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Carly Hocum

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Charles Yagla

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You probably wouldn't complain about your school as much as if you were born in one of the 11 least educated countries in the world. In fact, you probably wouldn't even go to school, statistically speaking. This is even more true for women. Traditionally, in these countries women are still discriminated on many levels, education being one of the most visible and most damaging in the long run. Unfortunately, this problem isn't limited to just least educated countries in the world.

We saw which the 14 most educated countries in the world are in our previous list. These are highly developed countries, with the high standard of living and easily accessible educational institutions. They were ranked by the percentage of the people who finished tertiary education. Countries on our list, however, are quite the opposite. Some of them have been ravaged by wars, some had troubles adapting to post-colonial period and some endured prolonged periods of corrupt politician's rule that didn't care about the education. That is why we ranked them according to the most basic criterion, literacy rate. Having a literacy rate far below the world average, which is 84.1%, is a sure sign that the education system is subpar and that it needs immediate attention. Unfortunately, there are several factors that can hamper this much-needed reforms. Lack of funding is usually number one reason why some countries can't improve their school. Lack of teachers is another, equally crippling. Given time and resources, every one of countries on our list can make definitive improvements. Some of them do, and the results are showing, but education isn't something that can be fixed overnight.

For some countries, like Afghanistan, there are more pressing issues, like establishing peace. Until that, there isn't much hope that education will improve in any significant measure. Let's find out which are 11 least educated countries in the world.

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11 Least Educated Countries in the World

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You probably wouldn't complain about your school as much as if you were born in one of the 11 least educated countries in the world. In fact, you probably wouldn't even go to school, statistically speaking. This is even more true for women.

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Carly Hocum

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In most developing countries, few children graduate from secondary school and many don't even finish primary school. In Ghana, for example, only 50 percent of children complete grade 5, and of those, less than half can comprehend a simple paragraph. The UNESCO program Education for All, which as part of the Millennium Development Goals aims to provide free, universal access to primary schooling, has been successful in dramatically increasing enrollment. But, according to annual Education for All reports, many kids drop out before finishing school. Why don't they stay?

There are numerous reasons, including the difficulty of getting to school and the cost of schooling. Even when tuition is free, there are often expenses for lunch, uniforms, and examination fees. And because the quality of education is often poor, parents are forced to pay for additional tutoring to enable their children to pass tests. Opportunity costs may be even larger-while they are in school, children forgo opportunities to produce income working on the family farm or selling in the marketplace. It is not surprising that when education investments do not result in adequate learning, or even basic literacy and numeracy, parents do not keep their children in school.

Even when learning outcomes are adequate, very few students continue on to secondary school. Job prospects for most people in the developing world are poor, and staying in school past grade 5, or even through grade 10, does not improve them significantly. In impoverished regions, the vast majority will not secure formal employment and will be supported primarily through subsistence level agriculture and trading. Health outcomes in these regions are also dire. Millions of children die every year from controllable diseases such as diarrhea, respiratory infections, and malaria.

Educational programs typically adopt traditional Western models of education, with an emphasis on math, science, language, and social studies. These programs allocate scarce resources to topics like Greek mythology, prime numbers, or tectonic plate movement-topics that may provide intellectual stimulation, but have little relevance in the lives of impoverished children. Highperforming students in less developed regions face a much different future from their counterparts' in wealthier areas. There are no higher levels of schooling or professional job opportunities awaiting most of these children; they will likely end up working on family or neighborhood farms or starting their own small enterprises.

Schooling provides neither the financial literacy students will need to manage the meager resources under their control, nor the guidance needed to create opportunities for securing a livelihood or building wealth. In addition, schooling provides little assistance to promote the physical health needed for economic stability and quality of life. Life expectancy is low in impoverished regions, and not just because of lack of quality medical care. The devastation preventable disease wreaks on well-being and financial stability in poor regions can be dramatically mitigated through instruction on basic health behaviors, such as hand washing.

We fervently believe that what students in impoverished regions need are not more academic skills, but rather life skills that enable them to improve their financial prospects and well-being. These include financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills; health maintenance and management skills; and administrative capabilities, such as teamwork, problem solving, and project management.

