Asia and the Pacific is making decent progress towards achieving universal primary education.

The average net enrolment ratio for primary education increased from 91 per cent in 1991 to 94 per cent in 2005 in the Asian and Pacific region. Starting from much lower initial (i.e. 1991) levels, primary enrolment grew much more rapidly in Africa, but this region is still almost 20 percentage points behind Asia and the Pacific. While Latin America and the Caribbean was 3 percentage points behind Asia and the Pacific, it had moved to 1 percentage point ahead of the latter by 2005.

Figure 11.1 Index of change in primary net enrolment ratios in the regions of the world, 1991-2005

Starting furthest behind, with 79 per cent in 1991, landlocked developing countries are still the countries in Asia and the Pacific with the highest proportions of children out of school, although the net primary enrolment rate had increased to 85 per cent by 2005. During the same period, this rate also increased by 6 percentage points, to 92 per cent, in SAARC countries.

The SAARC average is pulled down by Pakistan, the only country in all of Asia and the Pacific with a net primary enrolment rate of 70 per cent in 2005. This was 12 percentage points lower than that of Maldives, which, at 80 per cent, had the second lowest rate in Asia and the Pacific. However, whereas Pakistan is rapidly reducing the proportion of children out of primary school - the net enrolment rate was just 60 per cent in 2003 - the rate in Maldives actually dropped 18 percentage points between 1999 and 2005.

Figure 11.2 Index of change in primary net enrolment ratios of selected country grouping in Asia and the Pacific, 1991-2005

Universal primary education can only be achieved, of course, if both girls and boys go to school. In that regard, net enrolment figures in SAARC countries have improved mainly because fewer girls have been out of school in recent years than in the early 1990s. In 1991, only 45 per cent of all pupils enrolled in primary schools in SAARC countries were girls, compared with 48 per cent in 2005.

Among these countries, the primary school attendance of girls particularly improved in India and Nepal. The ratio of girls per 100 boys at this level in India increased from 76 in 1991 to 93 by 2005, and in Nepal from 63 in 1991, one of the lowest ratios in the region, to 91 in 2005. That SAARC countries on average are still well behind other groups, such as the ASEAN countries, and Asia and the Pacific as a whole, both with 96 girls per 100 boys enrolled in primary education in 2005, is due to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the only two countries in the region with less than 80 girls for every 100 boys enrolled in primary school education in that year.

Other countries that contributed considerably to the improvement of the Asian and Pacific ratio, from 88 in 1991 to nearly 96 in 2005, are China and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In China, 93 girls per 100 boys went to primary school in 1991, compared with 100 in 2004; in the Islamic Republic of Iran, this ratio went up from 90 in 1991 to a high 122, in 2005.

A high enrolment ratio does not guarantee, however, that children enrolled will actually attend school or that they will graduate. Absenteeism and high drop-out rates are still significant obstacles for some countries in Asia and the Pacific, particularly the least developed countries, in their efforts to achieve universal primary education.

In the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Nepal, only three in five children, or 60 per cent, who started grade 1 reach grade 5 by 2004. In Cambodia, the figure was even smaller - 57 per cent.

Children leave school prematurely for a variety of reasons. These include the costs of schooling, the need to supplement family incomes through child labour, unsuitably school environments in particular for girls, long distances to school, and the language of instruction being different from the one spoken at home. Another important factor is the educational background of mothers; UNESCO estimates that children whose mothers have no education are twice as likely not to be enrolled as those whose mothers have some education.

Figure 11.3 Proportion of children reaching grade 5 in Asia and the Pacific, 1999 and 2004

Higher primary enrolment in the region has translated into higher demand for secondary education. However, the same factors that make some children leave primary school early - especially family needs for child labour - also limit enrolment at the secondary and tertiary levels.

