Pakistan and yet the
American population is almost twice as large as that of Pakistan. What
is more, with each passing year the population is getting younger.
In spite of a significant decline in the level of fertility in
recent years, Pakistan's population is still growing at a rate well
above 2 percent a year. Even with some further reduction in birth rate,
by 2030 Pakistan could--a quarter century from now--overtake Brazil and
become the world's fifth most populous country, with a population of
255 million. Or, put in another way, Pakistan is set to add another 100
million people to its already large population over the next 25 years.
A significant number of this additional population will end up in
the already crowded cities of the country, in particular Karachi, in
Lahore, and in the urban centers on the periphery of Lahore. Karachi
already has more than 10 million people; by 2030 it could have a
population of 25 million. By the same time, Greater Lahore may have a
population of 15 million. Will such large urban populations live in
peace and become active contributors to Pakistan's economic growth and
development? Or will they become increasingly restive and disturb peace
not only within the country but also outside the country's borders? The
answers to these two questions lay in the way the authorities and
people of Pakistan approach the subject of education and what kind of
assistance they can receive from the world outside.
There are four characteristics of Pakistan's demographic situation
that have attracted attention in the Western World, particularly in the
United States, One, that in two to three decades Pakistan will have the
largest concentration of Muslims in the world, more than in Indonesia
and in India. Two, the population of Muslims will be very young. Out of
a population of some 255 million projected for 2030, about 170 million
will be below the age of 18. Three, unless an ambitious program is
launched soon and implemented with the government's full attention and
energy, a significant proportion of the young will be poorly educated
and will have skills that will not be of much use as a factor of
production in a modern economy. Four, an indifferently educated
workforce made up of millions of young people, living in a few crowded
mega cities, will become attractive recruits for groups and
organizations that are alienated from the global economic, political,
and social system. In a Muslim country such as Pakistan, the groups
that will be able to attract the young espouse various radical Islamic
causes.
There are two questions that need to be answered in order to
explain the situation in Pakistan. One, why did the education system in
Pakistan deteriorate to the point where it now threatens economic,
political, and social stability, not only within the country, but also
poses a real danger for the world at large? Two, what can be done to
redress this situation?
The structure of the system after the creation of the State of Pakistan
In the late 1940s and up to the early 1970s, Pakistan had a
reasonably efficient system of education, not much different from other
countries of the South Asian subcontinent. It was dominated by the
public sector; educational departments in the provinces administered
schools and colleges while a small number of public sector universities
provided post-graduate instruction. The private sector was active at
the two extreme ends of the educational spectrum. On the one end were
missionary schools and colleges specializing in Western-style liberal
education. At the opposite end were religious schools, called dini
madrasas that imparted religious instruction. Some of the better
institutions belonging to this genre were either imports from India or
were patterned after the old madrasas in what was now the Indian State
of Uttar Pradesh. The best known of these was the Darul Uloom at
Deoband that had developed its own curriculum and taught a highly
orthodox or fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. Following the
partition of India and the birth of Pakistan, a number of ulema
(Islamic scholars) from Deoband migrated to Pakistan and established
seminaries in the new country. Two of these, a madrasa at Mora Khattak
near Islamabad called Darul Uloom Haqqania and the other in Banori
township of Karachi played a prominent role in bringing an austere form
of Islam to Pakistan. We will return to the subject of these madrasas a
little later.
The private schools catered mostly to the elite while the religious
schools produced imams (preachers) for the mosques or teachers for the
madrasa system of education. These two systems are producing two
different social classes with very different world views and views
about the way Pakistan should be managed. The two groups are now
clashing in the political and social arena. One recent example of this
is the controversy over the deletion of a box in the newly designed and
machine readable passport that initially did not have a column
indicating the religious affiliation of the passport holder. This step
was taken by the government headed by General Musharraf as one small
move toward what he has called ``enlightened moderation.'' He was,
however, beaten back by the religious parties and the ``religion
column'' was reinserted in the passport.
In between these two social classes is a large inert group, the
product of the public educational system, The large public school
system includes all aspects of the system of education. It starts with
kindergarten and primary schools at the bottom, includes secondary and
higher schools, and has at its apex semiautonomous but publicly funded
universities. For several decades the standard of instruction provided
by this system was adequate; the system's graduates were able to
provide workforce for the large public sector and also for the rapidly
growing private sector of the economy. Those graduates of the system
who went abroad for further education, either at their own expenditure
or relying on the funds provided by various donor supported scholarship
schemes, did not experience much difficulty in getting adjusted to the
foreign systems. Some of Pakistan's better known scholars and
professionals, such as the Noble Prize winning Physicist Professor
Abdul Salaam and the well-known economist Mahbubul Haq, were the
products of this system.
However, the system has deteriorated over time to the extent that
it has become common to describe Pakistan as the country that has done
the least for the social development of its large population. It is
also common to fear that without major investment in education,
Pakistan may well become a large exporter of manpower to the stateless
Islamic organizations--al-Qaida being the most prominent among them--
that will continue their crusade against the West, Western values, and
anything else they see from their narrow prism as anti-Islamic.
How did Pakistan travel the distance from a moderate Muslim country
with a reasonably efficient educational system to a country in which
the public system of education is virtually broken down and in which a
large number of educational institutions are providing instruction that
teaches hate for those who hold different points of view and encourages
jihad against them? Pakistan's gradual transformation from one state to
the other occurred slowly under many different impulses. As such the
country offers a good case study of how a society can get derailed.
Systems progressive collapse over time
The Pakistani educational system collapsed slowly, at times its
progressive deterioration was not even noticed by the people who later
were to be most affected by it. The collapse occurred for basically
four reasons. The first jolt was given in the early 1970s by government
headed by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto decided to
nationalize private schools, in particular those run by various
Christian missionary orders. His motive was simple. He was of the view
that private schools encouraged elitism in the society whereas he
wanted equality and equal opportunity for all.
Bhutto was also responsible for delivering the system the second
shock and this time around the motive was political expediency. His
rise to political power was viewed with great apprehension by the
religious forces in the country. They considered the socialism Bhutto
espoused as ``godless'' and were determined to prevent him, and the
Pakistan People's Party founded by him, from gaining ground. The two
sides--Bhutto and the Islamists--chose to use the college and
university campuses to fight the battle for the control of the
political mind in the country. Both sought to mobilize the student body
by establishing student organizations representatives of their
different points of view.
For a number of years campuses of the publicly run institutions
became the battle ground for gaining political influence at the expense
of providing education. It was in this battle, waged in educational
institutions, that Pakistan witnessed the birth of another
organization--the Muhajir Qaumi Mahaz--that was to use violence in
order to spread its word and make its presence felt.
The third development to turn the system of education dysfunctional
occurred in the 1980s when a coalition, led by the United States and
included Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, decided to use the seminaries as
training grounds for the mujahideen who were being instructed to battle
the Soviet Union's troops occupying Afghanistan. There was an unspoken
understanding about their respective roles among these three partners.
The United States was to provide equipment and training for the foot
soldiers of the jihad. Pakistan was to set up madrasas in the Afghan
refugee camps and along the country's long border with Afghanistan. Its
military, with better knowledge of the Afghan terrain, was to be
actively involved in training the mujahideen. The government of
Islamabad also reserved the right to choose among the various groups
that were prepared to do battle in Afghanistan. The Saudis were happy
to aid the effort with money as long as they were allowed to teach
Wahabism, their brand of Islam, in the seminaries that were to be used
for training the jihadis. This proved to be a potent mix of motives:
The United States was able to recruit highly motivated fighters to go
after the occupying forces of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, Pakistan
was able to further its influence in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia was
able to introduce its extremely conservative interpretation of Islam
into a large Muslim country that had hitherto subscribed to a
relatively liberal, accommodating assimilative form of religion.
The fourth unhappy development to affect the sector of education
was the political confusion that prevailed in the country for more than
a decade, from the death of President Zia ul-Haq in August 1988 to the
return of the military under General Pervez Musharraf in October 1999.
In this period four elected governments and three interim
administrations governed the country. Preoccupied with prolonging their
stay, the elected governments paid little attention to economic
development in general and social development in particular. Under the
watch of these administrations, public sector education deteriorated
significantly.
The failure of Pakistan to educate its young was the result of the
failure of the state to provide basic services to the people. As
already noted, the collapse of the public sector began in the mid-
seventies when the socialist-leaning administration of Prime Minister
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto nationalized some parts of the educational system
while denying an expanded public sector the resources it needed. In the
30-year period since then, various governments, both military and
civilian, continued to neglect public education while allowing it to be
politicized. Politicization took the form of increased political
activity on the part of student organizations representing various
political parties. It was the Islamic parties that gained the most in
the battle to influence the campuses.
The progressive failure of the public sector to provide reasonable
education to the masses brought in two very different types of
educational entrepreneurs into the sector. On one end of the spectrum
were groups of entrepreneurs who filled the space for Western-style
liberal education. Since there was enough demand for this type of
education on the part of the relatively well-to-do segments of the
society, a number of for-profit institutions were established. They
have flourished over time, providing high quality education to the
upper end of the society.
At the other end of the social spectrum were the poor who needed
institutions that could provide basic education to their children
without placing an unbearable economic burden on the families. This is
when the madrasas stepped in with the financial wherewithal to take in
male students, provide them with board and lodging, and give them
instruction in religion. Most of these institutions did not have
qualified teachers who could give instruction in mathematics, sciences,
and languages other than Urdu to their students.
The result of all this is that the Pakistani society today is split
three ways when viewed from the perspective of education. At the top
are the students who have received reasonably good education from
Western-style institutions that operate mostly for profit. They count
for perhaps 5 percent of the student body in the 5- to 18-year age
group of some 70 million people. At the bottom are the religious
schools that provide education to an equal number of students. In
between is 90 percent of the student population dependent on a public
system that is inefficient and corrupt. It is, in other words,
dysfunctional. Before addressing the important subject of the remedies
that are available to improve the educational system, we should take a
look at the situation as it is today.
Reforming an educational system
There are several ways of assessing the status of an educational
system in the developing world. Among the more frequently used
indicators are adult literacy rates for both men and women in various
parts of the country; enrollment rates for both girls and boys at
different levels of education and in different areas of the country;
the dropout rates at different levels of education; the number of years
boys and girls spend in schools; the amount of resources committed to
education as a proportion of the gross domestic product, particularly
by the public sector; the amount of money spent on items other than
paying for teachers' salaries; and, finally, some measure of the
quality of education provided. To these indicators, one should also add
the quality of data and information available about education.
Unfortunately, Pakistan's record is relatively poor on all these
counts, including the quality and reliability of the data which makes
it difficult to provide a reasonably accurate description of the state
of affairs in the sector.
The latest information available for Pakistan suggests an adult
literacy rate of only 43.5 percent for the entire population above the
age of 15 years. The rates for Sri Lanka and India are considerably
higher than for Pakistan; 92.1 percent and 61.3 percent respectively.
Of the South Asian countries, only Bangladesh has a slightly lower
rate, 41.1 percent. Since the level of literacy has a profound impact
on the quality of human development, Pakistan ranks 142 in terms of the
UNDP's Human Development Index. Sri Lanka ranks at 96, India at 127,
and Bangladesh at 138.
There are noticeable differences in gender literacy and in the
level of literacy in different parts of the country. Some 58 percent of
the male population qualifies as literate while female literacy rate is
estimated at only 32 percent. In other words, two-thirds of the
country's women can't read or write. There is not a significant amount
of difference in the rates of literacy among different provinces.
Sindh, on account of Karachi, has the highest rate at 60 percent while
Balochistan at 53 percent has the lowest rate. However, it is among
women living in different parts of the country that literacy rates vary
a great deal: In Balochistan the rate is as low as 15 percent while it
is 36 percent for Punjab's women. It is clear that the women of
Balochistan must be targeted in any drive to educate the masses in the
country.
There are wide discrepancies in the various estimates of enrollment
provided by various sources of information. My own estimates are for
the year 2003 when the number of children in the primary school age was
22 million of which 11.5 million were boys and 10.5 million girls.
According to the Ministry of Education in Islamabad 9.6 million boys
were in school, giving an enrollment rate of 83.4 percent. The number
of girls attending primary school was estimated at 6.6 million, giving
an enrollment rate of nearly 63 percent. There was in other words a
gender gap of almost 20 percentage points. Once again the policy
implication of this information is the need to focus on the provision
of education for girls. Another conclusion suggested by these numbers
is that we should expect a fairly significant increase in the rate of
literacy as the cohorts presently in school reach adulthood.
There is considerable disparity in the rates of enrollment among
the richest 20 percent of the population compared to the poorest 20
percent. The gap is 2\1/2\ times as large in the urban areas and even
larger in the rural areas. Applying these number to overall literacy
rates, it appears that while universal primary education has been
achieved for the richest one-fifth of the population for both boys and
girls, the enrollment rate for the poorest 20, one-fifth is only a
shade above 45 percent. Public policy aimed at increasing the level of
education must, therefore, focus on the poor in both urban and rural
areas. There is demand among the poor for education; if it is not
satisfied by the public sector, it will be met by the dini madrasas.
As is to be expected, the well-to-do families tend to enroll their
children in high performing privately managed schools while the poor
are forced into the public sector system. According to a recent survey
while only 27 percent of the children from the richest 20 percent of
the households were enrolled in government schools; these schools
catered to as much as 75 percent of the children from the poorest 20
percent of the families. This means that the rich have been able to
bypass the part of the educational sector managed by the government
while the poor have no recourse but to send their children to public
schools. This process of selection according to income levels is
reducing the quality of the student body in government schools.
There is a high-level dropout rate in the public system with the
rate increasing as we go higher up in the system. Barely 10 percent of
the school going age children complete 12 years of schooling; around 25
percent leave after 8 years of schooling and another 15 percent by
grade 10. Such a high level of dropout has serious budgetary
implications. At least 50 percent of the educational budget is spent on
the children who drop out early. This is a tremendous waste for a
sector that is already short of resources.
A high dropout rate has one other adverse consequence. Even if the
level of literacy increases in the country, the level of skill
acquisition will not improve. For many years a number of development
institutions emphasized the provision of primary instruction without
focusing attention on higher level education. It is only recently that
there is recognition that human development means more than primary
education. Some researchers maintain that universal education should
mean more than 5 years of schooling; it take a much longer stay in
schools to be able to become functional in a modern economy.
In light of this, what are the options available to policymakers
and to the donor community that is eager to help the country reform its
educational system? The donor interest in the country's educational
system reflects the understandable fear that, unless the educational
system is fundamentally reformed, it would create a large body of young
alienated people who would be prepared to lend a helping hand to the
forces of radical Islamic not just in Pakistan but in all corners of
the world.
Educating the Pakistani masses: A new approach
The conventional approach for addressing the problem posed by the
underdevelopment of the educational sector involved is based on five
assumptions. One problem--by far the most important one according to
most experts--many societies face is that the opportunity cost of
sending children to school is greater than the benefit education is
likely to bring. Parents bear costs even when education is free.
Perceived cost of education is likely to be more of an inhibiting
factor for the attendance of girls in schools than for boys. In poor
households girls help their mothers handle a variety of chores
including the care of their siblings. One way of approaching this
problem is to provide monetary incentives to parents to send their
children to school. School feeding programs fall into this category of
assistance; they lower the cost of education for parents.
Two, the state may not be spending enough on education. The remedy
is to increase the proportion of public resources going into education.
The donor community has been prepared to help with funds if there was
the fear that the domestic resources were too constrained to allow for
an increase in public sector expenditure on education. This was one
reason why development institutions such as the World Bank
significantly increased their lending for education.
Three, typically a state spends more on secondary, tertiary, and
university education than on primary education. The cure is to divert
more funds into primary schooling.
Four, the quality of instruction is poor. The obvious solution is
to invest in teacher training, reforming the curriculum, and improving
the quality of text books. Sometimes the quality may suffer because
schools may lack proper physical facilities. They may be poorly
constructed or the buildings may be poorly maintained. The students may
not even have chairs and desks on which they can sit and work. This
problem can be handled, once again, by committing more resources for
public sector education.
Five, the educational bureaucracy is too remote from the parents
who wish to see an improvement in the quality of education given to
their children. This gap between the provider and the receiver can be
bridged by organizing parents to oversee the working of the educational
system. Teachers can be made responsible to the parents' association in
addition to being responsible to the educational departments in some
distant place.
Six, in highly traditional societies, parents will be prepared to
send their girls to school only if they don't have to travel long
distances, if they are taught by female teachers, and if the schools
have appropriate toilet facilities. In some situations parents would
educate girls if there are single-sex schools. The solution for this
problem is to build more schools for girls and to employ more female
teachers.
All this was learned from a great deal of experience by the donor
agencies from their work around the world. Most of these lessons were
incorporated in a high-profile program of assistance for educational
improvement launched by the World Bank in Pakistan in the late 1980s.
Called the Social Action Program, the plan developed by the Bank was
supported by a number of donor agencies and billions of dollars were
spent on it for over a decade. The result was disheartening. The
program was inconsequential in achieving even the most fundamental
objectives: Increasing the rate of enrollment in primary schools for
both boys and girls and bring education even to the more remote areas
of the country. The Bank made several attempts to correct the course
during the implementation phase but the program did not succeed. There
was one simple reason for the program's failure. It did not take full
cognizance of the fact that the educational bureaucracy was so corrupt,
inefficient, and dysfunctional that it could not possibly deliver a
program of this size. Ultimately the donors decided to abandon the
program.
Given this experience and given the magnitude of the problem the
country faces what options are available to the policymakers in the
country and the donor community interested in providing help to
Pakistan?
A variety of donors have already committed large amounts of finance
for helping Pakistan educate its large population. According to a
recent count by the Ministry of Education in Islamabad, foreign
commitment for education is currently estimated at $1.44 billion spread
over a period of 7 years, from 2002 to 2009. Of this $450 million is
being provided as grants with the United States at $100 million the
largest donor. The remaining $1 billion is being given in the form of
soft loans by the World Bank ($650 million) and the Asian Development
Bank ($339 million). These commitments amount to some $370 million a
year.
The government has also announced its intention to significantly
increase the amount of public funds for education. In 2000-2001,
funding for education amounted to only 1.96 percent of the gross
domestic product. This increased to 2.7 percent by 2003-2004 when the
government spent about $2 billion on education, of which about one-
quarter was provided by donors. It is the government's intention to
increase the amount of public resources committed to education to about
4 percent of GDP which would bring the expenditure in par with that of
most other developing countries.
However, the experience with the World Bank funded and supervised
Social Action Program tells us that a mere increase in the availability
of resources will not address the problem. What is required is a
multipronged approach in which resource increase plays only a small
part. For Pakistan to succeed this time around, it will have to be
imaginative and comprehensive in the strategy it adopts. There are at
least six elements of this approach.
First, the government must develop a core curriculum that must be
taught in all schools up to the 12th grade. Along with the prescription
of such a core syllabus, the government should also create a body to
oversee the textbooks used for instruction. There should be no
restriction on the submission of books that can be used as authorized
text and there should be a fair amount of choice available to schools.
They should be able to pick from an approved list. The selected books
must carry the ``good housekeeping seal of approval'' of the authority
created for this purpose. The members of the authority should be
selected by an autonomous Education Commission which can be nominated
by the government and approved by the national assembly.
Second, no institution should be allowed to take in students unless
it registers with the Education Commission. The Commission should issue
certificates of registration to the institutions which should indicate
what kind of curriculum is being taught in addition to the core
syllabus. Overtime the Commission should develop the expertise to grade
schools according to their quality. A scale of the type used by credit
rating agencies could be used by the Commission as a way of informing
the parents about the type and quality of education on offer.
Third, either the Education Commission or a similar body should
issue certificates to qualified teachers. No school, no matter what
kind of curriculum it teaches, should be allowed to hire teachers
unless they have been appropriately certified by the authority. The
certificate should indicate which subject(s) the teacher has the
competence to teach.
Fourth, in order to further encourage the participation of the
private sector while lessening the burden of the public sector, the
state should encourage the establishment of Private Education
Foundations that will be run on nonprofit basis and will raise funds
that will qualify for tax exemption. These foundations should also be
encouraged to register abroad so that they can receive contributions
from the members of the Pakistani diasporas in the United States,
Britain, and the Middle East. The government should offer for sale to
the Foundations the institutions it manages at all levels. This will be
a form of privatization with the intent to encourage not only
educational entrepreneurs to enter the field but to involve the people
who are interested in improving the quality of education in the
country.
Fifth, the government must reform the management of the educational
system. One way of doing this is to decentralize the system's running
to the local level. The recent devolution of authority permitted by the
reform of the local government structure has created an opportunity for
the involvement of local communities in educational management. The
development of the local government system as envisaged by the
administration of President Pervez Musharraf is being challenged by
some vested interests including the members of the National and
Provincial legislatures who fear erosion of power as more authority
flows to the local level. The old bureaucracy that had exercised
enormous power under the old structure is also reluctant to loosen its
grip. This resistance will need to be overcome.
Sixth, parent-teacher-administrator associations should be created
that manage funds and allocate them to the areas in which serious
deficiencies exist. These associations should also have the authority
to assess the performance of the teachers and administrators based on
the quality of education given. Parental involvement in education, even
when the parents themselves were not literate or poorly educated
yielded very positive results in several countries of Central America.
Seventh, the government should attempt to level the playing field
by making it possible for children of less well-to-do households to
gain admission into the privately managed schools. The government could
initiate a program of grants and loans that should be administered by
the commercial banks. Such an approach was tried successfully in
Mexico. Letting the bank's manage these programs will save them from
being corrupted.
Eighth, to address the serious problem of youth unemployment in a
population growing rapidly and in a society that is becoming
increasingly susceptible to accepting destructive ideologies, it is
important to focus a great deal of attention on skill development. This
will require investment in vocational schools or adding technical
skills to the school curriculum.
Ninth, in undertaking a school construction program to improve
physical facilities, special attention should be given to the needs of
girls. Only then will the parents have the assurance that the schools
to which they are sending their daughters can handle their special
needs.
Tenth, and finally, a serious review of current expenditure on
public sector education should be undertaken. It is well known that the
state pays to a large number of ``ghost teachers'' who don't teach but
turn up to collect their monthly pay checks. It is also well known that
the annual recurrent cost in well-managed private schools that are able
to provide high quality education is one-half the recurrent cost of
public schools. Rationalization of these expenditures will increase the
productivity of resource use.