Over the last five years, we have done extensive work on the state of education in developing countries. We have visited many government, nongovernment, and private schools and teacher training programs in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, and we have talked extensively with teachers, students, headmasters, school owners, and government officials. We have visited innovative educational programs that are among the world's largest and most successful, including BRAC, an NGO in Bangladesh that owns and operates 32,000 primary schools; Pratham, which provides literacy and other educational support programs, teaching 33 million children in India; and Escuela Nueva, the Colombian program of mono- and multigrade teaching that has grown to 20,000 schools. We have implemented training for illiterate adults in developing countries and have tested that training effectively over the last few years, applying the best of our experience to improving organizations like Opportunity International, a large microfinance institution.

These experiences have convinced us that the time is right to redefine quality education in the developing world.
A New Educational Model
We have developed a robust educational model that combines traditional content with critically important financial, health, and administrative skills, which can be delivered via existing school systems and teachers.

Our model, which we call "school for life," shifts the goal of schooling away from the achievement of standardized learning outcomes toward making a positive impact on the economic and social well-being of students and their communities. The model requires significant changes in both content and pedagogy. First, entrepreneurship and health modules are mandatory curriculum components for all primary grade students. Second, student-centered learning methods are used that require students to work in groups to solve complex problems and manage projects on their own.

This approach is inspired by models of adult education in developing countries that focus on self-efficacy as a critical foundation of positive livelihood and health-seeking behaviors, along with active-learning pedagogies used in progressive schools throughout the world. The health curriculum draws on the work of the World Health Organization and focuses on preventing disease, caring for sick children, and obtaining medical care. The entrepreneurship curriculum is informed by our work with adult entrepreneurs in developing countries, and it draws ideas from a broad range of financial and entrepreneurial programs developed by organizations like the International Labour Organization, Junior Achievement, and Aflatoun.

Conceptual knowledge is put into practice at school through activities that empower children to use what they have learned. For example, students practice routine health behaviors, such as hand washing and wearing shoes near latrines-and, to the extent feasible, gain exposure to other important behaviors, such as boiling drinking water and using malaria nets. They practice routine market-like transactions by earning points for schoolwork and budgeting those points to obtain valuable prizes, such as sitting in a favorite chair or being first in line.

Students also develop higher order skills as they work in committees to develop and execute complex projects. Health-related projects can range from planning and carrying out an athletic activity to be played during recess, to practicing diagnostic skills when classmates are ill-helping to decide, for example, when a cold has turned into a respiratory infection that requires antibiotics. Entrepreneurship projects include identifying and exploiting market opportunities through business ideas like school gardens or community recycling that create real value. Students learn and practice workplace skills and attitudes like delegation, negotiation, collaboration, and planning-opportunities that are rarely available to them outside their families.

Some school systems, especially at the secondary level, have begun to include entrepreneurship and health topics in their curricular requirements. But including information in basic lectures is not enough. Schools must simultaneously adopt action-oriented pedagogical approaches that hone critical thinking skills and enable children to identify problems, seek out and evaluate relevant information and resources, and design and carry out plans for solving these problems. This involves tackling real problems that require and empower students to take the initiative and responsibility for their own learning.

A full implementation of this new school for life approach has not yet been adopted by any major organization, but a pilot is currently being developed by Escuela Nueva in Colombia. Escuela Nueva was the pioneer in adapting student-centered approaches for use in impoverished rural environments, which often use multigrade classrooms. Escuela Nueva develops classroom materials and pedagogical approaches in which students work in self-directed teams to learn, discuss, and actively practice, using the basic content included in standard governmental curricula.

Through this unique combination of relevant content, practical implementation, and student empowerment, children develop a body of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable them to succeed and thrive when they leave school, whether they are headed toward college or remain in their communities.
Dramatic Changes Are Needed
The traditional definition of school quality in the developing world is based on content mastery. But using traditional schooling approaches during the few precious years most children will spend in school leads to wasted resources and forgone opportunities for individuals and communities. Governmental agencies and organizations that support and promote quality education for all children must move beyond traditional models to help children develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are relevant to their lives and that can lift them out of poverty.

For too long, governments and organizations investing in developing-world education have operated under the unquestioned assumption that improved test scores were clear evidence that their investments have paid off. But if, as we argue here, mastery of the basic primary school curriculum is not the best means for improving life chances and alleviating poverty in developing countries, that model is broken. Investing in interventions that produce the highest test scores is no longer a valid approach for allocating scarce educational dollars or the scarce time available for the development of young minds. It is time to seek out the interventions that lead to the greatest social and economic impact for the poor.

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Redefining Education in the Developing World (SSIR)

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In most developing countries, few children graduate from secondary school and many don't even finish primary school. In Ghana, for example, only 50 percent of children complete grade 5, and of those, less than half can comprehend a simple paragraph.