Differences between countries and country groups in secondary and tertiary enrolment levels in Asia and the Pacific are far wider than for primary education. In the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Vanuatu, less than 40 per cent of secondary school-aged children were enrolled in 2004. In Cambodia, less than 3 in every 10 children in this age cohort attend secondary school. This contrasts sharply with the secondary enrolment rates registered in North and Central Asia, where such countries as Armenia and Kazakhstan have enrolment rates of 89 and 92 per cent, respectively, which are similar to the levels in Europe. Such levels can only be achieved with relatively high numbers of girls attending secondary school, which these countries indeed have (and already had during the early 1990s).

Changes in secondary enrolment ratios are particularly striking in East and North-East Asia. Mongolia experienced the largest increase, from a net secondary enrolment rate of 55 per cent in 1999 to 82 in 2004. Macao, China, registered a 15 percentage points increase, reaching a high secondary enrolment ratio of 77 per cent. Interestingly, the Republic of Korea registered a decrease from 97 in 1999 to 90 by 2005.

Data on net secondary enrolment in South and South-West Asia are largely lacking. The data on the number of girls relative to boys at this level are available, but they do not paint a rosy picture. With the exception of Bangladesh, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Maldives, less than 90 girls attend secondary school for every 100 boys in the countries of this subregion. The girl to boy ratio in most of these countries improved, however, after the early 1990s, with the notable exception of Afghanistan, where the already extremely low ratio of 51 girls for every 100 boys in 1991 dropped to just 33 in 2005.

The relatively low enrolment of girls at the secondary level in South and South-West Asia is largely responsible for the low girl to boy ratio, 92 per 100 in 2005, in Asia and the Pacific compared with other parts of the world, with the exception of Africa.

Figure 11.4 Secondary enrolment ratios in Asia and the Pacific, 1999 and 2004

The pattern of disparities between countries and country groups at the tertiary education level is similar to that at the secondary level, with enrolment ratios at the former level being lower. Tertiary enrolment - in contrast to primary and secondary enrolment - is measured gross, i.e. regardless of age, as a percentage of the population in the official age group corresponding to the tertiary level. Hence, a higher level does not necessarily mean higher attendance, for it can also increase due to high repetition levels or higher enrolment of adolescents in other age cohorts.

Asia and the Pacific had an average gross tertiary enrolment ratio of close to 20 per cent in 2004. While enrolment at this level has increased over the last couple of years, it is still far below that of North America, at 80 per cent, and Europe, at about 60 per cent. High-income economies in Asia and the Pacific have an average gross tertiary enrolment ratio of 65 per cent, while the ratio for middle-income economies is less than half that, at 25 per cent, and in low-income economies only 10 per cent.

Central Asia, at 26 per cent, has a higher gross tertiary enrolment ratio than the 20 per cent of the ASEAN region and the 10 per cent of the SAARC region; the latter ratio is close to that of Africa. These disparities between groups of countries are replicated at the individual country level. Least developed countries such as Afghanistan, Cambodia and Vanuatu have a tertiary enrolment ratio of 5 per cent or less. This is in sharp contrast with the 60 to 90 per cent of Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation.

Countries catching up with these high enrolment ratios include China and Mongolia, where the gross tertiary enrolment rate increased by 13 percentage points between 1999 and 2004. The indicator value in Kazakhstan moved upwards by 23 percentage points during the same period. The largest increase, however, took place in Macao, China, where the gross tertiary enrolment ratio rose from 27 per cent in 1999 to 69 in 2004.

The number of girls per 100 boys at the tertiary education level in Asia and the Pacific on average was just 82 in 2005, much lower than the recent 120-plus in Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and Europe, but impressively better than the 59 registered for Asia and the Pacific in 1991. Countries with particularly low ratios, of 70 per 100 or less, include most SAARC members, but also Cambodia, Tajikistan, Vanuatu and, surprisingly, the Republic of Korea.

Figure 11.5 The 20 Asian and Pacific countries/areas with the lowest ratio of girls to boys in primary education, 1991 and 2005

Figure 11.6 Ratio of girls to boys in tertiary education in Asia and the Pacific, 1991 and 2005

Figure 11.7 Tertiary enrolment ratio in Asia and the Pacific, 1999 and 2004