Conclusion
Pakistan's educational system requires an almost total overhaul. It
will not be reformed simply by the deployment of additional resources.
This was tried once before by the donor community under the auspices of
the World Bank's Social Action Program. That as we noted above did not
succeed. What is required now is a well thought out and comprehensive
approach that deals with all facets of the system.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Mr. Burki.
Dr. Ahmed, may we have your testimony?
STATEMENT OF SAMINA AHMED, SOUTH ASIA PROJECT DIRECTOR,
INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP, ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
Dr. Ahmed. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for allowing
me to testify on behalf of the International Crisis Group. Like
you, we are deeply concerned about the absence of meaningful
educational reform in an area which, as you know, has, in the
past, and may continue to add to the numbers of the Islamic
extremists that threaten not just the stability of their own
countries, but U.S. national security, as well.
We've issued this report yesterday. It's on sectarian
conflict in Pakistan. And I point this out because it is so
important, when you're talking about educational reform, to
talk about the political context.
[Editor's note: The report, ``The State of Sectarianism in
Pakistan,'' will be retained in the complete record of the
hearing or can be accessed at www.crisisgroup.org.]
I'm going to be touching on Pakistan, Bangladesh, and
Afghanistan. My focus will be on the issue of what should you
do? How do you reform the education sector to make sure that
more and more young people are not drawn to Islamic extremism,
and that they, too, become not just citizens in their own
societies that contribute to their own state, but they also
contribute to international security and stability?
There is a problem here, and we need to address it. And the
problem lies in the fact that, in Pakistan at this point in
time, you have the moderate secular parties sidelined, the
religious parties in alliance with the ruling party,
controlling the provincial education ministries in two of the
four federating units. How can you expect reform from these
people, who are the most resistant to reform, not just the
reform of the madrasas sector, which is their own turf, but
even of the public education sector?
So there is a challenge here, and the challenges lies in
the fact that we cannot ignore the threat, and that threat must
be dealt with. It is not the role of the United States to
dictate to governments in Pakistan and in Bangladesh what they
must do with their educational systems, but, certainly, it is
in United States national interest and in the interest of these
states, themselves, to regulate these institutions that we call
madrasas, which are the religious ceremonies.
In both Bangladesh and in Pakistan, you have three
different educational systems at work. You have the public-
school sector. You have private schools, which are elite
schools, a large number of them. You need to have money to go
to those schools. And then you have the madrasas. And those
numbers matter because when we go to schools in the region, we
see the state the students have to study in. You have teachers
who are barely literate. You have schools with no
infrastructure--no toilets, no running water, no playing
fields, very often not even a roof over the heads of these
children, no boundary walls.
We want to increase the enrollment of female children.
Well, you know what? Some of these schools are located so far
away from the villages that parents are scared to send their
girls. This is not a cultural matter here. People talk about
cultural problems: ``Well, you know, these are Islamic
countries; and so, there is a resistance to female education.''
That's not true. We've gone to remote areas of Baluchistan,
where people have said, ``If only I could send my child to
school, but it's too far away, and it's unsafe.'' This is why
you see a gender disparity in particular in places like
Baluchistan and in the northwest frontier province, where, as
you know, given past history, it's essential to bring about
education reform of a people that have been exposed to,
unfortunately, because of state policy, the madrasa system. It
created the Taliban. The Taliban have not gone away. There are
Pakistani Taliban and Afghan Taliban. They emerge out of these
schools, and the schools are unregulated.
When we talk in terms of percentages of children in
schools, we forget one thing: Why is there such a very high
dropout rate, first at the primary level and then again at the
secondary level? But it does matter, when we are talking in
terms of investing either the United States taxpayers' money
into these educational systems or, for that matter, Pakistani
Government resources into these systems.
It's really quite simple. The madrasas are booming.
Absolutely no doubt about it. If you actually look at the
numbers, they're astounding. In Bangladesh, you've had, at
least, a tenfold increase in the number of madrasas since 1986;
in Pakistan, a fourfold increase since 1988. There are anywhere
between 10,000 to 13,000 madrasa schools, and we really don't
know and the government doesn't know because there is no
regulatory authority.
It's true in Bangladesh, as well. There are no ways of
regulating what's happening in the madrasas. What do they
teach? Where do they get their sources of finances from, which
is so important? That is a responsibility of the state, and, in
fact, an international obligation, under U.N. Security Council
resolutions. Who are the students? We don't know. All of that
is very disturbing.
However, the U.S. Government focus, in terms of allocating
funding, is, and should be, on the public school system. The
dropout rates here are disturbing as well.
If you take an average number, given by government
ministers, of the students in madrasas, which is anywhere
between 1, 1.5, to 1.7 million, nobody seems to know, and then
you look at the dropout rates, which can be available from the
data of primary schools and secondary schools, by the time
children drop out of primary school, there are only 4.2 million
children left in the primary schools. And you know what? That
only covers 4 years of education; 4 years of education. Just
imagine if that was happening in the United States. What kind
of a youth would you have in the United States? How could they
contribute constructively? And then when you go on further, to
grade 12, all of a sudden you have a huge dropout rate again.
And then, in fact, at the high school you almost get down to
one on one, because so many kids have dropped out.
Why do they drop out, even where facilities are available?
Because the education is bad. Because it doesn't provide for
job opportunities. Because parents realize the need to send
their child to school, but also realize, if the child only has
under 4 years or 6 years or 8 years of schooling, how is that
child going to get a job with the education that child has got?
So it is so important to actually look at these issues. And
I know that the U.S. Government is addressing a number of these
issues on the ground, but one of the things we would strongly
suggest is that as part of the ongoing assessment of new
districts that AID will be allocating funds for, consider needs
assessments from the communities on the ground. Where is it the
need is greatest? Where is it that they have a real gender
imbalance in the schools? Where is it that you have more
madrasas booming, being constructed there? Because with the
absence of public schools, you are going to have the children
going to the madrasa. The madrasa is also attractive--free
board, free housing; but it's also so dangerous, because it's
indoctrination.
That said, it is equally important to reform the public
school educational curriculum, because one of the policies that
the Government of Pakistan seems to be adopting at this point
in time--and I'm sure the Bangladesh Government might be
tempted to go down that route--is to mainstream the madrasa. In
other words, you introduce three or four subjects into the
madrasa and don't touch the religious content of the education.
So you would introduce computer sciences and maths and social
studies. But children are being taught in the public-school
sector, in social studies and in history, to demonize other
religions--the Hindu is the enemy; Pakistan is threatened by
India--to demonize the neighbors, to demonize other religions,
as well, and, more so, to glorify the jihad. You actually see
that in the national curriculum. ``Jihad. Describe how
important the jihad is to you. Jihad is central to your
existence.'' This is the indoctrination that the children are
getting in their regular school system. Now, if the children in
the madrasas are going to be taught that, what difference would
it make?
To introduce English language, where one of the things the
madrasa administrations have said to this point in time, they
said, ``Fine, we'll have our own English-language textbooks.''
And you can well imagine the content.
For us, it's very, very important that with the funding
that the United States is planning to put into the educational
sector in the next few years, these are the issues that should
be looked at. The U.S. taxpayers' money should not be given for
the production of textbooks in which children are asked to make
speeches on jihad, to recognize the importance of jihad in
every sphere of life, to talk about jihadi, which is martyrdom.
That is not where the U.S. taxpayers' money should be going.
That should be conditional, ``This money shall not go to the
production of these textbooks.'' But the money should go toward
English-language textbooks since the English language is so
essential now for jobs and for opportunities. And the U.S.
Government can help produce good-quality English-language
textbooks for schoolchildren, and that is important.
But should the Government of Pakistan depend on donors? I
think there's a good point made here by you, Mr. Chairman, that
this has to be domestically driven. And one of the ways to
judge that political will is by the amount of GNP spent on
education. And, unfortunately, neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh
fall into that category of actually spending what they should
be spending, which is 4 percent of GNP. They fall far, far
behind. So then to expect that the internationals will pick up
the rest of the tab, they should be made to stick to their
commitment, they should be made--this should be conditional,
and it is important.
So, other than that, where do we go, in terms of U.S.
assistance? One of the things the U.S. Government should not do
at all is to provide any assistance for the madrasa school
system. Not in Pakistan. Not in Bangladesh. Not in Afghanistan.
What is failing--and that is where the emphasis should be--is
the public school system.
On Afghanistan, let me very, very briefly say that there's
been a sea change in some ways in Afghanistan because of the
fall of the Taliban. Female children have come back to school.
But that doesn't mean that the challenges are still not
immense. The infrastructure was totally destroyed; the country
was destroyed in the war. Rebuilding means that the Karzai
government is going to keep on needing massive U.S. assistance.
What is needed, of course, is also security, because, even
after the Taliban have fallen, girls are being attacked, their
schools are being attacked, teachers who are teaching them are
being attacked. Even though there's a great will, right now, to
enroll the girls in school, physical insecurity is something
that will discourage parents from sending their children to
school.
The challenges are immense. At this point in time, the
opportunity is also huge, in particular in Pakistan, because
the United States is engaging on education reform, to press
upon the Pakistan Government to undertake the measures that it
should take, and take them fast. I don't think Pakistan has
that much time that it can afford to have yet another
generation of children badly educated or illiterate or educated
in jihadi madrasas.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Ahmed follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dr. Samina Ahmed, South Asia Project Director,
International Crisis Group, Islamabad, Pakistan
I want to thank Chairman Richard Lugar, and the ranking member,
Senator Joseph Biden, for holding this important hearing, and inviting
me to testify on behalf of the International Crisis Group on the
continuing challenges of education reform in South Asia.
The Crisis Group has been in South Asia since December 2001, and
has published reports directly relevant to the issues under this
committee's review. We are deeply concerned that the absence of
meaningful education reform will aggravate social and economic rifts,
and feed the spread of extremism amongst the region's youth.
Education in South Asia has been the subject of renewed
international focus in the wake of the attacks of September 11, and
millions of dollars in donor funds have been allocated for education
programs. However, a lack of government commitment, political
interference, and a deteriorating physical infrastructure threaten to
undermine these efforts. My testimony will expand on these concerns as
they apply to Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, with a particular
focus on President Pervez Musharraf's education reforms, whose outcome
will be absolutely crucial given Pakistan's key role in the war against
terrorism.
In a report that the International Crisis Group published yesterday
on ``The State of Sectarianism in Pakistan'' we emphasize that:
Sectarian conflict in Pakistan is the direct consequence of
state policies of Islamisation and marginalisation of secular
democratic forces. Co-option and patronage of religious parties
by successive military governments have brought Pakistan to a
point where religious extremism threatens to erode the
foundations of the state and society. . . .
Instead of empowering liberal, democratic voices, the
government has co-opted the religious right and continues to
rely on it to counter civilian opposition. By depriving
democratic forces of an even playing field and continuing to
ignore the need for state policies that would encourage and
indeed reflect the country's religious diversity, the
government has allowed religious extremist organisations and
jihadi groups, and the madrasas that provide them an endless
stream of recruits, to flourish.
As we look at the education system more specifically, it
nevertheless is vital to see and understand the broader political
environment in which the education system functions.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have almost parallel education systems. As
they did under British colonial rule, both countries maintain a three-
tiered education structure:
1. Private English-medium schools catering to privileged
families;
2. A highly centralized public school sector including Urdu
or Bengali medium schools for the poor;
3. Religious seminaries, or madrasas.
Each sector has its own syllabus, exam systems, and fee structures.
The growing disparities between these sectors, in terms of the quality
of education and the professional opportunities available to graduates,
are exacerbating already sharp social and economic divisions.
Pakistan and Bangladesh are signatories to the World Declaration on
Education for All (EFA, signed in Jometien, 1990), yet are falling
significantly behind on achieving agreed targets. Both spend well below
the 4 percent of GDP on education recommended by UNESCO (currently
Pakistan has allocated 2.7 percent; and Bangladesh 2.3 percent). Most
of this goes toward salaries, leaving extremely limited funds for
development and other productive inputs. Their public school
infrastructure is deteriorating, with dropout rates in primary
education fluctuating around 50 percent in Pakistan, and 33 percent in
Bangladesh. In rural areas and urban slums we've visited in Pakistan in
the last year, many schools were in locations where there was very
little public transport and their learning environments were
deplorable--many lacked boundary walls, water and toilet facilities,
electricity, and proper furniture. That parents are unwilling to send
their children to such schools should come as no surprise.
Not only do one of every two children in Pakistan drop out before
completing primary school (5th grade), but also there is an equally
devastating flaw in public school education. The content of that
education is increasingly irrelevant since it does not prepare students
for the demands of a modern economy (or for higher education). In
Bangladesh, a National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) devises the
national curriculum and produces public school textbooks. In Pakistan,
a central Curriculum Wing determines the government syllabus, and
Provincial Textbook Boards then produce all public school textbooks.
Teachers are prohibited from deviating from the prescribed material.
These virtual monopolies have prevented the emergence of innovative and
flexible education systems. Teachers and students we've interviewed in
the field argue that public school education is no preparation for
employment. As a result, many families chose instead to send their
children into labor, or to madrasas, which provide accommodation, food,
and other basic necessities, and yield professional opportunities in
mosques, madrasas, and other religious institutions.
Bangladesh's madrasa sector has mushroomed, reaching an estimated
64,000 madrasas from roughly 4,100 in 1986, with little if any
government oversight. This has accompanied the rise of militant Islam,
including increased numbers of radical groups, some with ties to global
terrorist networks, such as the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami. Two Islamist
parties, the Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikyo Jote are coalition
partners in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government. According
to the latest official estimates (2003), there are 10,430 madrasas in
Pakistan. However, adding the numbers provided by each of Pakistan's
five madrasa boards, the figure is closer to 13,000. Both figures mark
a significant increase from the official estimate of 3,000 madrasas in
1988.
Both countries continue to harbor Islamist radical groups who seek
recruits from poverty-stricken and education-deprived areas. Increased
jihadi rhetoric in madrasas and mosques, including calls for an anti-
American global jihad, is a major cause of concern. Without a viable
public school system that expands students' economic opportunities,
more and more children are likely to drift toward extremism.
REFORMS UNDER THE MUSHARRAF GOVERNMENT
The Musharraf government has publicly acknowledged the problem, and
made education reform a centerpiece of its modernization drive but has
failed to follow through. In January 2002, the government launched its
Education Sector Reforms (ESR) program, aimed at reforming the
education system. In 2005, we continue to have serious concerns about
the program's directions. Our findings indicate that three main
obstacles beset meaningful education reform.
First, the government has proved reluctant to divert more of its
own resources to education. Repeatedly pledging to raise the education
budget to 4 percent of GDP, it has yet to follow through on its
commitment. To meet Pakistan's commitments to EFA, the government will
need an estimated $7.9 billion. According to its EFA Action Plan, the
government expects $4.4 billion of this, more than 55 percent, to come
from foreign donors, symbolizing an unwillingness to invest its own
resources in education reform.
Second, Pakistan's public education bureaucracy is highly
centralized and inefficient. Since salaries and opportunity in the
public and private sectors depend on educational qualifications,
positions within the education department--and degree-granting
institutions are some of the most lucrative in government service.
Appointments are based on politics rather than merit within the
education sector, thereby severely impairing the quality of teaching.
Overly centralized control has further prevented effective monitoring
over public school teachers and administrators.
Third, the government has repeatedly yielded to political pressure
from religious parties that have openly opposed education and madrasa
reforms. These lobbies have managed to hijack curricular content to
promote their own ideological and political agendas. We are
particularly concerned about the public school curriculum's emphasis on
religious indoctrination. General Zia-ul-Haq's Islamisation policies in
the 1980s had resulted in a massive expansion in the numbers of
madrasa, with the numbers increasing from 1,745 in 1979 to almost 3,000
by 1988. During this period too, militant interpretations of Islam were
systematically incorporated into the mainstream public school
curriculum. Current national syllabus guidelines require students
between classes I-VI, for example, to ``recognize the importance of
Jihad in every sphere of life'' and ``make speeches on Jihad.''
In 2003, an independent Islamabad-based research group, the
Sustainable Policy Research Institute (SDPI) documented religious,
sectarian and gender biases in the public school syllabus in a report
entitled, ``The Subtle Subversion: The State of Curricula and Textbooks
in Pakistan.'' Although a goverment-formed committee of independent
academics and education officials approved the report's recommendations
for an immediate and comprehensive review of the national curriculum,
subsequent pressure from the religious parties prompted the government
to finally reject its proposals. Then Education Minister Zobaida Jalal
had also announced that Quranic references to jihad would be deleted
from public school science books but backtracked under pressure from
the religious right, and those references remain in place.
In this context, the ESR objective of streamlining the madrasa
syllabus with the mainstream curriculum is questionable. Any effort to
do so would be premature without a comprehensive review and improvement
of the public school curriculum.
The government's capitulation to the religious right on education
reform stems from its reliance on them to counter its civilian secular
opposition. The six-party Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal presently controls
the NWFP government and governs Balochistan in alliance with the ruling
Muslim League. MMA officials head the provincial education ministries
of both these provinces and have publicly opposed the reform of the
public school sector.
This reliance on the religious right has also led the government to
back down on its pledges to reform the madrasa sector. In June 2002 the
government approved a draft bill, the Deeni Madaris (Voluntary
Registration and Regulation) Ordinance calling for the voluntary
registration of madrasas, imposing restrictions on foreign grants and
donations, and barring foreign students or teachers without valid visas
and official permission. A week after Cabinet approval, however,
President Musharraf opted not to sign the bill after it was strongly
opposed by madrasa board representatives.
The lack of effective registration requirements and oversight has
resulted in the madrasa sector's alarming and unchecked expansion.
Today most registered madrasas are licensed under the Societies
Registration Act of 1860 after the ban on such registration, imposed in
1996, was removed in 2004. The act lacks any significant monitoring
mechanisms over financial accounting, internal governance, or madrasa
curricula; its only practical requirement is for registered
organizations to submit an annual list of governing body members,
THE U.S. ROLE
The United States can, and should, play an important role in
education reform in Pakistan and Bangladesh. USAID should consider
significantly expanding its current financial commitments for education
in Bangladesh, which were below $5 million for fiscal year 2004,
focused on early childhood and primary education, and are planned at
similar levels for fiscal years 2005 and 2006. USAID has allocated $100
million over 5 years to Pakistan's education sector, aimed at teacher
training, engendering democratic ideals, improving the quality of
exams, and enabling greater access to schools. The U.S. government has
a stake in the direction and outcome of educational reform and should
adopt a more proactive approach. That approach should affect both the
direct primary education and literacy program but also some portion of
the $200 million in annual budget support provided to the government of
Pakistan over the next 5 years.
The United States should:
1. Condition continued education aid to Pakistan and Bangladesh on
their raising education expenditure to 4 percent of GDP. Comprehensive
reform efforts will not be sustainable under current expenditure
levels. In that regard, some clear conditioning should provide for
evidence of additionality in government resources going to expand
access and quality of education from the budget support the United
States is providing.
2. Expand programming to address educational content, and attach
conditions that its funds cannot be used, as they could under present
circumstances, to support a curriculum, and any textbook material, that
promotes intolerance toward women, and religious, sectarian, and ethnic
minorities; and contains references to jihad, or any historical
inaccuracies. The United States should urge Pakistan to immediately
resume reviewing public school curriculum and textbooks to address
historical and factual inaccuracies, glorification of armed struggle
and jihad and minority and gender biases. USAID should extend its
programs to support the private production of quality English language
textbooks for public schools, presenting valuable substitutes to the
Provincial Boards and NCTB's texts. This is crucial to improving public
school educational content.
3. Assist in the shift to English-medium instruction. Since the
language of instruction in elite private schools is English, given the
demand for English in Pakistan and Bangladesh's public and private
sectors, the products of Urdu and Bengali medium government schools are
at a severe disadvantage in competitive job markets. The United States
should assist in all aspects of this shift from textbooks to teacher
training to monitoring results.
4. Urge the Pakistan Government to follow through on its commitment
to establish better oversight on the madrasa sector; to put in place a
new madrasa law that requires financial transparency, curriculum and
management reform, and mandatory registration of all madrasas under
this new law, including those currently registered under the Societies
Act. Pakistan should also be urged to immediately resume reviewing
public school curriculum and textbooks to address historical and
factual inaccuracies, glorification of armed struggle and jihad, and
minority and gender biases.
5. Ensure against politically motivated teacher and administrative
transfers. USAID should require all local partners to sign memorandums
of understanding with the relevant education ministry to curb the
transfer of any teacher trained under their programs for a minimum
period of 3 years.
6. Target more funds based on district need. In Pakistan, much of
the education funding currently is limited to only a handful of Sindh
and Balochistan districts, some of which are relatively developed and
pose no significant threat of extremism amongst youth. A recent
proposal to expand the $60 million USAID-funded Education Sector Reform
Assistance (ESRA) program from 9 to 25 districts is a welcome step, and
should be followed through. However, the new recipients should be
identified on the basis of need, the number of donors already active in
the district, as well as areas that have witnessed an expanding madrasa
sector or increased jihadi activity. USAID should also consider
extending ESRA to NWFP, where tribal customs and the spread of
extremism continue to hamper education especially for girls. In some
NWFP districts we found clusters of up to 14 villages without a single
girls' school. In 2004, female enrollment made up about 35 percent of
total enrollment in NWFP, the lowest ratio of any province.
7. Address infrastructure constraints. In determining any program's
performance targets, USAID should take into account practical
constraints. Targeted enrollment rates in most rural areas of Pakistan
cannot, for instance, be achieved without addressing factors such as
transport and security problems, particularly relevant in addressing
education for girls and women.
8. Avoid diverting scarce aid funding to the madrasa sector. The
United States Government must not allocate any of its assistance for
madrasa schools in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Donor funding and
engagement is unlikely to reform the madrasa sector and the provision
of modern facilities will only make madrasas more attractive
educational venues, increasing the clergy's social and political
influence. United States educational assistance should instead remain
focused on strengthening Pakistan and Bangladesh's failing public
school systems.