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Importance of Education in Developing Countries

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Importance of Education in Developing Countries

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Carly Hocum

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Importance of Education in Developing Countries

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Charles Yagla

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Bollywood Actresses Who Married For Money

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Top 10 Countries With Highest Illiteracy Rate 2016

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Top 10 Countries With Highest Illiteracy Rate 2016 For More Videos : http://goo.gl/8NWCQ0 Follow us on facebook-https://www.facebook.com/PassionateVideo/?ref=hl 10.Mauritania-60.1% Education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 14. In 2002, the gross primary enrollment rate was 88 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 68 percent.

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Carly Hocum

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Education of young people in developing countries 

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Education of young people in developing countries 

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Charles Yagla

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One in four young people in developing countries are unable to read a sentence, according to a report, which warns that poor quality education has left a "legacy of illiteracy" more widespread than previously believed.

Research published on Wednesday by Unesco, the UN's educational, scientific and cultural body, suggests that 175 million young people lack even basic literacy skills.

"Access [to education] is not the only crisis - poor quality is holding back learning even for those who make it to school," said Unesco director-general, Irina Bokova, in a foreword to the 11th annual Education for All global monitoring report, which measures progress towards global goals.

An estimated 250 million children are not learning basic reading and maths skills, according to the report, even though half of them have spent at least four years in school. This "global learning crisis" costs developing countries billions of dollars a year in wasted education funding, it warns.

Adult literacy has remained stubbornly high over the past decade, the report adds. In 2011 there were 774 million illiterate adults, a decline of 1% since 2000. This figure is projected to fall only slightly, to 743 million, by 2015.

Ten countries - India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo - account for almost three-quarters of the world's illiterate adults, according to the report.

Globally, almost two-thirds of illiterate adults are women, a figure that has remained almost static since 1990. If current trends continue, the poorest young women in developing countries are not expected to achieve universal literacy until 2072.

Pauline Rose, the report's director, said literacy and adult education have suffered from relative neglect, as attention has focused on boosting primary school attendance rates in poor countries. Measures of progress at the national and global level often obscure deep inequalities, she added.

If current trends continue, for example, the wealthiest boys in sub-Saharan Africa will achieve universal primary completion in 2021, while the poorest girls will have to wait until 2086.

Rich countries' education systems are also failing minorities, says the report. In New Zealand, almost all rich students achieve minimum standards in grades four and eight, while only two-thirds of poor students do. More than 10% of grade eight students in Norway and England performed below minimum learning levels in mathematics in 2011.

Last year a survey of basic skills by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development sparked widespread debate about illiteracy and innumeracy among young people and adults in rich countries. A failure to sustain post-16 education and deep-rooted problems of poverty and social inequality were blamed by some commentators for England's poor showing in the rankings.

The NGO Save the Children said young people from low-income families in the UK were already falling behind at school by the age of seven, with most unlikely to go on and achieve good grades in maths and English.

The report says governments must rethink their teaching policies and redouble efforts to ensure marginalised and disadvantaged learners benefit. Governments must train teachers to support the weakest learners, as well as provide incentives to attract and retain the best instructors, it says.

Many developing countries have rapidly increased their teacher numbers by hiring people without training. This may help get more children into school but it puts education quality in jeopardy, warns the report. "What's the point in an education if children emerge after years in school without the skills they need?" said Rose.

David Archer, head of programme development at the NGO ActionAid, praised the report's attention to adult literacy and education. "Post-independence most African governments ran adult literacy campaigns to redress historic injustices. Today there is an urgent need for new long-term investment in adult literacy programmes in order to redress the inequalities and injustices that arise from failing education systems," he said.

Improvements will come at a cost, says the report, which estimates that basic education alone is underfunded by $26bn (£43m) a year.

Countries should commit to spending at least 6% of their gross national product on education, the report says. Donors must increase their aid for education and sharpen its focus to support the poorest and most underserved populations. It stresses that countries cannot afford to keep adult literacy and education off the agenda.

The 2000 World Education Forum summit in Dakar, Senegal, agreed six global goals to meet the learning needs of all children, young people and adults by 2015.

According to the Unesco report, no country is projected to reach all the goals - which cover early childhood care, primary and secondary schooling, adult literacy, gender equality and educational quality - by the deadline.
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One in four young people in developing countries unable to read, says UN

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One in four young people in developing countries are unable to read a sentence, according to a report, which warns that poor quality education has left a "legacy of illiteracy" more widespread than previously believed. Research published on Wednesday by Unesco, the UN's educational, scientific and cultural body, suggests that 175 million young people lack even basic literacy skills.