9. Finally, with regard again to the broader political context in
which the education system functions, the United States should strongly
press the Government of Pakistan to reaffirm the constitutional
principle of equality for all citizens by repealing all laws, penal
codes, and official procedures that reinforce sectarian identities and
cause discrimination as well as those laws that discriminate against
women and minorities and to disband all private militias, particularly
those organized for sectarian and jihadi causes.
AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan also presents a daunting set of challenges, linked
directly to that country's reconstruction. Over two decades of war and
repressive government have left a shattered economy and physical
infrastructure, and some of the lowest human development indicators in
the world. By all accounts, Afghanistan's school system is in ruins.
However, the Taliban's ouster has opened up new opportunities in
education, especially for girls who were banned from attending school,
and has led to unprecedented levels of enrollment. Over 4 million
students have registered in schools since 2002, with female enrollment
estimated at around one-third of the total amount. Yet, the existing
infrastructure is unable to meet the increased demand for schooling. An
estimated 80 percent of schools were damaged or destroyed by war, and
many have yet to be restored. Millions of children remain out of
school, and current teacher/student ratios are unsustainable, by some
accounts averaging around 1:60.
Security remains a primary concern. Girls' schools continue to face
external threats, and many have come under attack. In 2003,
Afghanistan's female literacy rate was 19.6 percent (compared to 49
percent for males). Many regions remain under warlord control. Militia
forces and remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaida continue to operate in
and around Afghanistan, seeking recruits amongst the country's
disaffected youth. Former soldiers, including child soldiers, and
returning refugees are especially vulnerable in the current
environment, and more extensive efforts are needed to reabsorb them
into Afghan society. According to an Asian Development Bank (ADB)
estimate in July 2002, there were 25,000 to 30,000 ex-child soldiers in
Kandahar alone. A strong education system would contribute
significantly to such efforts.
Given ongoing security concerns and limited resources, President
Hamid Karzai's government will continue to require significant levels
of external funding to rebuild and revitalize its education system. We
believe an effective approach should include expanded efforts in:
1. Establishing a strong physical infrastructure, including
new schools and adequate educational facilities.
2. Policy-oriented capacity building of regional education
departments and other policymaking institutions, whose
responsibilities include curriculum development and long-term
education policy.
3. Involving Afghan civil society in the delivery of
education.
4. Building a broad and equitable education system.
Afghanistan's education infrastructure must extend its reach to
accommodate a scattered, highly diverse, and multiethnic
population.
5. Continued and expanded teacher training programs, geared
especially to induct more female teachers into the sector.
6. A sustained and coordinated international effort to
provide security, especially in remote areas of the country
where the writ of the central government has proved limited,
and where attacks against civilians, especially against women
and girls, continue.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, South Asia's economic growth and
security depend on a strong education sector. The failure to implement
meaningful reform in Pakistan and Bangladesh's madrasa sectors and
deteriorating public education systems and to revitalize Afghanistan's
educational infrastructure will undermine regional stability, promote
extremism, and prevent the spread of democratic ideals.
The Chairman. Well, thank you very much, Dr. Ahmed.
We now call on Mr. Method, as our final first-panel
witness.
Mr. Method.
STATEMENT OF FRANK METHOD, DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
POLICY AND SYSTEMS, RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Method. Thank you, Chairman Lugar. Good morning, and
thanks for the opportunity to appear before the committee.
Research Triangle International is a not-for-profit
research institute working to support education reform around
the world, primarily funded by USAID, including working with
the Education Sector Reform Program in Pakistan and a number of
other countries in the region.
I've worked on international education policy and strategic
planning most of my professional life. I'm particularly proud
of having been involved, over the last 15 years, in the
international effort to create policy consensus and advocacy
for the investments needed to achieve Education For All, which
I consider one of the most powerful strategic agendas of our
time.
I put the emphasis particularly on ``all.'' The emphasis on
``all'' is what drives the linkages between education and
rights, citizenship, responsibility of government to meet its
full commitment to the society, and shape the society.
I submitted a statement for the record, and I'm only going
to summarize some of the key points.
First, education systems do more than educate children;
they also build and shape the nation. Education reform must be
about more than the schools and pedagogic inputs. National
efforts to improve curriculum, to develop more appropriate
reading and learning materials which respect the dignity,
rights, and beliefs of all learners, are imperative. At least
equally imperative, is attention to the children who are not in
school and whose opportunities to learn have been frustrated.
Tolerant, peaceful, and stable societies cannot be built or
sustained when large numbers of young people reach adolescence
frustrated, alienated, without opportunities to participate
effectively in their communities, economies, and political
systems.
Educators cannot do it alone. Improving education requires
fundamental changes in public policy, public administration,
financing, and the political will to make the changes. There is
no easy, inexpensive, or quick solution to the problems.
It's possible to paint a very bleak picture of education in
the Near East and South Asia Region. I agree with the
characterizations that we've just heard. Class sizes and
dropout rates are too high. Education opportunities for girls
and women are inadequate. Too often, bureaucratic sclerosis
wastes resources, slows change, stifles innovation.
However, progress is being made, albeit slowly. There are
reform plans in place for many countries. Jordan is a
particularly good example, but there are others--in Egypt, in
Pakistan, Indonesia, and elsewhere. The United States does not
need to instigate reform so much as it needs to respond
aggressively and substantially to the opportunities that exist.
There are opportunities. There is reform. We should get behind
it.
Since the events of September 2001, United States education
assistance levels have increased substantially, particularly in
Asia, in Near East, less so in other regions. There now are
programs in Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia, in the
Philippines, and under development for Sri Lanka.
The main concerns are that the programs still are
relatively narrowly focused on primary education and on
quantitative measures. There's great pressure to demonstrate
short-term impacts--schools built, teachers trained, textbooks
provided, rising examination scores.
However, education systems change slowly and incrementally.
Advances toward more tolerant and resilient societies are first
demonstrated by increased participation in education decisions,
more open and informed public debate about education policies,
and increased public accountability at all levels, particularly
at the level of the school. Much more effort is needed on
education standards, objective data and data-management
systems, monitoring and reporting systems.
Achieving broad agreement on what good education is, or
should be, and what parents have a right to expect, is the
essential first step toward the participation needed for
accountability and progress. A great deal can be done, and is
being done by nongovernment organizations supporting programs
for specific communities and needy populations. However,
sustainable reform requires public leadership, comprehensive
planning, and broad mobilization. The most effective reforms
include efforts to decentralize education systems, improving
accountability, allowing flexibility, and creating support for
local initiatives. Additional resources would be used
effectively both to expand the current programs and to support
emerging priorities. My recommendations are for increased
attention to media and technology, quality standards, early-
childhood development, and secondary education. Those are
discussed more in the prepared statement.
There's been success with the use of television and radio
to support instruction and enrich the learning environment. The
United States-supported Alam Simsim Program in Egypt has been
extraordinarily successful, and has now been extended to 21
other countries. Information technologies also are needed as
management tools for the more data-intensive approaches to
quality improvement. These areas of media and the application
of information technologies are areas of particular strength
and experience in the United States. There is a lot that we can
offer in this area.
Performance standards are key to managing for results, as
well as to increasing accountability and parent support for
reforms. Improving data management and measurement tools are
among the most cost effective and politically acceptable
strategies for external support of national reforms, improving
management and accountability at all levels.
Quality early-childhood development addresses the needs of
the whole child, not just preschool education. Community-based
programs are particularly effective, engaging parents with the
learning needs of children and helping to strengthen local
civil-society organizations. Such strategies also help in
supporting new leadership roles, social and economic
opportunities for women.
Young people, 12 to 15, in all cultures face decisions
about their identity and future. Discouraged or alienated
adolescents are potentially dangerous, especially where there
are few roles other than illicit occupations or militant
political movements. A priority area for new initiatives is the
development of new models of lower secondary education,
operating at a smaller scale (so that they can get closer to
the communities) with integrated learner-centered curriculum,
cross-trained educators, and effective use of media and
technology. The United States could lead such an effort and
help to set that agenda.
Secondary education also should include work-related skills
development. The preferred strategy is to integrate skills
development in the general secondary curriculum, including
problem solving, critical-thinking skills, and other soft
skills. I do not recommend vocational/technical education
programs at the secondary level.
With respect to madrasas, there are good reasons to be
concerned about some of the organizations supporting madrasas
and other forms of Islamic education, particularly those which
operate outside of the purview of government. The respective
governments are aware of the political agendas of these
organizations, which, in most cases, are directed as much
against the secular nature of the government as they are
against the West in general, or the United States in
particular.
However, generalizations about the madrasas, themselves,
are very risky. The majority of Islamic schools are run by
responsible educators attempting to teach national core content
along with Islamic studies and social values. Increasingly,
these schools are being integrated as part of hybrid systems of
public education or supported directly by governments as
parallel systems of public education. There is little reason to
oppose such integration. Particularly in the poorer countries,
it is difficult to see how the universal education goals can be
met without some reliance on privately initiated, funded, and
managed schools, including the religious schools.
The major danger in many communities is the lack of
education opportunities of any kind and low quality of existing
schooling, particularly for the poor and rural. Raising the
quality of public education, including addressing the issues of
inappropriate content, should be the priority. Strategies of
direct support for madrasas with externally funded inputs are
not recommended. Many, perhaps most, Islamic education
organizations or associations would be reluctant to accept such
support, particularly if it's aimed, or seen to be aimed, at
influencing content or reducing autonomy. Further, the
political backlash against any initiative perceived as
externally directed or influenced may reduce the ability of
governments to work with external assistance on other aspects
of needed reforms and improvements of the public education
systems.
In conclusion, addressing the needs of education reform for
all, and in all countries, is among the most strategic steps
the United States can take toward helping countries become more
tolerant, democratic, open to new ideas, and capable of
participating in the changing global economy. There is much
more to be done, and the United States has many opportunities
for leadership.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Method follows:]
Prepared Statement of Frank J. Method, Director, Education Policy and
Systems Group, Research Triangle Institute, Washington, DC
INTRODUCTION
Education systems do more than educate children; they build
nations. Education reform must be about more than the schools, and the
pedagogic inputs to education; it also must be about how education
decisions are made, how resources are mobilized and distributed, how
societies address special needs and the rights of all learners, how the
school systems are accountable to parents and communities, and what
options parents have if they are dissatisfied with the education their
children are receiving.
The achievement of quality education, for all, is one of the most
important challenges of our times. It is one of the most powerful ways
of affirming basic rights and supporting positive changes in the lives
of children as well as their households, communities, and nations.
Improvements in education opportunities for girls and other
disadvantaged or marginalized populations are particularly important,
affecting not just their personal opportunities and choices but also
the health, economic, and social progress of the larger societies. The
positive and lasting effects of expanding education opportunities and
improving the quality of education are well documented, and the policy
priorities for doing so are a basis for international cooperation as
well as for national investments. In fragile states and for countries
such as those in the Arab world and South Asia where there are
challenges of political legitimacy and social cohesion, the efforts
required to achieve quality education for all are central to national
reform.
Assisting countries to accomplish this priority agenda, fully and
well, should be one of the assistance priorities for the United States.
There is no better investment in terms of meeting basic human needs,
the affirmation of basic fights, the reduction of poverty and inequity
and accelerating social progress. There is no more necessary investment
in terms of helping countries move toward democracy, moderate their
political and social dynamics and participate effectively and
successfully in open, competitive economies.
I. Overview of United States assistance to education in Asia and the
Near East
The United States helped establish the goals for Education for All
(EFA),\1\ beginning with cosponsorship of the World Conference on
Education for All in Thailand in 1990 and continuing through the World
Education Forum (WEF) in Dakar in 2000, and the international
mobilization related to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) \2\
USAID currently cochairs the Fast Track Initiative by which funders
have committed to mobilizing the necessary funding for those countries
putting in place serious plans of action to achieve universal primary
education of acceptable quality for all students. The United States,
both through official agencies and through the involvement of the NGO
communities, can be proud of its leadership and constructive
contributions to this shared strategic agenda. It is one of the most
far-reaching initiatives of the international community and the United
States has helped shape it and support it. This effort must be
sustained and enlarged. There is much more to be done.
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\1\ See http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/index.shtml.
\2\ See http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.
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The EFA and WEF commitments are to a broad international
partnership including private sector and nongovernment communities as
well as the bilateral and multilateral funders and international
organizations. The international commitments are to support national
plans of action, led by national leaders with broad participation of
the national partners, public and private, including civil society,
nongovernment organizations and public opinion generally. UNESCO, the
World Bank, and other international organizations have taken
responsibility for ensuring that these plans are technically sound,
well-documented and monitored against agreed goals, metrics and
indicators of progress. Basic education for all is to be understood in
its broad framework of learning systems beginning in early childhood
and continuing through community-based and lifelong learning. Central
to these goals and commitments are improving instructional quality and
learning standards, with explicit attention to distributional concerns,
gender equity, and the learning needs of poor and disadvantaged
children.
Despite broad support for the EFA goals, it has been difficult to
meet the promised funding levels. In part this reflected limited funds
and the many competing priorities. In part this reflected ``bean
counting'' approaches to education and development, which left
countries making quantitative progress to rely on their own resources
for further education improvement. Until the events of September 11,
2001, forced attention to the social conditions, weak and
nonrepresentative governments and extremist political movements in much
of the developing world, including the countries of North Africa, the
Middle East, Central and South Asia, most assistance for education
improvement focused narrowly on quantitative expansion, teacher
education and better distribution of opportunities, particularly for
girls. Issues of quality, administrative and financial
decentralization, local accountability, curriculum reform, early
childhood education, and attention to youth and adults outside of
school received lesser priority.
Total USAID support for education across the Asia and Near East
Region (ANE) was only $71.8 million in fiscal year 2001, including $66
million of ESF funds. The United States played a significant role in a
few countries, but not a leading role in any. There was an important
program supporting education for girls in Morocco and a significant
program of school building in Egypt, scheduled to be completed in 2001
with no plans for further education programming.
Since fiscal year 2001 the assistance levels for the ANE Region
have increased substantially, the program priorities have broadened to
include administrative and financial reform, decentralization and local
participation and the range of countries assisted has expanded. ANE
funding for education in fiscal year 2005 is projected to be $239M
(plus any supplementals) and countries with significant education
sector programs now include Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Afghanistan, Iraq,
Pakistan, India, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Expanded programs are under
development for Yemen, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and possibly Sri
Lanka.
Each of these programs responds to the particular circumstances and
needs of the country.
They include countries undertaking major reform efforts such
as the Education Reform for a Knowledge Economy (ERfKE)
initiative in Jordan--one of the most ambitious reform efforts
anywhere, combining reforms at the early childhood, basic and
secondary levels to produce graduates with the skills needed
for the knowledge economy. The integrated strategy includes:
Governance and administrative reform, a sophisticated Education
Decision Support System (EDSS) supporting policy analysis;
effective system management, transparency and accountability
with comprehensive and coordinated educational research, policy
analysis, and monitoring and evaluation activities; and
substantial investment in school infrastructure, teacher
training and e-learning application of instructional
technologies and media. USAID is assisting with early childhood
education, teacher training for new coursework related to
business skills and development of an improved school-to-work
strategy.
They also include countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq,
where education systems need to be built or rebuilt virtually
from the ground up.
And, they include countries such as Yemen and Bangladesh,
and to some extent Pakistan, where the governments are
relatively weak, financing for education is inadequate,
corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency waste resources and
consensus on how best to achieve national education objectives
for all, in all parts of the country, does not yet exist.
In a few countries such as Morocco, assistance now includes
activities at the lower secondary level and increasing
attention to the linkages between education, workforce
development, and job growth. This reflects the growing concerns
about large numbers of youth and young adults without
employment prospects, or skills for the jobs that do exist.
In other countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan, and Egypt
the focus is on helping countries decentralize education
administration, improve local accountability, and increase the
participation of parents and community leaders.
An important new regional initiative is the Education and
Employment Alliance, supported by USAID through the
International Youth Foundation, which seeks to mobilize the
private and nonprofit sectors to work with youth in Egypt,
India, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, and the Philippines.
Additional education program support is provided regionally through
the Middle East Partnership Initiative focused on education
opportunities for girls and strategies to improve access, quality, and
skills development across the region, and through other USG programs
such as the child labor programs of the Department of Labor.
One of the encouraging emerging trends is the substantial
involvement of the U.S. private sector in support of education
improvement in the region. Private initiatives such as the Education
and Employment Foundation, initiated by Ron Bruder with $10M of his own
funds is an excellent example. Corporations such as CISCO, Microsoft,
General Electric, and others are supporting programs both through their
philanthropy and through their direct investments in programs managed
by NGOs, or in the case of CISCO, learning through a direct partnership
with the Jordanian Ministry.
For reasons that are not entirely clear, the major U.S. foundations
which played leading roles in earlier decades, including in countries
with which the United States found it difficult to work through
official mechanisms, no longer play a leading role. This is unfortunate
as the foundations can more easily and appropriately support
strengthening of the social sciences and their application to education
reform and improvement, work on sensitive issues of language and
curriculum content, research and experimentation on leading edge
approaches that cannot easily be supported by official development
assistance programs.
II.Overview of education in the region
It is possible to paint a very bleak picture of education progress
in the region. According to recent reports, up to half of adult women
in the Arab world are illiterate and more than 10 million children in
the region don't go to school. In parts of South Asia, illiteracy rates
and the numbers of children not in school are even higher. Countries
have large young populations. Examination scores are low, both against
the standards of the countries and against international comparative
measures. The physical quality of schools in rural areas is often very
low, sometimes little more than the shade of a tree or a building
without adequate water and sanitation. In urban areas schools typically
are very crowded, often double-shifted, and frequently in buildings
such as large former residences not built as schools. Class sizes of 60
children or higher are not uncommon. Teacher training is inadequate,
supervision ranges from bureaucratic and political to inattentive,
absenteeism is unacceptably high, morale and incentives tend to be low,
and in-service professional support is unsystematic and infrequent.
Dropout rates are high and for all but the best students and students
able to afford private education options, access to secondary education
is limited and inequitably distributed. Even comparatively wealthy
states such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait lag badly in terms of EFA goals,
particularly in terms of the education of girls and the commitment to
educate all children.
However, I do not share the bleak view. Progress is being made and
it is possible to make further and faster progress with increased
assistance and better national leadership. Substantially more resources
are needed and could be used effectively both for existing programs and
for complementary activities such as secondary expansion and
improvement (particularly lower secondary), early childhood
development, increased emphasis on workforce development and work-
related skills (not necessarily vocational-technical training in the
schools), administrative decentralization and management improvement,
improved monitoring, measurement and accountability systems.
Unquestionably, there are very large quantitative problems, most
countries remain relatively poor and there are serious problems of
distributional equity and access, particularly for girls but also for
rural areas, cultural and linguistic minorities. Improving these
systems will take time, 10-15 years minimum, and the changes will come
slowly and incrementally. There is no quick fix, nor is there any
inexpensive or risk-free and politically easy strategy. Progress will
take sustained leadership, funding, technical and administrative
expertise. It also will take a difficult combination of patient
confidence in long-term strategies and the courage to take short-term
risks and to learn from mistakes.
The encouraging trend is that most countries have now put in place
plans for moving toward Education for All. These are uneven and it
remains to be seen whether the countries will have the political will
to actually implement the plans fully and the international community
will honor the commitments to mobilize resources to help these
countries achieve the EFA objectives. But, they do exist and are a
basis for action and investment, as well as a benchmark for monitoring
progress. UNESCO, the World Bank, and others, including USAID, provide
important support for improving data systems, monitoring and assessment
against agreed goals and internationally monitored indicators of
progress. Further encouraging is that most countries are making
quantitative progress, albeit more slowly than they need to achieve.
Youth literacy rates for the 15-24-year-olds are rising along with
schooling rates and gender parity is improving in all but a few
countries, particularly Yemen, Saudi Arabia, parts of Pakistan and
Bangladesh. A third basis for optimism is, there is beginning to be
more partnership with the private sector and broader consensus across
the public sector that education reform, expansion, and qualitative
improvement is essential for achieving social objectives, maintaining
political cohesion and stability, and creating the conditions for
investment and job creation. Finally, there now is substantial
expertise in the region. A few countries such as Tunisia, Jordan, and
Qatar are becoming exemplars for the region and there is increasing
potential for regional cooperation and exchange.
This growing public policy consensus and broad support, reaching
well beyond the sectoral concerns of most educators, is articulated in
the series of Arab Human Development Reports. For example, the 2003
Arab Human Development Report addressed the ``knowledge deficit'' in
the Arab world, suggesting that overhauling the region's outdated
education systems is necessary for future economic prosperity and human
development. The report noted that Arabs themselves need to drive this
process of change, drawing from their rich cultural, linguistic, and
intellectual heritages.
The same point should be kept in mind for all countries of the
region. Assistance is much needed, and welcomed in most countries, but
it is the national leaders, public and private and at all levels, who
must assess and understand their issues, build consensus, take the
political risks and make the budgetary and administrative commitments
to drive aggressive national plans of action. There is much the
international community can do to provide technical support and
critically needed inputs, but sustainable and effective reform leading
to full mobilization to achieve quality education for all has to be
nationally led, owned, and managed. There is much that can be done, and
is being done, working through nongovernment organizations and
alternative schooling systems in countries that have not yet made such
commitments. Such programs often are very innovative and effective in
addressing specific needs, particularly for poor and marginal
populations, girls and women and others not being effectively reached
by public education programs. However, other outcomes resulting from
the building of national systems of public education, and the
administrative and accountability reforms necessary to build such
systems fully and effectively, will not be achieved by strategies
bypassing the weaknesses of public administration and public
leadership.
Public funding, public policy, and public administration of public
schools will continue, for better or worse, to be the dominant
influence in most countries (Lebanon may be the exception). To effect
major changes in these systems, donors must work within the framework
of national leadership and national plans of action. This is often very
delicate and cannot be externally driven except at the margins.
The Chairman. Well, I thank you very much, Mr. Method, for
your testimony.
We'll now have a period of questioning. The Chair regrets
to announce that a Democratic Senator or Senators have objected
to the committee meeting 2 hours after the Senate came in.
Thank goodness we started early. And so, it would appear that
we will be able to continue until 11:45. But I mention that
because we will have a period of questioning, and then we want
to hear the other witnesses, likewise, and have an opportunity
for their testimony today.