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Charles Yagle

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Carly Hocum

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What Is Economic Inequality?

When you walk around almost any city or town, you can see different sized houses, different types of cars, and different activities occurring. These differences can be indicators of economic inequality, which is the difference between individuals or populations in terms of their wealth, assets, or income. Although most frequently you see differences in economic levels around your town, economic inequality can also be applied on a larger scale to the nations of the world.

Based on economics, the world has been divided into two types of countries. The two categories are based mainly on per capita income, which is the average income per person. The per capita income is calculated by taking the total national income for a country and dividing it by the number of people that live in the country. For example, if a small country has a total national income of $800,000 and a population of 20 people, then the per capita income is $40,000.

Developed Nations

The first economic category is developed nations, which can generally be categorized as countries that are more industrialized and have higher per capita income levels. To be considered a developed nation, a country generally has a per capita income around or above $12,000. Also, most developed countries have an average per capita income of approximately $38,000.

As of 2010, the list of developed nations included the United States, Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Singapore, Taiwan, Israel, countries of Western Europe, and some Arab states. In 2012, the combined populations of these countries accounted for around 1.3 billion people. The populations of developed countries are generally more stable, and it is estimated that they will grow at a steady rate of around 7% over the next 40 years.

In addition to having high per capita income and stable population growth rates, developed nations are also characterized by their use of resources. In developed countries, people consume large amounts of natural resources per person and are estimated to consume almost 88% of the world's resources.

Developing Nations

The second economic category is developing nations, which is a broad term that includes countries that are less industrialized and have lower per capita income levels. Developing nations can be divided further into moderately developed or less developed countries.

Moderately developed countries have an approximate per capita income of between $1,000 and $12,000. The average per capita income for moderately developed countries is around $4,000. As of 2012, the list of moderately developed nations is very long and accounts for around 4.9 billion people. Some of the most recognizable countries that are considered moderately developed include Mexico, China, Indonesia, Jordan, Thailand, Fiji, and Ecuador. In addition to these specific countries, many others from Central America, South America, northern and southern Africa, southeastern Asia, Eastern Europe, the former U.S.S.R., and many Arab states, are all considered moderately developed countries.

Less developed countries are the second type of developing nations. They are characterized by having the lowest income, with a general per capita income of approximately less than $1,000. In many of these countries, the average per capita income is even lower, at around $500. The countries listed as less developed are found in eastern, western, and central Africa, India, and other countries in southern Asia. In 2012, there were around 0.8 billion people who lived in these countries and survived on very little income.

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economic inequality: differences in developed and developing nations - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Economic Inequality: Differences in Developed and Developing Nations - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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When you walk around almost any city or town, you can see different sized houses, different types of cars, and different activities occurring. These differences can be indicators of economic inequality, which is the difference between individuals or populations in terms of their wealth, assets, or income.

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Carly Hocum

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CLOSE

More people access higher education today than ever before. One in three adults in developed countries held a college degree in 2012, a substantial increase from 2000 when just over one in five had attained such qualifications.

According to data recently released by the Organization for Co-operation and Development (OECD), more than half of Russian adults held tertiary degrees in 2012 - the equivalent of college degree in the United States - more than in any other country reviewed. Meanwhile, less than 4% of Chinese adults had tertiary qualifications in 2012, less than in any other country. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 countries with the highest proportion of adults holding a college degree.

The most educated populations tend to be in countries where tertiary education spending is among the highest. Tertiary education spending in six of the most educated countries was higher than the OECD average of $13,957. Spending on tertiary education in the U.S., for example, was $26,021 per student, by far the most in the world.

According to Andreas Schleicher, director for education skills at the OECD, education in the U.S. has become much more expensive, and student debt burdens have reached troubling levels in recent years. Despite these facts, it is still considered a good investment, as U.S. residents with higher degrees earn substantially more than their less educated peers.

It is also a worthwhile investment for the government. Schleicher explained that "taxpayers in the U.S. get $200,000 more out of every graduate than what they actually invested, so it's a good business for the government as well."

Despite the value of investing in education, there are exceptions. Korea and the Russian Federation both spent less than $10,000 on tertiary education per student in 2011, considerably lower than the OECD average. Yet, they still have among the most educated populations.