Let me begin by pointing out that you have all made a
distinction between the preoccupation of many in the United
States on the madrasas schools--which you all see, at least in
Pakistan, and perhaps elsewhere, as a very real concern--and
the much broader concern of the public school movement, as a
whole.
I think you, Mr. Burki, pointed out that many students who
are alienated by their public school experience, or lack of it,
may be as hostile to their countrymen and the rest of the
world, as those who have special indoctrination. Perhaps so.
But, in any event, it indicates, as both you and Dr. Ahmed have
pointed out, the enormity of the problem. You're suggesting
that 4 percent, perhaps, of the GNP of Pakistan should be
devoted to education. Obviously, only a small fraction of that
is happening. Generous contributions by the U.S. Government, or
other governments, are going to supplement this. But Pakistan
is a very large country with many students, as you pointed out.
Perhaps close to half of the entire population is in what you
might say an educable area. That is a big figure.
What is reasonable, in terms of the economic development of
Pakistan? I don't mean to dwell entirely on that country, but
clearly it's a country in which GNP is rising. I suspect that
per capita income is rising, although I'm not certain of that,
given population increases. What is a reasonable percentage in,
say, an intermediate period, 10 years of time? Four? One? One
and a half? In other words, if you were taking a look at this
from the rest of the world, and you keep mentioning, strongly,
to Pakistani leaders, ``Spend more on education,'' and then
there is a pushback factor there, and they're saying, ``Listen,
you don't understand all of the problems that we have. We're
not a wealthy country, and we're developing rapidly, but we can
only do so much,'' can you give us some parameters of what the
argument should be?
Mr. Burki. Mr. Chairman, at this point Pakistan is spending
less than 2 percent of its GDP----
The Chairman. I see.
Mr. Burki [continuing]. On education. There is virtual
consensus amongst development people that a country should
spend more than 4 percent; preferably, 5 percent of GDP. So
Pakistan has to double its expenditure, in terms of GDP, from 2
to 4 percent.
I gather that this is the program that the government has
launched at the urging of the donors, that this would, indeed,
happen over the next 3 to 5 years.
The Chairman. In 3 to 5 years, a doubling might happen?
Mr. Burki. A doubling will happen. That is their intention.
Which also include--includes the money that is coming in from
outside. A total of $1.34 billion have been committed by
various donors to--for the support of education in Pakistan.
These are over different periods of time. The World Bank is the
largest donor, with about $600 million of soft money and
grants. Asian Development Bank is also quite active in this.
The United States is putting in $100 million. There are several
countries who have converted their debt into grants for
education.
So, my expectation is that by the year 2010, 5 years from
now, if everything goes well, Pakistan should be spending what
developing countries normally spend on education; that is to
say, about 4 percent of GDP. My expectation is that about one-
fourth of this will come from the outside.
The Chairman. So, maybe 1 percent of the 4?
Mr. Burki. One percent of the four will come from outside.
The Chairman. Outside.
Mr. Burki. It will be the donor money.
There is also a great deal of money which is now being sent
to Pakistan by way of contribution by the diasporas in the
United States and in Britain for educational reform. I have not
seen any numbers on this, but it is a significant amount, and
it is increasing. And it is my suggestion that that money
should also be used in a way that it adds to the development of
education.
The Chairman. Is the diaspora----
Mr. Burki. Mr. Chairman----
The Chairman [continuing]. In any way organized? Are
Pakistanis in the United States----
Mr. Burki. Yes, diaspora is organized. It has--taking
advantage of your tax laws, a number of nongovernment
organizations have been set up in this country, which hold
various functions around the United States and raise money.
There is an intention on the part of some of these
organizations, not to establish new schools, not to spend money
on new brick and mortar, but to go to the government and say,
``Well, why don't you sell this school to us, or sell this
university to us, and we will take it over, and we will improve
it, on the condition that we will provide education to poor
children, so we will not charge a large amount of money.''
The Indian diaspora has been very successful in doing
something very similar, and some of us have been talking to the
Indians to learn some lessons from their initiatives.
In terms of the amount of income that the Indian diaspora
has, it is much greater than Pakistan's, but then India is 10
times as large as Pakistan. So, in terms of proportion of GDP
generated by the Pakistanis working in the United States, it is
one of the largest diasporas in the world, and willing to
contribute a lot of money for the social welfare of their own
country.
Mr. Chairman, you also asked me the question about economic
performance in Pakistan. It has been good in the last 2 or 3
years. Last year, the gross domestic product increased at the
rate of 6.1 percent. Population increased at 2.2 percent, which
means that there was a 3.9 percent increase in per capita
income. This year, the government expects the increase in GDP
to be above 7 percent; so, population increasing at 2 percent
will mean a GDP per capita increase of 5 percent.
Now, these are gross numbers. These are aggregate numbers.
Pakistan is a country in which income distribution is highly
skewed. The top 10 percent of the population earns much more
than the bottom 10 percent of the population than is normal for
most developing countries. So, because of the skewness in the
distribution of income, when GDP increases, a significant part
of it goes into the pockets of the rich, rather than the poor,
and that is a problem which can only be solved through
education and creating employment opportunities and so on.
I just want to reiterate what I said earlier, that things--
developments are in the right direction in Pakistan. But
Musharraf's government--I think my colleague Samina Ahmed was
alluding to this in her own presentation--has been not always
willing to take on the forces of conservatism. And I think
where the donor community could come in, is to persuade
Musharraf and his colleagues that it is extremely important to
move the country toward modernity, rather than toward
obscurantism. And there are sometimes efforts to move the
country forward toward modernization, but then the molvees, the
mullahs, come in and they make a lot of noise, and the
government does backtrack in several different ways.
The Chairman. Dr. Bassem, let me ask the same question to
you about the experience in Jordan. How much of the GNP of
Jordan is devoted to education? And what is the goal of the
country in that respect?
Dr. Awadallah. We are actually spending more than 4 percent
of GDP on education. Most of the expenditure, however, has been
in recurring--in current expenditure. And until we developed
this Education for Reform Initiative, very little was spent on
capital expenditure. We were reliant on donor assistance,
particularly on loans from the World Bank, in order to
construct new schools; and those were project loans, they were
not part of an overall strategy for reform.
It was only in 1999 that we started thinking about this
through a public/private partnership, and it took us about 2
years to put the plans together. In the year 2001, when we came
up with the social and economic transformation plan, one of its
major tenets was educational reform. So that's when we came up
with all the requirements for educational reform--the
construction of new schools, the computerization of the
schools, the linking of the schools through a highspeed
broadband network, the training of the teachers, the
educational platform, the revamping of the content, the
introduction of e-learning. All of these formed the component
of education reform for the knowledge economy.
We brought all the donors together, and we asked USAID, we
asked the Japanese, we asked the Europeans, we asked the
Canadians, we asked the World Bank, we asked some of the Arab
gulf funds that have given us loans, as well, for this project,
we asked the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, and other
donors--we asked them all to form a donor group, which will
support the educational reform in Jordan. Obviously, their
support has to be matched but what--by what we come up with, in
terms of our budget. So it has been more or less a 50-50 split
between what the donor community has provided us for the
educational reform, and what we have come up with, out of our
domestic revenues in the budget in order to accelerate and go
ahead with this reform plan.
The first phase of this education reform for the knowledge
economy is 500 million U.S. dollars. That's the cost of it. And
that will take us into the year 2007 to 2008. The second phase
will complete the cycle, and we will get rid of the double
shifts, which were referred to earlier. There were major
constraints, social constraints, especially with regards to
girls and women going to school, especially during the
wintertime, when the sun sets at early hours and families will
not allow, socially, their girls to go out of their houses
after 3:30 or 4 p.m. in the afternoon. So we had to deal with
the double shifts in many of the schools. We had to deal with a
lot of the schools in rural areas which were not really
schools; they were one rooms, which had a blackboard, and it
was a small room taking more than 40 or 50 students. We had to
attend to all of these issues, and we are making a marked
improvement, in terms of the educational reform.
One thing, Mr. Chairman, that I want to mention is,
educational reform is extremely important at the primary level;
but, as the Doctor mentioned, the tertiary level is extremely
important. When we speak about higher education, it's even more
important. One of the key areas that His Majesty the King has
focused on is the Shari'ah teaching. Because we noticed that
the rejects of the educational system, those who come last on
their scores, on their high school scores, get into the
Shari'ah schools, or the Shari'ah departments at the different
universities. And those are the ones who turn out to become the
preachers in the mosques, and who captivate their audiences
every Friday at noon prayers, and captivate them into thinking
what they would like them to think.
We really think that the preaching and the Shari'ah
teaching in universities should be done along the lines of the
law degrees in the United States. It should be a post-graduate
curriculum, rather than an undergraduate curriculum. And this
is what we are working on right now, in terms of reforming our
higher education system in order to make sure that we address
this issue.
Beyond the Shari'ah discipline, I think just focusing on
areas of vocational training--and I agree with you, sir, that
perhaps vocational training should not be part of the
educational training, but it should be a separate, parallel
system that would cater to the requirements of the labor
market. And herein, as I said, is the major challenge which we,
in Jordan, have yet to face, matchmaking the output of the
educational process with the requirements of the labor market,
not only in Jordan, but across the Middle East. And this is
something which is extremely important.
In the past, we've relied on gulf countries to absorb
Jordanian labor force. Over the last few years, we've seen, in
the gulf countries, a nationalization effort. They do not
import labor from Arab countries as much as they used to,
before. We've noticed that visa requirements and immigration to
the Western, more-advanced countries has been sharply
curtailed, which necessitates the need for us to create more
jobs for our growing labor market. And this is not only unique
for Jordan, this is across the Middle East and North African
region; indeed, for the Bemina region.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. That's a very important point. We are talking
about education and expansion, how vital that is, but each of
you, in your own way, has testified that there has to be
something after, that there has to be something there--a job, a
career, an opportunity--or else you have another dislocation in
society that is very disquieting.
I just wanted to ask you, Mr. Method, as you take a look at
several countries in your purview--we've had very, very good
testimony about Pakistan and Jordan--is their experience
unique? Can you generalize, in any respect, about the countries
that you have surveyed, and how much they are spending, how
much they're obtaining from outside the job picture, as related
to these elements we've been discovering in Pakistan and
Jordan?
Mr. Method. It's difficult to generalize----
The Chairman. Yes, of course.
Mr. Method [continuing]. Across this set of countries that
covers several continents. Most countries are underspending. I
think one of the things to keep in mind is that it's a matter
of the political commitment that is made to achieving this
objective that drives the funding. That's part of what I meant
when we talked about the importance of emphasizing all--the
political will to make difficult changes--where it's treated as
an imperative, you know, no excuses, ``You've got to do it,
like we do in the United States.'' Somehow, governments have to
find a way to raise those funds.
In most of the countries of the region, it's not treated as
an imperative. It's treated as a public-administration task.
People start with, ``All right, this is how much we have for
resources. How are we going to allocate it?'' And that
allocation becomes a political process, rather than some kind
of categorical commitment. By moving it to a categorical
commitment--and I think external donors can help to move it
there--you force changes in fiscal policy, you force
politically difficult decisions as to who's going to be taxed.
Pakistan could raise considerably more funds if it had the
political will and the political strength--and it is a fragile
government--to take on some of the feudal landholding practices
in the 20 families or so that control much of the wealth in
Pakistan.
The Chairman. Let me interject to point out that in your
testimony, you point to Jordan, Tunisia, and Qatar as models
for reform. Do they have political will or some framework for
achievement? Likewise, are they small countries, as opposed to
large populations, and, therefore, do they have better hope of
a comprehensive plan becaise they have fewer persons to work
with?
Mr. Method. Clearly, in Jordan, the fact that the King (and
the Queen) took a personal interest in this and made it happen,
helped to make it happen. In Qatar, the sheik and the sheikha
have taken a personal interest, and have driven that very hard.
I think Tunisia has done better than others. Jordan is
trying to do somewhat the same, trying to change the
relationship to the employing sectors--much more consultation
with the employers, many more forms of advisory mechanisms,
much more of a demand-side approach to achieving education--
whereas, other countries still are rather stuck in an
unreformed curriculum that is relatively rigid, that tries to
supply people to the labor market without really knowing what
the labor market wants, that tends to overemphasize the hard
technical skills and underemphasize the soft skills that
employers want, in terms of information-seeking capacities,
critical-thinking skills, ability to work in teams, all of
those aspects. I think that's one of the areas for further
emphasis.
I do also agree that there needs to be--I don't know about
equal attention--but certainly serious attention to the
tertiary education systems. I would like to see more variants
of the U.S. community-college model being adapted in these
countries. I think that that's a very effective way of linking
the schooling system to the world of work, intermediating with
the employers through a variety of advisory mechanisms, the
consultative mechanisms that shape those community colleges.
The Chairman. Well, you touched, each of you, in a way,
upon the jobs issue. At least two of you have mentioned that
there may be greater problems in students, from the countries
we're discussing today, finding work in the United States. Is
this a part of what I touched upon in my introductory
statement, namely our current visa restrictions? Or is there
more reticence with exchange programs and work-study programs?
Maybe this is not an area that you have studied, but certainly
in the past this has been an outlet for many talented persons.
This committee has been seized with the issue with a task
force, as I mentioned, in talking with Assistant Secretaries of
State and Homeland Security and the executives at NIH and what
have you, who have testified about what a great contribution,
particularly graduate students are making in our medical
research institutions, or, for that matter, in our engineering
colleges. But this is obviously changing, because we have
apparently put more barriers in those areas, or more
opportunities are found elsewhere, and people are not selecting
to come here. I'm curious as to whether you have any comments
in this general area.
Yes, Dr. Bassem.
Dr. Awadallah. Mr. Chairman, thank you for raising this
issue. If you look at the talent that is present from many
countries--Pakistan, maybe Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt--you
find enormous talent, particularly in the United States, but
also in Europe--but, in particular, in the United States--that
has found equal opportunity here, that has found the ability to
come and contribute to American society, to American knowledge.
And they have gone back to their countries and to contribute to
the improvement of life in their own countries. And they are
good emissaries and ambassadors of the American way of life and
of what America stands for, because they experienced equal
opportunity and freedom in this country.
We are terribly worried about what is happening right now.
We do understand, obviously, the security considerations, but
this should not be, in any way, used to stop the flow of people
who are coming into this country. Today, you look at the
Jordanian Cabinet, and over three-quarters of the ministers in
the Jordanian Cabinet were educated in the United States.
The Chairman. Very interesting.
Dr. Awadallah. Now, in--if the situation continues like it
is today, in 20, 30 years time this is not going to be the
case. Now you will see that the dichotomy in Iraq, people who
have been closed in Iraq for the last 30 years under Saddam
Hussein. They have no idea what the United States is all about.
Probably all they know about the United States today is just
military occupation, and they do not know anything about
American values, they do not know anything about American
freedom. Whereas, people who lived in the United States, Iraqis
who lived in the United States and who have gone back now to
Iraq, see the United States in a different light. Same applies
for Palestinians. Same applies for Syrians or Egyptians. And it
is a very important point, which I hope that the administration
will attend to.
Thank you.
The Chairman. Well, I didn't want to generalize the point,
but I'd just underline the fact that, in terms of our so-called
public diplomacy--and we are still working at this arduously--
we have these opportunities that have come, historically, as
you say, with this high percentage of the Cabinet of Jordan.
This is certainly true of the young people in the Rose
Revolution in Georgia, for example. I had the privilege of
entertaining six of them, 6 years ago in the Senate dining
room, without any idea that they were going to be ministers in
Georgia. But the fact is that we can give our money, and some
of our institutions are working, but it's another thing if a
Pakistani or a Jordanian or a Tunisian, who has some idea of
what goes on in this country, and liked it, in fact, later
becomes the leader for reform, or among that leadership, in his
or her home country. We're all talking about some indigenous,
homegrown qualities. But, as you say, if people have no idea--
isolated in Iraq, for example, all these years--as to what in
the world we are doing here, then an injection of money
suddenly may have some benefit, but not nearly what we think,
and perhaps not in the forms that we find is compatible with
local needs. So I appreciate your making that point.
Yes, Doctor.
Mr. Burki. Mr. Chairman, I'd just like to reinforce what
you're saying. The change that has come about, possibly,
because of 9/11, has produced an enormous amount of resentment
in Pakistan, particularly amongst people who are naturally
friends of the United States. If you go back into my country's
history, you will see that, for the first 20 years after
Pakistan was born, in 1947, the preferred destination for
higher education was Britain. I went there as an undergraduate,
myself. This was Colonial-linked, and so on. But about the mid-
1960s, it began to change, and the preferred destination,
therefore, became the United States. And up until very
recently, something like 10,000 students used to come to the
United States. Not all of them went back, but even those who
stayed back have performed very good service for their country.
I keep on talking about diaspora. These are the members of
diaspora who are now heavily engaged in the development of
their own country.
So, I would like to just reinforce what you're saying, Mr.
Chairman, that, as a part of United States public policy, it is
extremely important to reopen the United States to students in
Pakistan and other Muslim countries, rather than make it more
difficult for these people to access your wonderful
institutions.
I have just finished reading Tom Friedman's excellent book
called ``The World is Flat,'' and the picture that he paints of
the world is a picture of which Pakistan should be a part,
which is supplying services to the aging populations of the
United States, Japan, Germany, and so on, without migrating to
these countries, but acquiring those skills first by coming
over here, and then going back to their own countries.
So, we've got to get that thing started once again. It has
been interrupted by 9/11, but I hope wiser counsels will
prevail and access, once again, would become available to
frustrated students becoming angry because they find it so
difficult to gain access that they desperately want.
The Chairman. Dr. Ahmed.
Dr. Ahmed. Mr. Chairman, there was a question raised at the
beginning of this testimony which was on arms sales, and I will
link it to what you have said now. With the money that the
United States is providing for education reform, the United
States is winning a lot of goodwill within Pakistan. These are
not children of families that can come to the United States to
study. Only the elite can do that. And that's, as Mr. Burki
said, a very thin layer of Pakistani society.
And let's not assume that money and wealth means
leadership, not here in the United States, where opportunities
are present for people to find their way up the ladder just
like that; in Pakistan, with the opportunities being present,
we would hope to see that leadership emerge from all classes of
society, not just for young people who are economically mobile
and socially mobile.
So, here is a thing that I think we need to understand. It
is also the type of assistance given and where it's visible. In
some of the areas that I have actually seen USAID projects,
there's virtually nothing, but there's a little bit of money.
It's not very much, but it's made a difference.
What does Pakistan need? And this was a question that was
raised earlier on. You had asked that question, and I'd like to
add to the answer that you gave. It is a question of political
will. It is a question of saying, ``This is a priority for my
country,'' not, ``We are poor, and we can't afford it, and
we'll wait for another 5 years, and we'll have another, God
knows, how many more children who will probably be out in the
streets or in madrasas.'' That will come from leadership, and
that leadership, unfortunately, is lacking. The United States
is making a contribution, and we would hope that that
contribution would be in these areas that Pakistan so
desperately needs--in social-sector development, in education,
in health.
If you actually look at the indicators--pick any indicator,
it really doesn't matter--it's abysmal.
The Chairman. Well, we thank you very much for that wisdom.
I thank the entire panel, and I appreciate, so much, your
papers, which will be made a part of our record, and, equally,
your thoughtful responses to these questions. We look forward
to staying in touch with you. You are good friends of the
committee, and good friends of all the ideals that we have
talked about today. And we thank you.
The Chair would like to call, now, the witnesses who will
be a part of our second panel.
[Pause.]
The Chairman. The Chair would like to call the meeting back
to order.
We are very honored to have, as a distinguished panel, Ms.
Elizabeth Cheney, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
for Near Eastern Affairs, the United States Department of
State; and Mr. James Kunder, Assistant Administrator for Asia
and the Near East, in USAID.
I'll ask you to testify in the order in which I have
introduced you. As in the case of the first panel, your full
prepared statements will be made a part of the record. We will
ask you to summarize, hopefully in about a 10-minute period,
and then we will ask questions.
Ms. Cheney.
STATEMENT OF ELIZABETH CHENEY, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT
SECRETARY FOR NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
WASHINGTON, DC
Ms. Cheney. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for the
opportunity to be here and to speak with you this morning about
what is a really critically important issue of education reform
in the broader Middle East.
I think that, as we gather today, we really are in a moment
of historic opportunity for the people of the Middle East. I
think if you look at, sort of, what's happened across the
region in the last several months--beginning with the elections
in Afghanistan, the elections then in the West Bank and Gaza,
the elections in Iraq, the assassination of Prime Minister
Hariri, and the uprising from the people of Lebanon since then,
as well as the Saudi elections, the very bold announcement by
President Mubarak that he will, in fact, be pushing for
constitutional reform and multiparty elections in Egypt, the
reforms that you heard about on the part of the Jordanians, in
terms of their economic reforms, educational reforms, and
political reforms--there really, I think, is a movement of
change across the region. And I think for us, in the U.S.
Government, the task is to do everything we can to help support
that change.
I think it's a critical element for us in securing long-
term victory in the war on terror that we do everything we can
to provide hope and opportunity to the region's young people,
in particular. And I think that means focusing on reforming
schools so that we are sure they teach tolerance, so we're sure
that they guarantee that people have the skills they need to
compete in the 21st century economy, ensuring that economic
systems are open and are growing enough so they can create
jobs, and ensuring that political systems, as well, are open so
people can have a voice in determining their own destiny and
their own future and how they're governed, and I think,
finally, and, in my opinion, perhaps most importantly, that we
work to empower women and to ensure that women across the
regions have a voice in their society as equal participants and
equal players and have access to the same opportunities that
the men and the boys in those societies do. As the President
has said, increasingly ensuring that liberty spreads in other
regions is necessary to secure our own liberty at home.
As you're aware, Mr. Chairman, 50 percent of the population
of the broader Middle East and North Africa is under the age of
20, and economies today are simply not growing quickly enough
to create jobs that those people will require once they're
entering in the labor market. We are faced, in most countries
in the region, with closed political systems, with illiteracy
rates--I think it's 75 million men across the region, and 45
million women--sorry, 75 million women and 45 million men are
illiterate today. In many countries we have a 50-percent
illiteracy rate among women. At the same time, you've got
school systems, as I said, that are failing to teach values of
tolerance and failing to equip people with the tools that they
need.
As we look at the systems that we see in place, I think, as
the U.S. Government, this means it's critical for us to support
efforts to help to reform those schools systems. We're doing a
number of things. One is working directly with Ministries of
Education in countries where they've demonstrated that they've
got a political will to make change. We provided $4.5 million,
for example, for the Jordan Education Initiative that Minister
Awadallah briefed on earlier today. We also are working at--to
ensure that our assistance is felt at a grassroots level. And
in places where we see less of a political will to change, we
want to ensure that we are doing everything we can to touch
people's lives, to teach women how to read, and to provide
scholarships both to attend school and also in English language
training.
I recently returned from--I was in Morocco last week, where
I had the opportunity to meet with some recipients of some of
our microscholarships. And it's a very impressive and effective
program, where, for a small amount of money, we're providing 9
months of English language training to high school students and
college students, college-aged students, from some of the
poorest areas around Rabat and Casablanca, and really giving
these kids an opportunity to experience a better future that
they clearly wouldn't have had otherwise.
We're working both bilaterally and multilaterally on these
issues of education reform. Multilaterally, we signaled,
beginning at the Sea Island Summit last year, that the G-8
partners are very committed. We've launched a separate G-8
education initiative, which is focused on improving school
systems and also very much focused on literacy. These goals
were reaffirmed last December in Rabat, at the Forum for the
Future, and we'll be having an educational ministerial meeting
in May at the Dead Sea in Jordan. Our Secretary of Education,
Margaret Spellings, will be representing the United States
there.
Bilaterally, the largest portion of our funds on education
reform are provided through USAID, so I'll let my colleague,
Assistant Administrator Kunder, talk about those.
From the Department of State's perspective, we've got
several different programs underway. Through our Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs, we've got approximately $356
million, which we anticipate will have a focus on the Muslim
world and on youth in the Muslim world. Issues like exchange
programs, some of the very things that the last panel was
talking about, in terms of making sure students have the
resources to come to the United States. We recognize that
that's critically important to building relationships. We also,
through ECA, are funding a teacher-training program in
Afghanistan, and our Fulbright programs across the region,
including new programs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In addition to that, we have the Middle East Partnership
Initiative, which has dedicated $75 million, out of the $293
million appropriated to the Partnership Initiative, to
education and women's literacy. And we have a number of
different programs that the Partnership Initiative is funding.
We've launched partnership schools. We're working now,
initially in Oman and Algeria, to identify schools, in
conjunction with those governments, that the Partnership
Initiative can then go into the schools and work on a whole
range of issues--work on curriculum, work on IT training,
training for the administrators and the teachers--to help use
those as pilot schools that very much can then become a model.
We also are providing translated textbooks and translated
children's books. We were guided in this by the findings in the
first Arab Human Development Report, in 2002, that demonstrated
that the numbers of books that are translated into Arabic every
year really are dwarfed by numbers across the rest of the
world, in terms of English translation, French translation,
Spanish, even Greek. So we provided a grant to help to get
textbooks and children's books into schools.
We're also providing funding to an organization called Arab
Civitas, which is focused on helping to provide citizenship
training through the schools so that students are equipped to
participate in the emerging democratic political systems.
We're also, finally, very focused on public/private
partnerships, such as the Jordan Education Initiative. And the
other model, that I think is very impressive, is the
Alexandria, Egypt, model, where the local community, the local
private sector, has taken a major role in helping to reform
those schools systems. And, through USAID in Egypt, we've
provided funding to help replicate that model in other cities
across Egypt.
In addition to these programs, we're also supporting
university partnership in 10 countries. We're funding Visiting
Student Leaders, which is another exchange program. We're
helping to provide Internet service in Yemeni High School. And
we're very much looking at how we measure the success, going
forward, of these. Some of these programs' results are
relatively easy to measure. If you're talking about literacy
training, for example, you can measure how many people you've
taught how to read. Scholarships for girls, you can measure
enrollment statistics.
It obviously becomes more difficult and will take more time
to be able to determine, you know, which programs are having a
moderating influence in society, but it's something that we
will be following closely, obviously, as we go, in the coming
months.
We're working, right now, to produce annual--our 2005
country strategies for every country across the region, which
will be looking at the whole range of foreign-policy issues we
have in our bilateral relationships, but will include,
obviously, a large portion of freedom agenda issues. And the
education reform will be central to that.
So, in closing, I think I would just like to say we'll
continue to stress the importance of education reform, both in
our policy dialogs with governments in the region, as well as
working with NGOs, and in working to ensure that we're doing
everything possible to provide tangible, real, and effective
assistance, recognizing that, in many cases, we are not the
largest or the only donor, and we need to ensure that we aren't
being duplicative. But I think there's a lot of important work
the United States can do, both at the policy level and at the
assistance level.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Cheney follows:]
Prepared Statement of Elizabeth Cheney, Principal Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, Department of State, Washington, DC
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today on the
important topic of educational reform in the Broader Middle East and
North Africa. The President's vision to promote freedom and democracy
in the region is about giving young people hope for their future--a
positive future built on the prospect of opportunity and prosperity--
that strengthens regional stability and our own national security.
In the area of education reform, we need to support efforts to
ensure that schools in the region teach tolerance and prepare students
to compete in the global economy. We need to work to improve literacy,
particularly among women. We are willing to lend our strong support to
Ministries of Education in the region that have demonstrated commitment
to reform.
We also need to do more to ensure that our assistance touches, is
seen by, and improves the lives of more people at the grassroots level
in the countries to which we provide assistance. In the area of
education, this can be achieved by making greater use of literacy
programs, scholarships for women and girls to attend school, and
support for programs--such as those in Alexandria, Egypt--that involve
the private sector in education reform.
THE CHALLENGE
Fifty percent of the region's population is under the age of 20.
Economies across the region are not growing quickly enough--and are not
sufficiently open to the outside world--to create jobs for these young
people to fill. At the same time, rigid and closed political systems do
not give citizens in many countries a voice in shaping their destiny or
choosing their leaders. Finally, too many school systems across the
region are failing to teach tolerance or to provide students with the
tools they need to compete successfully in the global marketplace.
Regional stability and a reduction in the appeal of extremism
depend on giving people in the region more power to shape their lives,
their societies, and their futures. This endeavor will require reform
of political, economic, and education systems, and the empowerment of
women. Reform efforts will need to ensure people have a democratic
voice in the governance of their countries, to strengthen the rule of
law to protect citizens' rights, to modernize economic systems in order
to create opportunity, and to facilitate access to quality education,
particularly for women and girls, so that all citizens are properly
equipped to participate fully in society.
The groundbreaking 2003 Arab Human Development Report was pivotal
in drawing attention to the critical issue of failing education systems
that produce citizens ill-equipped for the challenges of the modern
world. The authors of the report stressed this point again in the
newest Arab Human Development Report released this month. Progress in
the region is inextricably linked to strong democratic institutions and
economic growth, which are not possible without significant reforms in
educational systems.
There is no question that implementing genuine educational reform
is a difficult process that entails overcoming numerous hurdles and
working through a series of challenges. The Broader Middle East and
North Africa has some of the lowest literacy rates in the world--
particularly among women. Over 75 million women are illiterate, as are
over 45 million men. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Morocco are
countries of particular concern. In Egypt alone, over 13 million
Egyptian women contribute to a national female illiteracy rate of 56
percent--according to the United Nations.
Businesses in the region consistently report that national
education systems are not producing graduates with the skills and
qualifications needed by the private sector in order to compete in the
modern, international marketplace. Basic education needs to be relevant
to societal needs and workforce requirements if the region is to make
progress on economic growth and social development. So, support for
indigenously led efforts to train teachers, reform curricula, and
provide vocational training is also important in helping to address the
region's educational challenges.
The conversations on reform that are taking place throughout the
Broader Middle East and North Africa are encouraging. And there are
encouraging signs of change in the area of education in the region as
well. As I already mentioned, the governorate of Alexandria in Egypt
has been leading the way toward a school system characterized by
greater local-level control and by strong collaboration and involvement
on the part of parents and local businesses in shaping the education
that is provided to their children.
The United States and its allies have clearly signaled their desire
to support governments committed to education reform and to provide
them with both material support and the benefit of their international
experience.
At Sea Island, GA, the United States joined with G-8 partners and
countries of the Broader Middle East and North Africa in committing to
work together to support regional political, economic, and educational
reform efforts, including support for the improvement of educational
systems and a literacy initiative to impart literacy skills to an
additional 20 million people by 2015. At the historic Forum for the
Future in Rabat last December, G-8 and regional leaders reaffirmed
these goals and agreed to convene a meeting of Education Ministers in
Jordan this May to discuss the critical success factors necessary for
reform. The education ministerial is sure to produce robust and
constructive engagement and dialog on this key set of issues.
The key for the United States is to allocate our resources in a
targeted fashion that does not duplicate other donors' efforts. In
addition, we need to take advantage of opportunities where governments
are committed to reform.
THE RESOURCES
Over $98 billion in assistance has been provided to the Broader
Middle East and North Africa by the rest of the world over the last 10
years. According to the Development Assistance Committee of the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD countries
provided in excess of $74 billion in bilateral assistance between 1993
and 2003. The World Bank provided more than $24 billion during the same
period (primarily in loans, but also via a small number of grants).
Of the $74 billion provided by the OECD countries over the last 10
years, $4 billion went to support education; $2.4 billion of the $24
billion provided by the World Bank was directed toward education during
the same timeframe.
THE DONORS
The World Bank, and Germany and France have been the largest
providers of foreign assistance to the Broader Middle East and North
Africa in the area of education. The Bank provided over $2.4 billion in
loans and grants between 1993 and 2003, while France and Germany
provided approximately $1.5 billion each. According to the OECD, the
United States provided $290 million over the same period; all of the
U.S. money was provided in the form of grants.
The picture is somewhat different when it comes to foreign
assistance for basic education. The World Bank is by far the largest
donor; it provided over $900 million between 1993 and 2003--primarily
in loans, but also via grants. The United States took second place with
over $190 million, all provided via grant assistance.
Education reform is a difficult thing to do in any context, but
particularly in the Broader Middle East and North Africa. As I have
described, a huge amount of assistance is being provided to education
systems throughout the region. There are many programs and there are
many players. And the United States is not the biggest player in this
area either.
In recent years, the United States has significantly increased the
amount of education assistance provided to the region. In fiscal year
2005, we will dedicate almost $200 million to BMENA countries. The
fiscal year 2006 budget requests $270 million for education assistance
to BMENA countries, an increase of 37 percent over the 2005 levels.
Within the broader picture of total foreign assistance to education
reform in the Broader Middle East and North Africa, we need to focus
our activities and to ensure that we are not duplicating the effort of
others.
Looking forward, the U.S. Government will focus its technical
assistance funding on Ministries of Education, which have demonstrated
a true and tangible commitment to education system reform.
We will also focus our efforts toward the grassroots level by
providing literacy programs and scholarships to attend or stay in
school--particularly for women and young girls. In this way, we can
ensure that our assistance is not wasted, has a tangible impact upon
the lives of people in the countries we are assisting, is visible at
the street level and achieves results.
In countries where government Ministries of Education have
demonstrated a commitment to reform, we will, of course, stand ready to
provide governments with the best support that we can mobilize. This
means not just funding, but it also means concerted action together
with other donors to make the fruits of international experience in
reforming education systems available to our partners in the region.
As you know, Mr. Chairman, the United States Government has three
primary avenues through which it directs bilateral assistance to
education and educational exchanges in the Broader Middle East and
North Africa:
(1) USAID through development assistance and economic support
funds;
(2) The Department of State's Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs; and
(3) The U.S. Middle East Partnership Initiative's policy and
program initiatives.
My colleague, Mr. Kunder, will speak in more detail about USAID's
activities in the region. I would like to take a moment to describe the
Department of State's activities in the area of education reform.
The Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs (ECA) promotes democracy and reform through global exchange
programs. With a 2005 appropriation of $356 million, ECA exchanges will
target youth and youth influencers around the world. ECA's special
emphasis will be on countries with significant Muslim populations in
order to reinforce positive trends toward economic and societal change
through professional and academic exchanges.
ECA sponsors a number of programs which support teachers and
teacher-trainers from the region, particularly in English language
instruction, and provides them with firsthand opportunities to learn
about the U.S. educational system, the principles of student-centered
teaching, effective democratic school governance, and parental
involvement.
For example, the Afghanistan Teacher Education Project has brought
more than 60 women educators from Afghanistan to the United States to
enhance their professional and teacher training skills.
Similarly, the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant
program places new English language teachers from the Broader Middle
East and North Africa on United States campuses for one academic year.
They teach Arabic and other regional languages, and enroll in United
States studies and/or English as a Second Language (ESL) methodology
classes. Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco have been regular participants in
the program.
THE U.S. MIDDLE EAST PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE (MEPI)
Let me now turn more directly to MEPI and its contribution to
combating terrorism through education. Through MEPI we are linking the
President's vision for democracy and freedom to our policy dialog with
governments in the Middle East. As such, MEPI partners with those
countries that have demonstrated a clear, political commitment to
enacting reform in the education sector.
The U.S. Middle East Partnership Initiative has received $293
million in appropriations since its inception. Close to a quarter of
these funds, or approximately $70 million, is being spent--in some
cases in countries unserved by USAID--on promoting educational reform.
MEPI's specific emphasis is on: Improving the quality of basic
education; expanding access to basic education for all people,
especially girls and women; and promoting skills development compatible
with workforce needs.
The President's 2006 budget requested $30 million for MEPI's
education reform efforts. Of MEPI's current funding, 25 percent
supports programs that facilitate curriculum reform, teacher training,
and community and private sector involvement in education.
Based on new, innovative models, MEPI has helped launch creative
alternatives for improving the quality of, and access to, education for
children in the primary and secondary levels through its Partnership
Schools Program. This program allows MEPI to promote school autonomy in
systems that have traditionally been very centralized. MEPI anticipates
that by fall 2005 we will be able to conduct an initial assessment of
the impact of the program's innovative instructional and management
methods in the classroom, and how the methodology translates into
actual enhanced autonomy and freedom of choice among students,
teachers, and institutions.
The 2002 Arab Human Development Report noted that the Arab world
translates about 330 books annually, one-fifth the number that Greece
translates. The authors of the report also noted that the cumulative
total of books translated since the times of Caliph Maa'moun (9th
century) is 100,000, almost the average that Spain translates in 1
year.
In an effort to encourage independent reading, critical thinking,
and analytical skills in young readers, MEPI launched ``My Arabic
Library,'' a major program that provides colorful and interesting
Arabic language reading materials to third and fourth grade classrooms
in the region. MEPI can demonstrate that this program is having a
tangible impact. Three thousand schools will receive more than 1
million books, targeting approximately 120,000 students and 6,000
teachers at its launch. In the long term, the program will contribute
to a substantive change in the approach toward education.
MEPI is targeted to respond quickly to emerging opportunities and
to respond with programs targeted at the individual challenges faced by
each country. Through the Arab Civitas civic education program, which
is implemented in primary and secondary schools, MEPI also provides
support to countries in the region wanting to build public awareness of
civic rights and responsibilities. The program promotes an
understanding of, and commitment to, democratic values and principles.
MEPI also has the flexibility to craft public-private partnerships
to bring about effective education reform efforts. In Jordan, MEPI has
partnered with the Ministry of Education and Cisco Learning to develop
the Jordan Education Initiative, which provides a high-quality on-line
curriculum and teacher training programs in the field of English.
MEPI's education programs provide viable options and effective tools
for people in the region who seek to implement reform in a manner that
offers security and prosperity for all of their people.
We are in the process of working with our Embassies and USAID
missions to update our country strategies in the area of reform,
including education, and would be happy to discuss these with the
committee as the process unfolds.
CONCLUSION
In closing, Mr. Chairman, the United States Government will
continue to stress the need for positive change in education in our
ongoing dialog and relationships in the Broader Middle East and North
Africa and beyond. Where governments demonstrate a commitment to reform
we will work closely with them to help make their efforts succeed. We
will also focus our effort toward the grassroots level where we can be
assured that our resources will have a tangible impact on individuals
and their education.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you. I look forward
to your questions and to our discussion of this important issue.
The Chairman. Well, thank you very much, Ms. Cheney. We are
especially appreciative, in the construct of the hearing, that
we've heard from four distinguished witnesses, who have given
us a view of the situations in individual countries. We are
equally privileged to have a response by persons who, as you
have illustrated in a very comprehensive way with a variety of
programs, are attempting to understand, to listen, and to meet
those requirements.
We have asked our second witness to carry on in that
spirit. Mr. Kunder, we're delighted to have you here, and would
you give your testimony?
STATEMENT OF JAMES KUNDER, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR ASIA AND
THE NEAR EAST, U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT,
WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Kunder. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do very much
appreciate your calling the hearing. I know it's obligatory to
say that, but it really does help us focus our analysis when
you call these kinds of hearings.
I wanted to start off by introducing you to four of the
newest recruits in the global war on terrorism. These are Ikri
Mikri, Tuktuki, Halum, and Shiku. They are four Sesame Street
characters introduced, just last week, to Bangladeshi
television as part of the Sisimpur Program, or Sesame Street in
Bengali.
A couple of years ago, we would have been talking about how
this was an extension of the U.S. Sesame Street program. In
fact, it's an extension of the Egyptian Sesame Street program,
which we've now rolled off into Bangladesh. So we're trying to
get out these programs--teaching these values of tolerance and
understanding of minority groups, and so forth, that we do with
similar programming in the United States.
I have another audio/visual display, if I can. This is a
certificate I received for Cisco Systems computer training a
couple of weeks ago, where I was taught by a very competent 19-
year-old woman. I have to admit, I wasn't a very good student.
She was a very good teacher. The interesting thing was that I
received this certificate in the reconstructed Ministry of
Women's Affairs in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan, and the young
woman was an Afghani woman participating in a joint U.S.
Government/Cisco Systems training program.
I raise these things, not to be humorous, but to display
that, as Liz has said, we are trying, across the region, to use
the taxpayer dollars we've been entrusted with, to use the best
techniques we can in audio/visual training, in
telecommunications, in private/public, business/government
partnerships to win this war on terrorism.
These are humorous examples, but, of course, we understand
we're engaged in a deadly serious battle. We've got programs
going from the hardscrabble Hezbollah villages of southern
Lebanon to the jungles of Mindanao, where we're doing
demobilization programs for Moro Liberation Army fighters. So
this is very serious work. And I think the taxpayers would be
gratified that the kind of work that we're trying to do with
the dollars we have available is as creative as possible.
I'd like to address, first, very briefly, the toughest
question that I think the committee asked us, and that is the
question of the link between education and moderate behavior.
We have tried to do very serious research at USAID using
partners like the RAND Corporation and other think-tanks to
understand, as carefully as we can, whether there's a causal
link between education and moderate behavior, or, ultimately,
the avoidance of terrorism.
It's very difficult to draw a direct causal relationship on
a one-to-one basis. That is to say, it's very hard to say that
if an individual was educated to a certain level, he or she is
less likely to engage in terrorist behavior. However, what we
think we can show--and this is an important part, both of USAID
programming and MEPI programming at the State Department--is
that democracy and participation lead to moderation across
societies. Tolerance and democracy and moderate behavior come
from participation in democratic processes. Education--public
education, private education, primary education, and secondary
education--all contribute to democracy and participation. So we
have an indirect link, we think, between education and the kind
of behavior we hope folks will display across the region.
I have to tell you--truth in advertising--I wanted to make
that point, specifically, because, in part of your opening
statement, sir, you mentioned the shift in resources from other
development programs in Pakistan into education. We believed
that was a good thing, and that's why we did it. You also
raised the question of whether we should shift resources from
what we call traditional development programs into education.
Our answer to that would be that the goal of increasing
moderate behavior and combating terrorism across the region is
simply not a question of shifting money from one line item into
another. Job training, participation for men and women in the
society, democratic principles, and education, all contribute
as a comprehensive package. The good news is, development
works. As these societies advance, we will see less terrorist
behavior and immoderate behavior. But just to shift money
between line items, we don't believe is the answer to solving
that problem.
If I could, we have just a couple of charts here, and I'll
be very brief. I believe you have these in front of you, sir.
This chart tries to summarize much of what the first panel
said. The sheet that says ``Complexity of the Education
Challenge,'' the range of education problems that we try to
highlight here is the result of our research that indicates
that it's not just classrooms, it's not just teacher training,
it's not just numbers of students enrolled; there are a range
of access issues that have to do with how many schools are
built, how many kids are out of school, low literacy rates,
especially for women, and lack of early-childhood development
programs, like the Sesame Street programs I talked about
earlier. But then, these access problems have to be matched by
investments in quality. If we don't have well-trained teachers
and administrators, if we don't have systems to monitor
education progress, if we don't have parental and community
involvement in the school, and if we don't have pedagogy that
increases student participation, that simply emphasizes rote
learning, the education programs won't achieve the results we
intend.
And, finally--and you were getting to this question with
the previous panel, and Liz referred to it, as well--the
programs have to be relevant. The reason a lot of the kids
aren't in school, or the reason a lot of the kids drop out, is
they simply don't see any economic advantage. So a lot of our
programs have focused explicitly, on the link between economic
growth and jobs and relevant training.
The second sheet, then, talks about education as a
moderating influence, and talks about the kinds of strategies
we've tried to launch across the region. So we promote quality
education and economic opportunities, increase education
opportunities for unemployed and out-of-school youth. We're not
just focused on the kids in school, but we're focused on
informal training programs for those kids who are out of
school, street kids and so forth, who might be particular
targets for terrorist recruitment.
Third, we've looked at providing alternative schools to
radical madrasas. We come out at the same point that the
technical panel talked to, that the best goal we can achieve is
to support public education and alternative education, and let
the madrasa phenomenon wither, because the parents who are
sending their kids to madrasas are primarily sending them there
because they don't see a good alternative.
Fourth, we're trying to teach critical-thinking skills and
tolerance, both in our early-childhood development programs and
in the public school system.
Fifth, we're trying to increase access to education
opportunities through school repair and accelerated learning--
these kind of programs are particularly critical in post-
conflict situations, for example, in Afghanistan, where girls
missed so much schooling under the Taliban; we're trying to get
them into accelerated training programs--provide training to
bridge the school-to-work transition, and improve education
monitoring and information systems.
I'll close with just two particular points. Your opening
statement talked about the fact that we're spending only about
3 percent of U.S. foreign-assistance dollars in education. We
probably need to provide the committee, with your permission,
some additional numbers on that.
[The information referred to follows:]
Percent of U.S. Foreign Assistance Spent on Education
The total Asia and the Near East (ANE) fiscal year 2005 budget
(Economic Support Funds, ESF; Development Assistance, DA; Emergency
Supplemental funding, and IRRF apportionments) is $4.673 billion. Of
this, $331.4 million or 8.6 percent is for education programming. The
fiscal year 2005 totals include $60 million in supplemental education
funding for Afghanistan. The following table provides a country
breakdown of ESF, DA, Emergency Supplemental, and IRRF apportionment
combined totals for education.
ASIA AND NEAR EAST EDUCATION BUDGET ($000)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal year Fiscal year Fiscal year Fiscal year Fiscal year
2002 total 2003 total 2004 total 2005 total 2006 total* Total
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afghanistan....................... 6,500 8,400 107,405 97,937 97,000 317,242
Bangladesh........................ 2,500 2,350 2,971 3,500 3,000 14,321
Burma............................. 3,000 1,500 1,500 1,000 1,000 8,000
Cambodia.......................... 0 2,500 2,000 6,000 1,250 11,750
Egypt............................. 84,400 49,000 33,500 63,000 24,800 254,700
India............................. 2,658 4,008 8,912 7,580 6,700 29,858
Indonesia......................... 3,000 2,000 23,000 26,500 31,011 85,511
Iraq.............................. 0 75,583 90,200 0 0 165,783
Jordon............................ 0 4,000 5,000 8,640 14,000 31,640
Lebanon........................... 4,000 3,100 4,200 4,000 4,000 19,300
Morocco........................... 1,428 1,528 2,000 14,640 12,400 31,996
Nepal............................. 0 0 811 392 392 1,595
Pakistan.......................... 15,000 21,500 28,000 66,673 66,703 197,876
Philippines....................... 0 2,000 4,000 9,680 6,680 22,360
Sri Lanka......................... 0 2,250 1,250 3,375 2,750 9,625
Vietnam........................... 350 600 0 0 0 950
West Bank/Gaza.................... 0 2,800 2,200 8,700 11,000 24,700
Yemen............................. 4,800 7,898 3,270 4,996 12,703 33,667
ANE Regional...................... 1,764 2,184 6,117 4,810 2,300 17,175
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total ANE......................... 129,400 193,201 326,336 331,423 297,689 1,278,049
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* FY 2006 totals do not include all supplemental funding allocations.
Mr. Kunder. We believe those numbers reflect the huge base,
if you will, that's been established by the Iraq and
Afghanistan reconstruction programs over the last couple of
years, and we think the education expenditure is probably a
little closer to 10 percent. Having said that, we agree with
the basic assertion--I haven't cleared this statement; I'm not
up here to request more funds without consulting with our OMB
colleagues first--but we are talking about launching, in 2007,
what we call an Education for 21st Century Jobs Initiative that
would link together the basic education, the skills training,
and then bringing the private sector in so that the jobs are
relevant, so that the training and education are relevant to
21st century jobs. That's something we'll want to talk to the
committee about.
And, second, in closing, we very much agree with the
closing discussion that the chairman had with the last panel
about the need to do exchange programs. We cannot, no matter
how much we increase funding, expect ourselves, the U.S.
taxpayers, to build the schools, print all the textbooks across
the region. Even at the existing funding level, we're probably
spending about 50 cents per student, between Morocco and the
Philippines. If we spent the entire U.S. foreign-assistance
program every year on this region, we'd spend about $15 per
student per year, and that's not enough to build the schools.
Clearly, we have to get the governments mobilized.
What we've tried to do is come up with creative model
programs, like the parent-participation program that Ms. Cheney
referred to earlier, in Alexandria, Egypt, which we're now
rolling out across Egypt. To do that, we've got to have good
partners in the ministries. Dr. Bassem Awadallah is a perfect
example of a Jordanian who came to the United States for higher
education. We need to have those kind of partners.
In the early nineties, USAID, alone, was funding about
17,000 foreign students to come here for graduate or post-
graduate work. Now that number had declined to under 5,000. The
State Department, through its exchange programs, has tried to
compensate somewhat, but the numbers aren't backed up. And,
most troubling, we have all seen the numbers lately, that even
the non-U.S.-Government-funded number of students coming to
this country is declining, for a range of reasons. We've got to
fix that problem.
We can do good model programs across the region, like
Sesame Street, like the girls' and parent-participation program
in Alexandria, but, ultimately, we've got to expect the
governments of the region to take the models we've helped them
develop and implement them in their systems.
I would take respectful exception to what Senator Nelson
said earlier. The cash-support programs, the financial-support
cash-transfer programs, like in Pakistan and Egypt, are not
irrelevant, because if we use these programs to engage in good
policy dialog with our colleagues, and then encourage them to
roll out successful model programs, they can make a valuable
contribution for education.
So, thank you, again, for the opportunity to testify. These
are some of the things we're doing that might be useful.
Thank you, sir.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Kunder follows:]
Prepared Statement of James Kunder, Assistant Administrator for Asia
and the Near East, U.S. Agency for International Development,
Washington, DC
I welcome the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the
work of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Asia and the
Near East on the theme of ``Combating Terrorism through Education: The
Near East and South Asian Experience.'' We appreciate the importance of
education as a force for peace and progress, and welcome this
opportunity to share the experiences of our ongoing education programs
in these two critical subregions.
USAID works in 28 countries in Asia and the Near East--from Morocco
to the Philippines and as far north as Mongolia. The region is home to
64 percent of the world's population and two-thirds of the world's
poor. Across the region, there are many religious and cultural
traditions. Some of the countries working to address terrorist threats
have Muslim majorities. Some do not, such as Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Understanding and responding to the drivers of terrorism in all the
countries we work in, requires a good knowledge of local conditions and
putting in place programs that are directly relevant to those issues.
Our field missions give USAID a capacity to act effectively to make
appropriate education interventions. They do so within a framework of
complementary investments which support stability, openness, and
economic opportunity. Education alone is not ``the answer'' but it is
absolutely critical to success.
I am proud that our many investments have shown positive results in
improving access, quality, and the responsiveness of national education
systems. This statement outlines some of the problems we face, some of
the work we have done and notes accomplishments. There is an array of
responses that can and do work. Oftentimes, in concert with host
countries, other donors and the private sector, good ideas can be
scaled up. In many settings, the resources are not there for the kind
of robust response that is required to provide national level coverage.
Given the current knowledge deficit in the Near East and South Asia
regions, education is one of our highest priorities. USAID's program
approach supports the 9/11 Commission Report recommendation that ``the
United States should reach out to young people and offer them knowledge
and hope.'' The current education challenges in the region are: The
lack of access to functioning schools, low quality and irrelevant
curriculum, a large number of out-of-school youths, high illiteracy
rates, particularly for females, and unemployed youth without the
necessary skills to find gainful employment. We have responded to these
challenges by focusing our programs on increasing equitable access to
education opportunities, improving the quality and relevance of
education, improving literacy and strengthening workforce skills. We
are monitoring the impact our programs--we have enrolled over 170,000
(56 percent girls) accelerated learning students in Afghanistan and
69,214 students are enrolled in literacy courses in Pakistan. We have
printed and distributed 27 million textbooks in Afghanistan. We have
recognized the important role of information technology in changing the
way education is delivered and incorporated in our programs. We are
encouraging the use of public-private partnerships and are
collaborating closely with MEPI, Peace Corps, and other agencies to
leverage our impact and to avoid duplication.
Since 2001, USAID's education portfolio in the Near East and South
Asian region has dramatically expanded from 1 to 13 programs. The
budget for education in the following 13 countries rose from $99.5
million in fiscal year 2002 to nearly $274.5 million in fiscal year
2004: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon,
Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen. Four of
the USAID Missions housing these programs--Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Yemen, and Iraq--opened recently. We established them to handle
priorities arising out of U.S. foreign policy goals and ongoing
development challenges in the region.
As noted in the 9/11 Commission Report, the Muslim world has fallen
behind the west politically and economically for the past three
centuries. Governments find it challenging to meet the population's
daily needs, including education. This has created an environment where
young Muslims lack the tools and opportunities to effect change in
intolerant political regimes. This has also created an environment
where disaffected groups can be more easily turned against elements of
western culture and institutions. Creating an environment of
opportunity, tolerance, and greater openness to women and other
marginalized groups must come from within Muslim societies themselves.
The United States can help support the development of a more tolerant
and open society by supporting quality education opportunities.
In response to the weakness of many national education systems,
alternative schools have emerged, such as madrassahs, a small
proportion of which spawn extremism. USAID, regional experts, and
researchers agree that providing access to quality education for
children and out-of-school youth of vulnerable populations is one
deterrent to radical or fundamentalist ideology which may lead to
support for, or participation in, acts of terrorism. As stated in the
National Strategy for Combating Terrorism, education programs diminish
the underlying conditions that terrorists seek to exploit, particularly
in rural, isolated areas. Access to a quality and relevant education
provides children and youth with independent and critical thinking
skills, leadership and life skills, and exposure to democratic values.
Although the global commitment to ``Education for All'' have led to
increased enrollments and general improvements in the quality of life,
educational quality, and increased learning opportunities in the Near
East and South Asia, many countries in the region continue to struggle
to meet the population's education needs.
CURRENT EDUCATION CHALLENGES
Current education challenges in the regions include a lack of
access to functioning schools, a large number of out-of-school youth,
high absenteeism and drop out rates, low transition rates from primary
to secondary school, and high illiteracy rates.
High illiteracy rates, especially for women, are a critical problem
facing the region. Key countries such as Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Egypt, and Morocco have 40-60-percent illiteracy rates and
illiterate populations larger than 10 million. In the Arab States
alone, women account for nearly two-thirds of the illiterate
population.
Another critical gender concern has to do with large numbers of
disaffected youth, mainly boys, who may come to form the primary social
base for radical Islamist movements. Without immediate alternatives,
the current breakdown of conventional institutions of family, schools,
and community (compounded by increasing urbanization and bleak
employment prospects) will continue to foster youth alienation, a sense
of fatalism and lack of dignity. Unemployed and disenfranchised youth
form a restive pool of recruits for extremist groups.
Compounding this problem is the curriculum, which is often outdated
and irrelevant to socio-economic needs. Poorly qualified and trained
teachers and school administrators are recurring problems. The lack of
reliable systems to assess and monitor education imposes another
obstacle to solving the problems. Finally, resources for education
support fall short of the need.
The Asia and Near East region has experienced a drastic demographic
shift and now houses the largest generation of youth ever--368 million
young people (age 15-24) in the 19 countries where USAID has a
presence. The youth bulge puts enormous pressure on governments with
limited capacity and resources to provide education and employment
opportunities. The quality of education is low and too many students
leave school without the skills and knowledge needed to find gainful
employment.
The following section presents USAID's strategy for helping the
nations in the Near East and South Asia overcome their education
challenges. Driving this strategy is the recognized need to help
nations in the region open access to information, create learning
environments that encourage critical thinking skills and democratic
practices, and provide education that will lead to gainful employment.
Target populations include girls, women, and disenfranchised youth.
USAID'S EDUCATION STRATEGY
To prevail over these challenges, USAID's strategy for education
programs is to provide learners the opportunity to gain the general
skills and knowledge needed to function effectively in all aspects of
life. This is done through programs that focus on:
1. Increasing equitable access to education opportunities:
Targeting groups that have been marginalized in the education system,
such as out-of-school youth, girls, and disabled children, and those
who have been impacted by conflict or disaster is of primary importance
for ensuring equitable access to learning opportunities and the
continuation of skills development. In post-conflict and post-disaster
situations, transitioning children and youth into learning environments
as soon as possible to normalize their lives is a priority.
2. Improving the quality of education and providing more relevant
education opportunities: Improving the quality and relevance of
education is a pivotal goal in that it encourages children to attend
and to stay in school. It also offers the additional benefits of
workforce development. This is particularly important in countries that
lack relevant education materials, qualified teachers, and
accountability for student learning in the school system.
3. Improving literacy and strengthening workforce skills: Education
programs that improve literacy rates, develop curriculum, human
capacities, and livelihood skills, and aim to link skill development
with employment opportunities; particularly in areas with high youth
unemployment are another priority for the region.
increasing access to quality education: achieving results
In order to respond to the multifaceted educational challenges
confronting the region, USAID supports a variety of education programs
which include both formal and nonformal education efforts. Support for
improving the formal basic education system spanning preprimary to
secondary school and which also encompasses literacy and training
programs, are the primary focus of USAID's support. Increasingly,
school-based efforts linked to employment, and higher education and
university programs are also critical components of our overall
approach to provide technical skills and expand cultural understanding
in the region.
To increase access to education opportunities, particularly for
vulnerable populations, USAID supports scholarship programs, nonformal
education activities, and school construction and rehabilitation. For
example, in Pakistan, more than 2,873 literacy centers have opened and
in a project cofunded by the Japanese, 130 schools are in the process
of being rehabilitated to improve school access for children in
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Frontier Regions (FR)
which are remote and border Afghanistan. In Iraq we have rehabilitated
over 2,400 schools. In Yemen we are working with the government on
school construction and renovation, equipment and supplies for teachers
and children, and teacher training in remote areas. These have been
promising strategies for attracting out-of-school youth to classrooms.
In key post-conflict programs, there is demonstrated success in
school enrollments; for example, over 170,000 students (56 percent
girls) are enrolled in accelerated learning classes in Afghanistan.
These kinds of programs are highly visible and well-received as they
flexibly address immediate needs, and provide a full primary school
cycle in 3 years. They also target those who have been historically
neglected by the primary school system. In Pakistan and Yemen, helping
to provide improved schooling systems in the most isolated communities
and involving community members in the rehabilitation and management of
schools have been successful.
In Afghanistan, 10,000 students, largely out-of-school children and
youth, will be trained in sustainable literacy, numeracy, and life
skills through the Afghan Literacy Initiative & Community Empowerment
Program. The programs often combine literacy skills with relevant labor
market needs.
Teacher training is one key area for quality improvement. USAID
education programs work with teachers to provide both in-service and
preservice training that modernizes teaching methods so that they
impart critical thinking and democratic values. Training often
integrates content with introducing more active learning and child-
centered methods. Over 15,000 teachers in Pakistan have received this
type of training, as well as 33,000 teachers in Iraq. We have also
printed and distributed 27 million primary and secondary textbooks in
Afghanistan, and 8.7 million revised math and science books in Iraq.
Finally, radio-based teacher training in Afghanistan has been received
positively by teachers in 17 provinces.
Integral to the success of an education program is to make quality
improvements and increase the relevance of the educational content to
socio-economic realities. In Jordan USAID is enhancing the curriculum
for a new Management and Information Stream track in secondary school
to prepare youth for the workforce.
Preparing learners at an early age for education is important.
USAID support will enable innovative ``Sesame Street'' series in
Bangladesh and Egypt to reach large audiences in quest of this goal. As
many as 4 million preschool-age children will watch Sisimpur in
Bangladesh, which premiered on April 15, Alam Simsim reaches 86 percent
of rural Egyptian children and 45 percent of their mothers. Program
themes include learning to be tolerant, practicing good hygiene, and
getting a head start in school. Furthermore, early childhood
development programs increase parent involvement in the child's
education and school involvement. In Jordan, underprivileged families
now have access to kindergartens, and in Pakistan 47,500 children and
their parents have benefited from an early childhood project in the
FATA district.
Quality is also improved by strengthening involvement of the local
communities in their schools (ex. training community school management
committees) and making parents and students more responsible for their
education (ex. developing school improvement plans). School management
is improved at the local level, and experiences in various regions have
influenced the way host country decisionmakers view solutions for the
education issues. Such initiatives are underway in Bangladesh,
Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen. Also, in Jordan, merging
Information Technology and curriculum reform has been successful. This
program has also brought private sector involvement into the area of
curricula reform so that it better provides students with an education
that links to market demands and needs.
As mentioned earlier, the growing population of uneducated,
unemployed youth is severely straining government efforts in all
countries to provide adequate education and employment opportunities.
USAID recognizes the importance of linking access to quality education
to the 21st century workforce demands. In countries such as Pakistan,
India, Jordan, Egypt, and Morocco, USAID is linking education to the
real needs of the job market, by giving students the adaptable and
portable skills needed to confront the changing workplace, especially
information and communication technology (ICT) training. Jordan is
developing e-Learning curriculum modules and upgrading teachers' skills
in support of teaching and learning to improve the transition of
gaduates from school to a work career.
USAID fosters cultural understanding, openness, tolerance, and
critical thinking with education exchange programs and scholarships. In
Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, providing scholarship support to students
from disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds to enroll in
American education institutions have been successful. By the mid-1990s,
more than 3,000 Jordanian students had won USAID scholarships to study
at United States universities and the American University in Beirut.
Many of them are leaders today. Five of Jordan's Cabinet Ministers in
1987 and three Ministers in the 2002 Cabinet had studied under these
scholarships.
Furthermore, in-country post-secondary education programs support
institutions to meet international standards and educate young people
and academic professionals so that they can participate in the global
economy. We support linkages between American universities and
universities. These range from university linkage partnerships, such as
the five United States-Iraqi higher education partnerships currently
underway, to supporting the establishment of the American University of
Afghanistan, a private, independent university.
Finally, programs that model best practices in education on a small
scale in order to demonstrate the positive effects of change has also
proven successful. Pilot programs mobilize support from the public and
from within the ranks of the local and national government officials
who are charged with administering and delivering education services.
Egypt's New School Program in Upper Egypt was a pilot that proved
effective in increasing girls' enrollment. The lessons learned are
being used to ``scale up'' models of quality primary education with an
emphasis on girls and learner-centered teaching methodologies. The
models will be applied nationally through the new USAID-supported
Education Reform Program. These positive experiences tend to galvanize
support for broader change and have the potential to impact the
educational system beyond the local environments in which the projects
operate.
MEASURING THE IMPACT OF OUR PROGRAMS
Despite the growing security challenges, our education programs
have brought about substantial and measurable results. USAID measures
program impact and success in a variety of ways, commensurate with its
diverse portfolio.
One validation of our success happens when we see many of our
``models'' adopted and brought to scale by host countries, relying on
local, other donor, and private sector resources. Unfortunately, the
capacity to do that across the region is constrained. Our recent
education initiative has increased the U.S. commitment to education but
much more needs to be done.
At the project level, USAID measures the impact of providing
education and training opportunities to out-of-school youth and
vulnerable populations through student enrollment. Access and equity
measurements include the number of students completing primary and
secondary school, and increases in the percentage of girls and women
enrolled in USAID-funded schools, literacy, and life skills classes.
Using baseline data as the starting point, gender disaggregated
enrollment numbers in USAID schools are tracked on a quarterly basis by
the implementing partners on the ground. USAID has enrolled over
170,000 students (56 percent girls) in our accelerated learning program
in Afghanistan.
Many of our programs are aimed at nonformal education programs
aimed at improving literacy, especially for women, and training
opportunities for out-of-school youth. USAID gauges enrollment
increases and differentiates between students participating in programs
as opposed to completing the required courses. In Pakistan, 69,214
students are enrolled in USAID funded literacy courses and 17,850 have
graduated from USAID's literacy centers. This process enables us to
gauge not only enrollment increases and completion rates, but also
dropout and repetition rates.
Different measures are used to gauge nontraditional programs;
success in measuring educational television programs is gauged by
viewership: A 2003 study in Egypt concluded that Sesame Street (Alam
Simsim) reaches 86 percent of rural Egyptian children under 8 years of
age and 45 percent of their mothers. In Bangladesh, where Sisimpur
aired on April 15, viewership will be regularly monitored and reported.
In response to the poor quality of educational facilities and the
need to provide quality alternatives to radical madrassahs, USAID
tracks numbers of schools constructed and rehabilitated, and nature of
the effort. This process differentiates between USAID's work in
building stand-alone schools as opposed to rehabilitating a single
classroom in any given school. In Egypt, for example, since 1975, USAID
has tracked the construction of more than 2,000 new schools and 4,000
classrooms; in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA),
USAID will be tracking new school construction, the surveys and designs
for 112 of which have been completed. In addition to infrastructure,
USAID also provides students with textbooks and learning materials to
increase retention and enrollment. USAID tracks both the production and
dissemination of materials to ensure that numbers of textbooks
delivered are commensurate with numbers printed; in Afghanistan we have
thus far printed and distributed 27 million textbooks.
USAID's teacher training and curriculum development programs are
aimed at promoting tolerance, building democratic values, and fostering
critical thinking in students and teachers. Measurements of educational
quality include indicators of teacher quality, system efficiency, and
learner achievements. Learner achievement can be measured by the number
of basic education students who acquire critical thinking and problem-
solving skills by administering pre- and post-achievement tests. In
Pakistan, teaching methodologies improved by 97 percent (based on
classroom observation by experts), and student attendance is 10 percent
higher, on average, in participating schools. Monitoring data suggest
that teachers are using materials effectively 95 percent of the time.
USAID tracks enrollment and successful completion of teachers in
training classes in both in-service and pre-service programs. In
innovative teacher training programs, such as the radio-based teacher
training program for Afghanistan primary school teachers, teacher
training is tracked by numbers of teachers enrolled in the class;
currently 10,000 primary school teachers have enrolled for this radio-
based teacher training. USAID measures and tracks progress in this area
through enrollment and completion numbers and qualitative assessments
that include interviews, questionnaires, and classroom observation.
In Morocco indicators such as percent of target beneficiaries
employed post-intervention, percent of graduates with portable and
adaptable skills, and replication of school-to-work modules in areas
beyond the immediate target are used to monitor learning improvements.
Finally, another indicator of impact is the adoption by Ministries
of Education of USAID-supported efforts for countrywide expansion. This
has happened in Jordan with early childhood education programs, and in
Egypt, with modeling quality schools including using learner centered
teaching.
By supporting public participation in education through NGO
development and community-elected trustee boards, USAID's education
programs encourage democratic activities. To measure the impact of
these programs, USAID tracks community satisfaction with the
performance of USAID-supported community-based organizations and the
number of decisions made and implemented at the community level.
By improving the quality of education, and making it more
accessible and relevant to the workforce, USAID's education
interventions improve the employability of youth, lay an important
foundation of support for economic growth and development of democratic
institutions, and ensure a more equitable distribution of education.
ADJUSTING EDUCATION PROGRAMS
USAID has adjusted its education strategies to create a healthier
learning environment for children, youth, and adults in the Near East
and South Asia on the basis of feedback from the most successful
programs in the region.
USAID recognizes that Information Technology (IT) is one way to
change the way that students learn and teachers teach. There are now
more efforts to link IT to schools and curriculum. Internet access is
limited in the Arabic speaking world, resulting in a knowledge gap that
negatively impacts both economic and political development, making Arab
populations less competitive in the world economy. By providing future
leaders and adults with increased access to the Internet, these
students are exposed to many more ideas and increases cultural
understanding. Teachers can use IT in the classroom to encourage
critical thought and democratic values. Technology also helps to reach
larger audiences, as in the radio-based training for teachers in
Afghanistan and Sesame Street episodes in Egypt and Bangladesh.
ANE has also learned that public-private partnerships are important
to support education programs. USAID/ANE has committed $10 million to a
regional Education and Employment Alliance which involves Egypt,
Morocco, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, and Philippines to increase
private sector participation in education. Activities mainly include
working with local and multinational organization to provide resources
to upgrade schools and provide technology inputs for schools. These
activities aim to give children and youth a higher quality basic
education and an education that leads to livelihood skills and gainful
employment. As of January 2005, outreach activities continue with
multinational companies, including Cisco, GE, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft,
Nokia, Pearson, Unocal, and First Data Western Union.
USAID has also been more directly working with host governments to
make comprehensive reforms to education systems. Holistic changes have
a broader impact in that they reach all levels from the students and
parents, to administrators at the local and national levels. This
systemic approach for improving education with Ministries of Education
will lead to long-term improvements that can be sustained.
Finally, USAID continues to refine programs to reach the most
vulnerable populations. Those who have been marginalized from the
education systems are primary targets for our programs. In the Near
East and South Asia regions, illiterate adults, out-of-school youth,
and marginalized children are the most vulnerable to the messages of
terrorists. For this reason, USAID works closely with the State
Department on the Broader Middle East and North Africa initiative.
COLLABORATING WITH MEPI
Under the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), managed by the
State Department, USAID administers a variety of activities across the
MEPI pillar areas of economic reform, political reform, education
reform, and women's empowerment. The MEPI education pillar supports
education systems that enable all people, especially girls, to acquire
the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in today's economy and
improve the quality of their lives and that of their families. MEPI and
USAID have similar education goals: Access, Quality, and Skills
Development which makes coordination between USAID and MEPI programs
both essential, and synergistic.
USAID has collaborated with MEPI in a variety of projects to
jointly fund programs to establish United States-Middle East university
partnerships to strengthen programs in such areas as education,
business/economics, journalism, and information and communications
technology.
In fiscal year 2003, USAID/Egypt completed the integration of the
MEPI strategy into a new program design that was launched in 2004 to
support the Egypt Government's education reform initiatives. USAID also
began implementing its first MEPI book project by distributing
supplementary reading materials to 3,000 classrooms in Alexandria.
In Jordan, MEPI is funding e-Learning modules for the English as a
Second Language and Civics for the Jordan Education Initiative and the
USAID mission monitors and manages some or this entire program in
country.
In Morocco, MEPI's literacy initiatives complement current USAID
efforts to improve the quality of schools. The literacy program
consists of two parts: A 10-month basic literacy training program for
2,000 women that also includes health and nutrition literacy; and a 6-
month ``post'' literacy training program for a selected number of
participants (approximately 80), that teaches simple business skills as
a basis for income generation activities. The program also includes
assistance and coaching for the creation and initial management of
small businesses.
In Yemen, USAID works closely with MEPI and the Public Diplomacy
Office of the United States Embassy to design and implement an Internet
communication and collaborative learning network for 20 high schools
through Yemen with each other and with schools in the United States.
With the development of a new education strategy, the USAID
education team ensured that its new strategy aligned with MEPI pillars.
Additionally, the education team participates in strategy and planning
meetings and provides technical comments and assistance for the review
of MEPI education proposals.
USAID is also working with the MEPI office to support key tenets of
the G-8 partnership with countries of the Broader Middle East and North
Africa (BMENA). Several initiatives have developed under this
partnership, one of which is on improving literacy in the region. USAID
is providing policy and programmatic direction for this BMENA literacy
initiative and coordinating its efforts directly with MEPI and the U.S.
Department of Education.
In conclusion, I would like to reassure the committee that
education will continue to be a high priority in the region. While our
current education approach responds to the overall goal of moderating
radical intolerance and anti-Western ideologies, we also recognize that
education needs to be complemented by a multisectoral strategy that
fosters socio-political stability and economic growth. To build upon
our current successes and take our existing programs to scale, we have
launched a public-private partnership initiative focusing on creating
training opportunities for youth employment in the workforce. While we
will continue to monitor developments to ensure that we are ahead of
the curve in addressing emerging issues, we will not rest on the
laurels of our successes--it is far too important to the well-being of
our Nation.
The Chairman. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Kunder.
Let me make a comment, based upon an Aspen Institute
breakfast that occurred a couple of years ago. An author and
participant in U.S. Government a while back, Jessica Stern, had
written a book about her experience interviewing some male
students at madrasa schools. One of the comments that she made
at the breakfast, and, likewise, that she portrays in her book,
is a chilling revelation, but maybe has a great deal of truth.
She was asking, Why do young men in Pakistan--these are the
people that she was dealing with--contemplate suicidal conduct?
What happens to somebody, who is very young, who, at least from
our standpoint, has decades of life still to live?
At least, from the interviews with these young men, some of
them, she gained the impression that some come together, and
it's almost a fraternal experience in the madrasa schools, in
which they come to a conclusion there really is no hope for
them in this life. They see no prospects, in terms of political
expression, no prospects of jobs, no prospects, really, of much
education, beyond whatever they happen to be involved in. And
along come--not into every one of the madrasa schools, but into
some--persons who suggest, ``The next life will surely be
better. As a matter of fact, we have an answer for you in a new
world. And, as a matter of fact, a very important action method
of getting to this may very well be your own willingness to
give your life, a suicidal mission in behalf of that faith that
will sustain you and bring you something else.''
Now, for many Americans, this may seem farfetched and
extreme. We find it hard to contemplate. But, on the other
hand, Ms. Stern was making the point that--not very many
people, but if a percentage of persons even contemplate such
conduct because of despair and total hopelessness, why they
have a problem, but we also have a problem. And all of the
educational attempts that we've been describing this morning
are not addressed to a very minute percentage, perhaps, of
young males in Pakistan who might contemplate suicidal conduct
and try to work it out under the guidance of whoever. But, at
the same time, Americans do need to come to, I think, an
understanding of the vast amount of pessimism, despair, and
difficulty among so many young people. As we've heard today--
whether it's the age of 25 or 21 or 18--well over half of the
country may be in many of these bleak situations.
Therefore, what we are involved in has a strong
humanitarian quality. It should, and always has, as American
educators, American Government has reached out. But one of the
reasons why we have been reaching out more vigorously is the
whole change in our foreign policy after 9/11. We thought the
seas were big enough to protect us. And we found they were not.
But young people who had valid visas--some of them, sadly
enough, educational visas--were involved in 9/11 activities in
this city and in New York. And the world changed.
Now, I make this point because we have reacted. And the
programs that you have outlined today are comprehensive in
scope. But again and again in this committee, as well as
elsewhere in the Congress, we will find some colleagues who
will say, quite rightly, that we have a lot of work to do here
at home. We're debating our educational budgets now. What
should be the Federal component of that? Or what should be the
governmental component at the State and local levels? How are
Americans doing? And so forth.
So, we come, and we point out what we must improve in this
country. No Child Left Behind. You mentioned Secretary
Spellings and her advocacy, which has been remarkable. The
President's. And yet this is a struggle for us, as we
disaggregate statistics in our own country of students who are
African-American, students of Hispanic backgrounds, students of
color in other backgrounds.
I mention this because in this committee there's a
compatibility, in talking about students abroad. There is,
perhaps, a compatibility in some other committees as well. But
the case, in part, is national security; in part, humanitarian.
But then, in part, it comes back to something we were
discussing earlier on with the first panel, and I would like
your reflections on, too. And that is, regarding our exchange
programs, or other opportunities available that require visas.
In the past, many foreign students and researchers were
admitted, for example, to Purdue University in my State, to
engineering programs, and to NIH programs--we heard from those
authorities on April 4 at our student/research visa task force
roundtable--and these students enriched our society enormously.
Now, many of these young people, students and researchers
alike, at some point return to their home countries and they
offer leadership within their own education systems, such as
the Minister from Jordan whom we heard from today, as well as
fully three-quarters of the Jordanian Cabinet. So, if the
United States is not participating fully in these programs--
because of national security concerns--where are future leaders
gaining the inspiration, if not with an experience here that
they find to be a good one? And how will we ever succeed in
public diplomacy without having public diplomats who are
Jordanians, Pakistanis, and the like?
These seem to me to be issues that are really gripping this
committee. Let me share, anecdotally, as I attended the trustee
meeting at Denison University--my alma mater--over the weekend,
the admissions office claimed that last year at Denison, a
small college of 2,100 students, that there were 90 applicants
from India 2 years ago, but last year there were only 26. Now,
it could be that, for some reason, Indians decided that Denison
was not the place for them, all in 1 year. But the fact is,
without going tediously through the statistics country by
country, the discouragement level has been profound. Even
though, on the aggregate side, we've heard, in our task force,
that student enrollment worldwide is off only maybe 3 percent,
as you add up everything; clearly, the dropoff is severe.
Now, we have security problems. I mentioned the other side
of the coin. Students had visas, and they came and bombed the
United States. On the other hand, in trying to change that
situation, we have, I think, radically changed the picture, so
that even as we have the output of programs and moneys that you
suggested today, the personnel in the countries, the indigenous
leadership that may carry it forward, we may be faltering,
unless we are thoughtful about this.
How do we invigorate the exchange programs, or create more
of them? How important are they? Have you both been working on
these visa problems? You can't do it all by yourselves, but,
clearly, within the administration, some changes are occurring
in rulemaking and in provisions so that times of inspection or
examination or various other processes are not being entirely
removed, but they're being modified so that a more user-
friendly situation is being created. Can you describe, with any
optimism, how this whole business might be going?
Ms. Cheney, do you have some thoughts?
Ms. Cheney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I share, completely,
your view, and the administration shares your view, that
exchanges are critically important and that, whether you look
at the military-to-military exchanges we've historically
undertaken, or the exchanges through our colleges and
universities, and down to the high school level, it clearly
helps to build friendships, and those are very important as we,
you know, pursue our foreign-policy objectives.
I think that the situation has improved. I think that in
the immediate aftermath of September 11, for, as you noted,
completely understandable reasons, we, you know, were faced
with the need to clamp down and to review our system and to
ensure that we had a better system in place so that the people
that wished us ill were not able to get into the country. In
the process of doing that, there were, you know, numerous
examples of students who had gone home for the summer, weren't
able to return, people who were caught in that.
I think that, as I have traveled the region and talked to
people, there is still concern about it. I do think that it's
improving. And I do think people understand that our intent is
never to cause offense, it's never to prevent students from
studying in the United States--we recognize how important that
is--but we have to maintain, obviously, our own national
security concerns.
One of the things that Maura Harty, who handles consular
affairs for us at the Department, has been very effective in
doing is traveling across the region, and she's very interested
and willing to go into these countries and have large meetings
with groups of nongovernmental organizations, the governments,
to talk about what the new processes are. And I would be happy
to come back to you with more details on, sort of,
specifically, the improvements we've made. But I do think it's
very important that we have exchanges.
One of the issues we deal with on exchanges is, sort of,
What is the balance? Given that there are limited resources, as
there are for everything, determining whether it makes sense to
put those resources into providing scholarships for 4 years or
for post-graduate study for a small number of people, or
looking to do more scholarships for a shorter period of time
for a larger number of people. And I don't think we have, sort
of, scientifically determined what the right balance is. I
think we're trying to do both.
I think that one of the reasons it's so important for us to
reach out with--sort of, to larger numbers of people with
shorter time periods spent in the United States goes back to
this issue that you began with, in terms of, How do you get to
those people that are the most likely recruits for the
terrorists? And in many cases they're people who perhaps don't
have English, who have not completed secondary school, or
clearly, are not in university, and I think those that are the
people that need exposure to the United States. And it's why
we've started a range of new programs we're calling
microscholarships, which provide English language training and
then enable them--give them the skills to compete for other
programs we're funding so they can be student leaders, be
student interns to come to the United States, but so that we
reach out to a broader range of people.
The Chairman. That's true. How many people might be
involved in those programs, the microscholarships?
Ms. Cheney. We'll have to get you the numbers.
The Chairman. If you would, that would--that's----
Ms. Cheney. I think it's very important.
The Chairman [continuing]. I think, an insight that we
haven't heard about before, and I----
Ms. Cheney. Well----
The Chairman [continuing]. Think that's very important.
Ms. Cheney. We are also expanding it significantly. It's a
program--it started just last year as a pilot program----
The Chairman. I see.
Ms. Cheney [continuing]. In a couple of the Near East
countries, and it's been very successful and very effective way
for us to reach people we wouldn't, otherwise. So we're going
to be putting more money into that from the Partnership
Initiative this year, and we'd be happy to come back up with
the specific numbers we've reached already.
The Chairman. Great.
Ms. Cheney. One final point I think is, when you talk about
the issue of the attraction of terrorists and the attraction of
extremists for young people, in a number of countries in the
region you have a phenomenon where political activity has been
banned on campuses, but religious groups can operate on
campuses. And it's something that I think we all need to work
to, to open up that system. You know, now, in a number of
countries, if you're 18 years old, and you're a university
student, and you feel, like most university students do, that
you want to change the world, your outlet for doing that is the
Islamist groups, and that's clearly not a healthy situation for
those countries or for us. And so, it's why there is such an
important synergy between our political reform efforts and our
education efforts, so that we can help expand the groups that
those people can have access to and can give a voice to.
The Chairman. This may not be a useful analogy, because,
obviously, Germany is a wealthy country, but in 1983 when the
United States was attempting to diplomatically work with the
Germans to support the NATO resolution to put Pershing missiles
in Germany, I was one of those that was sent to Germany to do
some missionary work of that sort with German institutions. The
late Senator John Heinz, was very, very helpful when I got
back, in introducing legislation that created the Congress-
Bundestag Exchange Program, which commenced in 1983 as a part
of that diplomacy, but it continues, with well over 10,000
students--they long ago passed that mark, and are now heading
toward 20,000--from both sides, about 500 a year, from the
grassroots of Germany and the United States go to the
grassroots of the other country for 1 year. It's a high school
program, as opposed to post-graduates or something of this
variety. Even after you have 20,000 Germans and Americans over
the course of time, this is a small percentage of either
country, but, nevertheless, just getting to your point, the
microbusiness, here are people who suddenly, on both sides,
have to begin thinking about another language, about living
with families, about the hinterland, not the capitals. Perhaps
other countries could not match this level of exchange that we
now have with Germany. Just take Jordan, which we've been
talking about today. Jordanians might say, ``Well, we'd be
hard-pressed to support American exchange students in Jordan,
in the same way you might support Jordanians in the United
States.''
I don't want to make too much of a stretch of this, but I'm
wondering whether that model, the Congress-Bundestag Exchange
Program, offers some possibilities so that this is perceived,
literally, as one from each of the congressional districts. And
that was one of the ideas of Congress-Bundestag. We have 435
districts and 100 Senators, so, ipso facto, about 500-and-some
Americans ought to be eligible to go to Germany, and they have
districts and so forth.
I'm intrigued by what you're saying. I wonder whether
somebody is stimulated to ask that question or to ask you to
study what might be in the cards, so that we will have
individual programs tailored to each country and there would be
individual responses from countries. Perhaps we have become
equally excited about their initiatives, as with Millennium
Challenge. We're offering incentives. I have found, I'm sure,
as you have, in my travels, that countries want to get on the
list, they want to be a part of the 16 countries chosen to
participate in the Millennium Challenge program, or, at least,
on the waiting list. That may be totally improbable, because
they sort of understand that this is a remarkable way of
sharing, without giving up sovereignty, of using indigenous
resources and leadership, and still meeting what we think are
important standards--freedom of the press, enterprise, women's
rights, things of these sorts.
Ms. Cheney. Mr. Chairman, I think that's exactly right. And
I think that it's very important--we have focused on having
students from these countries come to the United States, but I
think that, too often, it's true that we, in the United States,
view all of these countries--we call it ``the region,'' or
``the regions,'' and we talk about it as though it's a unified
whole, when, in fact, each country is very different.
The Chairman. Yes.
Ms. Cheney. And I think that having American students visit
these countries and study in these countries really helps to
improve our knowledge base about what's happening in each
country.
When I was in Morocco, last week, there was a group of
American high school students there meeting with a group of
Moroccan high school students, you know, doing, basically, a
model United Nations, talking about ways that we can move
forward on reform and on the peace process. And, on both sides,
when you get to meet somebody face to face, it really does help
to destroy the stereotypes that exist. So, I think it's----
The Chairman. Terrific.
Ms. Cheney [continuing]. Very important.
The Chairman. Mr. Kunder, with USAID and the budget and the
organization that you have, are you able to identify to Members
of the Congress the mission that USAID is performing? I do not
necessarily seek to break it out from everything else that you
are doing, but, at the same time, there is certainly a
constituency of interest in what we're talking about today.
Your charts are helpful in giving the objectives, but do you
also have statistics, data, that you would give to Members who
wanted to inform themselves more comprehensively about what
you're doing? Without violating administration tenets, could
you give some hint as to, if we were to invest more money,
where would it be wise to look? What kind of things should we
be discussing in this committee as we try to gain a
constituency of consent with our Members in the body, as a
whole?
Mr. Kunder. As you might well imagine, sir, we probably
have more data than you can possibly want, but I think what
might be useful is, we do have a country-by-country breakdown
of the types of initiatives we're doing in each country in the
education and training field. We'd be glad to provide that to
the committee. And then if there are some issues of interest we
could focus in on and provide more in-depth information. So the
information is definitely available.
I just want to thank you for saying what you said about the
United States humanitarian interest in the region, because,
naturally, we've focused in on the issue at hand today, which
is combating terrorism, but I think the American people do
honestly care that men and women, and boys and girls, succeed
across the Asia and Near East Region. That's what makes us the
kind of country that does invite people to come here and learn
something about our values, and I think that's the kind of
message we want to send, as well.
But we have the information available. We'll make that
available initially, a breakout of our country programs, and
then if you want to focus on more detail, we'll be glad to
provide it.
[The information referred to follows:]
Education Initiatives by Country
Education initiatives are designed to meet the needs of the people
and overcome the various challenges within each country context. Below
is a chart that describes the complexity of improving education in the
ANE region in three specific areas of access, quality, and relevance.
COMPLEXITY OF THE EDUCATION CHALLENGE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Access Quality Relevance
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Large numbers of out-of- Poorly Outdated
school children and youth. trained teachers and inappropriate
Insufficient access to and curricula for the
quality schooling alternatives. administrators. job market.
Low literacy rates, Lack of Large
especially for women. systems to assess numbers of
Lack of early childhood and monitor underemployed
education opportunities. education. youth without
Inadequat skills needed for
e community and workforce.
parental Inadequat
involvement in e links and
schools. training
Pedagogy opportunities for
focuses on role global market.
memorization, Inadequat
leading to lack e links with
of critical private sector
thinking skills. for market-driven
training.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Within this challenging context, education initiatives have had
many successes. Below is an illustrative overview of some of the ways
USAID has had regional impact in moderating terrorism through
education. Below are the results to some key education indicators
organized in the same three-prong typology as above.
Illustrative Regional Overview
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Access Quality Relevance
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Built or rehabilitated 120,000 110,000
15,000 schools in 10 countries. pre-school, students with
Currently, there are primary, and access to
720,000 students in Accelerated secondary school technology in
Learning programs in teachers trained classrooms and/or
Afghanistan and Iraq. in 8 countries. schools in 7
165,000 women, girls, Approxima countries.
and boys now literate in tely 50 million 70
Afghanistan, Egypt, Morocco, textbooks printed centers supported
and Pakistan. in Afghanistan to bridge links
4,000 literacy and/or and Iraq. between school
community centers opened in 50,000 and work in 5
Afghanistan, Egypt, Morocco, back to school countries.
and Pakistan. kits distributed Life
Sesame Street reaches to teachers in skills training
over 8.5 million children (not Afghanistan and provided for
including parents) in Egypt and Iraq. 100,000
Bangladesh. In 7 participants in 9
Support for early countries, countries.
childhood education reaching Education 250
approximately 120,000 students Management public-private
in Bangladesh, Jordan, and Information partnerships
Pakistan. Systems (EMIS) established to
5,500 students from 10 support and support various
ANE countries were provided development used education
scholarships for long-term to better monitor activities in 7
study in the United States and education-related countries.
other countries. progress.
1,100
``Model Schools''
to exemplify the
importance of
girls' access to
education,
technology
improvements in
schools, relevant
curricula, and
active teaching
methods in 6
countries.
40,000
professionals
provided support
for short-term
training
opportunities
from 8 ANE
countries.
25 higher
education
partnerships
(American Liaison
Office)
established in 7
ANE countries.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition, there are three regional education initiatives that
USAID undertakes:
A Regional Education and Employment Alliance was launched
last year to increase private sector participation in
education. This Alliance provides innovative solutions to
improve education and enhance opportunities for gainful
employment. USAID has committed $10 million over 2 years to the
program. Its initial phase will focus on six priority
countries: Egypt, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, and the
Philippines.
Jobs for the 21st century aims at matching education and
training with labor market needs through a variety of
approaches that combine job-relevant education, trade
initiatives, and private sector engagement.
The Arabic Book Translation Project begun this year,
assesses the feasibility of a regional, demand-driven program
to make modern, affordable textbooks available in Arabic and
English for the Middle East by creating partnerships among U.S.
and Middle Eastern publishers and universities and building a
more coherent regional market.
The following chart is a closer look at the country-by-country
breakdown of education programs in the Asia and Near East Region. The
table displays the total amount of funds provided for education
initiatives from fiscal year 2002 through fiscal year 2006 with some
illustrative highlights of accomplishments in the field.
ILLUSTRATIVE COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY RESULTS
[Budget, fiscal years 2002-2006 ($000)]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Access Quality Relevance
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFGHANISTAN--$317,242
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trained 6,800 teachers Launched Begun the
and enrolled 170,138 students, Radio Teacher establishment of
of which 58% are girls, in the Training in 2003 an International
Accelerated Learning (AL) in three pilot School in Kabul
program which has expanded to provinces, and to provide modern
cover all 17 provinces. expanded it to American-style
Establishing the all 17 provinces curriculum to
American University of in 2004. This expatriate and
Afghanistan, a private American- program currently Afghan children.
style university in Kabul. reaches 65,000 Funding a
Rehabilitating the teachers by radio U.S university
Kabul Women's Dormitory to and 7,479 consortium in
accommodate 1,100 women from additional 2005 which will
mainly rural areas who will teachers through support Balkh
attend university in Kabul. The face-to-face University
first students arrived for the training. Faculty of
new academic year in March 2005. Funded Agriculture
Built or refurbished three technical (BUFA) in Mazar-e
315 schools, primarily in advisors to the Sharif, in their
remote areas, since 2002. An Ministry of efforts to
additional 184 schools are Education to modernize
under construction. improve overall curriculum,
quality and teaching
strengthen technologies and
ministry capacity. techniques.
Funding Training
three technical 8,000 students
advisors to the around the
Ministry of country in
Higher Education functional
to strengthen and literacy,
develop higher economic self-
education policy reliance
and strategic grassroots
planning. democracy and
women's rights
through the
Literacy and
Community
Empowerment
Program.
Teaching
5,500 women to
read and write,
qualifying them
for further
training as
community health
workers or
midwives.
Establish
ed the Women's
Teacher Training
Institute in
Kabul in 2004 as
a central
resource for
government and
agencies to
access training,
materials, and
modern
pedagogical
approaches that
support practical
and sustainable
literacy,
numeracy, and
life skills.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BANGLADESH--$14,321
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sisimpur (Sesame Training
Street) debuted on April 15, 1,800 pre-school
2005; potential audience of 8 teachers in new
million children. interactive
teaching
methodologies.
Establishing 1,800 pre-
schools across the country,
parent and child-to-child
learning and reading group.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA--$8,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Education opportunities Science Close to
provided to over 2,500 student instructional 200 students were
and adult learners. materials trained in adult
50 special education supplied to the literacy classes,
students now attending classes. schools for 6,000 which were taught
middle school in 7 different
students to languages.
access.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAMBODIA--$11,750
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Activitie Curriculu
s starting in all m and standards
22 provinces, in being developed
all 18 provincial (including life
teacher training skills) and
colleges and in 6 teacher training.
regional training
colleges.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
EGYPT--$254,700
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since 1975, USAID has Training More than
constructed more than 2,000 new and technical 45,000 girls and
schools and 4,000 classrooms. support was young women have
170 multigrade classes provided to 4,000 received
were established with community educators. scholarships and
contributions and support literacy, life-
resulting in the enrollment of skills, and
over 30,000 new students (80% health
girls) previously out of school. information and
training.
3.5 million children
view Alam Simsim (Sesame
Street), often with their
mothers.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDIA--$29,858
------------------------------------------------------------------------
250,000 children Over 2 690,000
mainstreamed and/or retained in million primary children will
schools through transitional school children benefit from the
bridge programs, back-to-school are receiving program; health
camps and improved quality of radio instruction and hygiene
education. from this school concepts issues
year (2005-2006). incorporated in
the curriculum
and teachers,
Village Education
Committees and
Children's
Cabinets trained
in these
concepts.
Through
public-private
partnerships, the
effective use of
Education
Technology to
enhance quality
and relevance of
education and
skills training
will be promoted.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDONESIA--$85,511
------------------------------------------------------------------------
$157 USAID and
million DBE Chevron signed a
initiative $10 million
launched in April public-private
2005 to work in alliance
100 districts supporting
with 4,500 vocational
schools, 4 education for men
million students, and women in
and 55,000 Aceh.
teachers.
Improved
local government
and community
management of
schools in 20
districts in East
and Central Java
through MBE pilot
program.
Working
with 2,600
teachers, and
70,000 students
in 200 schools
(20% are
religious-based).
900 other
schools have
adopted USAID
models developed
under MBE, using
their own
resources.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IRAQ--$165,783
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2,529 schools Printed
rehabilitated. and distributed
84 model schools 35.7 million
established. textbooks for
10,000 out-of-school grades 1-12 in
youth enrolled in an both Dari and
Accelerated Learning program. Pashto since
Early childhood 2002. An
learning television series additional 6.2
developed and broadcast. million have been
10 students given printed and are
scholarships to study for ready for
Masters degrees and Ph.D.s in distribution.
U.S. universities. 130,000
primary and
secondary school
teachers and
administrators
trained.
More than
8.7 million math
and science
textbooks edited,
printed, and
distributed.
Education
Management
Information
System (EMIS)
developed for
Ministry of
Education.
Hundreds
of thousands of
desks, chairs,
chalkboards,
teacher supplies
distributed.
2.9
million school
bags and supplies
distributed.
5 U.S.
university
consortia
developed
partnerships with
10 Iraqi higher
education
institutions.
43
computer labs and
spcialist science
(e.g., cell
biology, soil
science, GIS/
remote sensing)
labs renovated
and provided with
state-of-the-art
equipment.
More than
1,500 faculty
have attended
refresher
courses,
seminars,
workshops, and
conferences in
Iraq, the region,
and the United
States.
23
specialist
libraries (e.g.,
law, agriculture,
public and
environmental
health,
archaeology)
refurbished and
provided with
more than 20,000
books and given
access to online
resources.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JORDAN--$31,640
------------------------------------------------------------------------
40 School-to-
supervisors and Careers Programs
all 258 teachers are being piloted
were trained on in 12 public
the first schools.
national 5 Cisco
curriculum for Networking
kindergarten. Academies have
400 been established.
teachers and 42 Basic
supervisors were life skills have
trained on IT been promoted in
content knowledge 100 schools.
and pedagogy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LEBANON--$19,300
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Support more than 1,000 Higher
students coming from education support
financially disadvantaged to 4 colleges and
backgrounds with scholarships. universities.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MOROCCO--$31,996
------------------------------------------------------------------------
100 young Moroccan Literacy
women from various parts of the and numeracy
country are enrolled in CISCO classes provided
CCNA training, thanks to the to some 4,000
WIT scholarship program. women.
Over 180
poor rural girls
are in the
program today,
enjoying safe and
conducive
environment for
life-long
learning.
A public-
private
partnership
provides job
readiness
training (with a
focus on women)
to 12 Moroccan
institutions.
700
students (40%
women) are
attending Cisco
Certificate
programs combined
with job-
preparedness
training.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEPAL--$1,595
------------------------------------------------------------------------
More than Approximately,
7,500 children in 8,000 women
14 districts gained knowledge
received NFE and and leadership
psychosocial skills,
counseling. increasing their
participation in
key leadership
positions by 23%.
More than
1,300 families
received
vocational
education for
income
generation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAKISTAN--$197,876
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2,873 adult literacy 7,004 63 local
centers were opened, graduating school management NGOs were awarded
17,850 out-of-school youth and committees are small grants to
adults. developing school conduct literacy
improvement plans. classes, train
765 teachers, and
teachers provided organize parent-
early childhood teacher
education association.
training 24 public-
benefiting 25,500 private
students. partnerships
109 established
master teachers between corporate
and school Pakistan and the
administrators education sector
trained in the in support of
United States. school
improvement.
234
schools were
rahabilitated,
and enrollment
for 5- to 9-year-
olds increased
from 25-50%.
Education
Management
Information
System (EMIS)
developed for
Ministry of
Education.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINES--$22,360
------------------------------------------------------------------------
58,842 children from 1,500 6 private-
grades 1-3 now have access to elementary and public alliances
better learning systems in math high school established,
and reading. teachers trained matching USAID
to improve resources at more
teaching of than a 1:1
English and ICT. ration.
Social mobilization and 13 model
advocacy led to new enrollments schools for
of 3,000 at the elementary increasing
level. teacher, parent,
and community
involvement in
activities.
Alternate Learning 14
System provided for 10,500 private madaris
children and out-of-school adopted
youth. Department of
100 community learning Education
centers constructed or improved curriculum.
in school-less barangays. 120
schools equipped
to use
Educational TV.
Over 1
million new
textbooks and
learning
materials donated.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SRI LANKA--$9,625
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emglish Skill
language amd IT development for
training. unemployed youth.
Vocationa
l school
development in
tsunami area for
construction and
tourism skill
development.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WEST BANK AND GAZA--$24,700
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1,500 scholarships to Conducted Provided
vocational and technical 8-month needs state-of-the-art
students. assessment survey skills training
476 talented and of higher for 5,000
financially challenged education. students at 20
undergraduate students (199 Improved community
male and 277 female) received efficiency of colleges.
scholarships. Ministry of
Awarded 160 Higher Education
scholarships for master's by providing
degrees in U.S. universities. staff training in
Modernized computer Project Cycle
labs at 20 community colleges Management,
to improve internet access. Communication
Skills, Human
Resources, and
Strategic
Planning.
Funded
Higher Education
Management
Information
System assessment.
Provision
of access to and
training for
electronic
journals for all
universities in
West Bank/Gaza;
provision of 5
computers for
each university.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
YEMEN--$33,667
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Identifie
d 77 schools for
renovation.
Training
of trainers
conducted.
Teacher
and student kits
for the more than
540 students and
37 teachers in
grades 1-9
developed for
dissemination.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANE REGIONAL EDUCATION & EMPLOYMENT ALLIANCE--$17,175
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discussio
ns have begun
with six priority
countries: Egypt,
India, Indonesia,
Morocco,
Pakistan, and
Philippines.
Several
corporations have
been identified
as participants
including Shell,
Nike, Nokia, and
Microsoft.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Chairman. Let me just ask a specific question. And this
may be a university with whom you've not had contact. But I've
been intrigued in the progress at Forman University, in
Pakistan, in large part because the president of the university
is now an American, Dr. Peter Armacost, who was president of
Eckerd College, in Florida, prior to this calling. He is a very
close friend of mine, and this is why I've admired his going to
Pakistan. That university was attended by President Musharraf,
so there's a certain high-profile quality when the President of
a country has an interest in it. But the mission there is to
try to have a student body of several thousand students who are
Christian, Muslim, and of various other religions, under the
same tent and with a curriculum and faculty that are devoted to
this interdenominational or multifaith situation.
Now, to say the least, creating more university
opportunities of a more liberal arts character in Pakistan is a
challenge. Doing so with Christians, Muslims, and others,
comingling and so forth, is even more so. But it strikes me
that this is an important innovation, even if a small one, in a
country of 150 million people, as we heard earlier today.
Because it does have the knowledge of the President of the
country, and the support, I would direct the attention of some
of your associates in that area, not specifically in behalf of
Forman, but to find if there are other innovations of this
sort, because it does bring a coming together. In this
particular case, the denomination within the United States that
is supporting Dr. Armacost is the Presbyterian Church ministry,
which has a good amount of contributions worldwide. But all of
this is not going to occur only through the U.S. Government, as
we've heard earlier--but also through NGOs, religious groups,
and other actors aiding the humanitarian situation. In this
particular case, the Presbyterians, as I understand it, are not
there in an evangelical capacity, specifically; they really are
attempting to open up a degree of religious diversity and
tolerance in the area.
All of this coexists together. I'm wondering how USAID
manages resources, U.S. Government responsibilities, but, at
the same time, keeps track of the NGOs, and religious
institutions, such as the Presbyterians, in this case, as well
as others. For that matter, how does USAID work with Ms. Cheney
and the State Department people? Are you on the same page? So
you have regular meetings? In other words, how much
coordination is there of this block activity? When I asked the
Pakistani gentleman, earlier on, What part of the 4 percent,
say, if that's the goal, of GNP?--and he said about 1 percent
might come from outside gifts--ours, from other countries,
NGOs, and so forth. I'm curious about the coordination of that
one, quite apart from its coordination with the other 3 percent
of the Pakistanis. Do you have any comment about this
convoluted question that I've asked?
Mr. Kunder. I do. First of all, on the question of the
college in Pakistan, higher education is an area that I think
we didn't----
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Kunder [continuing]. Touch on in great detail. But, of
course, we do have a number of U.S. Government-supported
institutions across the region. American University of Beirut,
American University----
The Chairman. Yes----
Mr. Kunder [continuing]. Of Cairo, and----
The Chairman [continuing]. Of course.
Mr. Kunder [continuing]. So forth.
The Chairman. Right. Well known.
Mr. Kunder. And so, we do recognize these types of
institutions as important components.
I think, back to Deputy Assistant Secretary Cheney's
comments about the cost-effectiveness issue, we can't bring
everybody here for a 6-year graduate program, so to some extent
we've got to look at short-term training, we've got to look at
institutions in the region. So we do try to take a look at the
full range of tools in the toolkit, if you will.
The question of coordination of resources, trying to get
the maximum impact for the taxpayer dollars, is something we
try to pay attention to. I can't say we do it perfectly,
because the subject matter is so vast, but we do try to pay
attention to what the governments themselves are investing in,
what the international financial institutions are investing in,
the other bilateral donors are involved in, and, of course, the
NGO community. Now we have this new partner that we're trying
to leverage, the private-sector institutions, especially
American firms, investing in the region.
So across the region--we try to take all these things into
account, and that's why I said earlier that we believe our
niche is to develop innovative model programs, and then attempt
policy dialog with the governments to try to roll these
programs out.
From my perspective, we work extraordinarily well with the
MEPI program and our State Department colleagues. Of course,
with the vagaries of organizational structure, the Asia/Near
East Bureau of USAID overlaps with three State Department
bureaus, but especially in the Middle East, both with MEPI and
then, more broadly, on Middle East peace issues, we are working
very closely together. Because we have invested, as a nation,
in having USAID missions on the ground, U.S. professional
employees on the ground, at our Embassies, and aid missions
across, at least, 19 countries of this region, we have a
focused venue in which to do that coordination so that Liz's
team and the MEPI folks and our team are talking through what's
the best policy in Jordan or Egypt or anyplace else in the
region. At least that's my perspective on it.
The Chairman. Well, let me just indicate that unhappily,
11:45 a.m., has come, and so has a rollcall vote. The buzz that
you just heard signals that Senators will be doing their duty
in a different forum.
But let me just thank both of you, again, for the
tremendous preparation you made for this hearing in your
testimony, as well as the publications you have shared with us.
Our invitation to provide more are sincere. And, as you provide
this data, we will make it available to all members of our
committee and others in the Senate who, we pray, will have an
interest in this subject. But you've contributed substantially
to a good morning of thoughtfulness for Americans.
And, having said that, the hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:45 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
----------
Additional Prepared Statement and Questions and Answers Submitted for
the Record
Prepared Statement of Hon. Lincoln Chafee, U.S. Senator From Rhode
Island
There is no question how important education is to combating the
spread of terrorism. It is my strong belief that many of the conflicts
and problems in the world, and particularly in the Near East and South
Asia, could be lessened by strong investments in education.
I have always been a strong supporter of funding for programs that
bring students to the United States, knowing that international
exchange plays a valuable role in decreasing the use of stereotypes and
allowing students from other countries to experience American culture.
It is also important to support fledgling programs in the Near East and
South Asia. While many of these programs are small, these students tend
to stay in the region and work as advocates for freedom and democracy.
The situation in the occupied territories is a poignant example.
With unemployment high and investments in the infrastructure of
everything including education very low, it leaves little option but
extremism for many. However, there are success stories. Take, for
instance the American Studies Institute at Al-Quds University in the
West Bank. Dr. Mohammed Dajani, the program founder, and a visiting
scholar at Salve Regina University's Pell Center for International
Relations and Public Policy, recently visited my office to share the
hope he has in the good a small, and growing, program is accomplishing.
The value of a program run primarily by Palestinians, for Palestinians,
in the West Bank about American culture and values is unmatched. These
students have begun to open their minds to a world far removed from
their own, without leaving their homes, which is necessary due to the
high cost of schooling abroad and the difficulty in traveling.
It is inspiring what a small program with a strong leader like Dr.
Dajani can accomplish with very little resources. Programs like this
should be held up as a model for others in the region.
______
Responses of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Elizabeth L. Cheney
to Questions Submitted by Senator Richard Lugar
Question. Please provide more detail on the number of participants
in micro-scholarships in the Broader Middle East and North Africa. What
does it cost to fund each participant and what are your future plans
for this program?
Answer. The English ACCESS Micro-scholarships program was launched
and funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) in
fiscal year 2004. It provides English training to nonelite high school
students and helps prepare them for potential participation in future
exchanges with the United States while giving them skills that will
lead to greater economic opportunity. Three thousand six hundred
students from 39 countries are participating in the English ACCESS
Micro-scholarship program worldwide.
Department guidelines indicate that approximately $1,000 should be
budgeted per student for up to 2 years of instruction. In the chart
shown below, the programs in countries covered by the Bureau of Near
East Affairs (NEA) and Afghanistan paid for 1 year of instruction per
student with these funds. ECA-administered ACCESS Micro-scholarship
programs in other countries with significant Muslim populations,
including Turkey and Pakistan and 22 other countries in the East Asia
and Pacific, Africa, and South Asia regions will run for 2 years.
In fiscal year 2004 the ECA Bureau provided a total of $1,947,565
to fund English ACCESS Micro-scholarship programs for 1,724 students
from the Broader Middle East and North Africa at a cost of circa $1,130
per student. In other words, more than 47 percent of the total number
of students funded by the program came from the Broader Middle East and
North Africa and more than 54 percent of the total funding available to
the program was spent on this region. The table below provides the most
detailed data available from the field on the manner in which these
funds were spent.
In fiscal year 2006, the Department of State's Bureau of
Educational and Cultural affairs plans to spend $4 million on the
English ACCESS Micro-scholarship program and plans to spend at least
half of this total amount on the Broader Middle East and North Africa.
MEPI staff and ECA staff are discussing ways in which MEPI funds
can be used to expand this ECA-administered micro-scholarship program.
BMENA MICRO-SCHOLARSHIP STUDENTS AND FUNDING
[1 year of instruction in all countries, except Pakistan and Turkey
which have 2 years]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cost/
Country Cost Students student
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afghanistan...................... $20,000 20 $1,000
Algeria.......................... 80,000 80 1,000
Bahrain.......................... 84,600 45 1,880
Kuwait........................... 135,000 75 1,800
Lebanon.......................... 212,685 200 1,063
Morocco.......................... 108,600 100 1,086
Oman............................. 250,000 106 2,358
Pakistan......................... 93,000 90 1,033
Qatar............................ 52,560 40 1,314
Saudi Arabia..................... 100,000 50 2,000
Syria............................ 148,000 140 1,057
Tunisia.......................... 101,800 100 1,018
Turkey........................... 100,000 185 541
UAE.............................. 100,000 100 I,000
West Bank........................ 198,000 198 1,000
Gaza............................. 135,000 135 1,000
Yemen............................ 48,320 80 604
--------------------------------------
Total BMENA...................... 1,947,565 1,724 1,130
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question. Please provide more details on the amount of time
students and prospective exchange participants have to wait in order to
receive a visa for travel to the United States. What measures are being
taken to improve visa wait times for students and exchange
participants?
Answer. The table below compares the current amount of time
students and exchange visitor program participants have to wait in
order to receive an appointment for a visa interview with the time
required for all other visa applicants in the Broader Middle East and
North Africa. Islamabad issues visas for both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The amount of time required to process a visa from the time of the
appointment to the final judgment varies with individual cases,
although the majority of applicants receive visas within a few days of
application.
As shown in the table, in order to expedite the processing of
visas, students and exchange participants receive priority treatment.
As a matter of policy, if a student or exchange participant can show a
need to obtain an earlier visa interview appointment in order not to
miss the opportunity to study in, or travel to, the United States, such
requests are granted. Appointment wait times are updated by our posts
on a weekly basis and vary depending on workload, resources, and time
of year. For example, some posts give higher priority to students the
closer they are to their program start times. A student applying 3
months before they intend to travel might wait longer for an
appointment than a student whose program of study begins in a week. We
are committed to ensuring that no student misses the start of classes
due to a delay in being interviewed.
BMENA VISA WAIT TIMES
[All visa applications vs. students and exchange participants)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appointment wait time
Post ---------------------------------------
F&J visas All visas
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abu Dhabi....................... Same day.......... 1 day.
Algiers......................... 2 days............ 2 days.
Amman........................... 40 days........... 40 days.
Cairo........................... 2 days............ 17 days.
Casablanca...................... Same day.......... 14 days.
Damascus........................ 2 days............ 2 days.
Doha............................ Same day.......... Same day.
Dubai........................... 1 day............. 5 days.
Isalamabad...................... Same day.......... 25 days.
Jerusalem....................... 1 day............. 12 days.
Kuwait.......................... 2 days............ 52 days.
Manama.......................... Same day.......... Same day.
Muscat.......................... Same day.......... Same day.
Riyadh.......................... 7 days............ 14 days.
Sanaa........................... 2 days............ 2 days.
Tel Aviv........................ 22 days........... 22 days.
Tunis........................... Same day.......... Same day.
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Note.--Amman and Tel Aviv have special designated dates for students
once a week, so the appointment wait time is shorter than indicated
above; it is usually a week or two.
Question. Would you support the creation of a program similar to
the Congress-Bundestag exchanges for the Broader Middle East?
Answer. We review our portfolio of exchange programs on an ongoing
basis to ensure that they are helping to achieve the Nation's foreign
policy goals and will give active consideration to a program of this
type. My staff would be happy to consult with the committee's staff on
the details of this program in order better to understand the benefits
of a similar program targeted at the Broader Middle East.