Qualifications do not always translate into stronger skills. While only 1 in 4 of U.S. college graduates reach the top-end of literacy skill, more than 35% reach that level in Finland, Japan, and the Netherlands. As Schleicher explained, "We typically describe people by their formal qualifications, but this data suggests that the skill value of formal qualifications vary considerably across countries."

Nevertheless, countries with strong higher education systems tend to have higher levels of advanced skills. Roughly 12% of adults across the OECD performed at the highest literacy proficiency level in 2012. The percentage of adults performing at the highest literacy level exceeded that figure in five of the most educated countries.

Those higher skills may be paying off for residents. Only Ireland had an unemployment rate higher than the OECD rate of 7.5% in 2012. According to Schleicher, this relationship may also work the other way around because those who are employed are far more likely to pursue higher education and training. Unfortunately, this means "those who need life-long learning the most actually get the least out of it."
MORE: The worst economies in the world
To identify the most educated countries in the world, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 countries with the highest proportions of residents aged 25 to 64 with a tertiary education in 2012. These data were included as part of the OECD's 2014 Education at a Glance report. The countries considered included the 34 OECD member countries, and ten non-OECD nations. Included in the report were data on the proportion of adults completing various levels of education, unemployment rates, as well as public and private education expenditure. We also reviewed data from the OECD's Survey of Adult Skills, which included advanced adult proficiency in both math and reading. The most current figures for education expenditure by country are from 2011.
1) Russian Federation
These are the most educated countries in the world.

> Pct. population with tertiary education: 53.5%
> Average annual growth rate (2000-2011): N/A
> Tertiary education spending per student: $7,424 (the lowest)
MORE: 2) Canada The best economies in the world
More than 53% of Russian adults between the ages of 25 and 64 had some form of higher education in 2012, more than in any other country reviewed by the OECD. The country has reached this exceptional level of attainment despite spending among the least on tertiary education. Russia's tertiary education expenditure was just $7,424 per student in 2010, roughly half the OECD average of $13,957. Russia was also one of just a few countries where education spending declined between 2008 and 2012.
MORE: 3) Japan The best (and worst) countries to find a full-time job
> Pct. population with tertiary education: 52.6%
> Average annual growth rate (2000-2011): 2.3% (8th lowest)
> Tertiary education spending per student: $23,225 (2nd highest)
MORE: 4) Israel Companies that control the world's food
More than half of Canadian adults had received tertiary qualification in 2012, the only country other than Russia where a majority of adults had some form of higher education. Canada's education expenditure of $23,226 per student in 2011 trailed only the United States' expenditure. Canadian students of all ages appear to be very well-educated. Secondary school students outperformed the majority of countries in mathematics on the PISA in 2012. And nearly 15% of adults in the country performed at the highest level of literacy proficiency, versus an OECD average of 12%.
5) United States
> Pct. population with tertiary education: 46.6%
> Average annual growth rate (2000-2011): 2.8% (12th lowest)
> Tertiary education spending per student: $16,445 (10th highest)

Like the U.S., Korea, and the United Kingdom, private spending accounts for the vast majority of spending on tertiary education in Japan. While this can often lead to social inequalities, Schleicher explained that like most Asian countries, Japanese families are by and large willing to save money for their children's educations. Strong education spending and participation in higher education does not necessarily translate to higher academic skills. In Japan, however, higher spending did lead to better learning outcomes, as more than 23% of adults performed at the highest level of literacy proficiency, nearly double the OECD average of 12%. Younger students also seem to be well-educated, as Japan reported exceptionally high Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores in mathematics in 2012.

> Pct. population with tertiary education: 46.4%
> Average annual growth rate (2000-2011): N/A
> Tertiary education spending per student: $11,553 (18th highest)

Most 18-year old Israelis are subject to at least two years of mandatory military service. Perhaps as a result, country residents tend to complete higher education degrees later in life than in other countries. The compulsory conscription, however, has not lowered educational attainment rates, as 46% of Israeli adults had attained tertiary qualification in 2012. More than $11,500 was spent per student on tertiary education in 2011, lower than most other developed countries. Low education spending in Israel has resulted in low teacher salaries. New secondary teacher hires with minimum training were paid less than $19,000 in 2013, versus an OECD average of more than $32,000.

> Pct. population with tertiary education: 43.1%
> Average annual growth rate (2000-2011): 1.4% (the lowest)
> Tertiary education spending per student: $26,021 (the highest)

In 2011, more than $26,000 was spent on tertiary education per student in the U.S., nearly double the OECD average of $13,957. Private expenditure in the form of tuition fees accounted for the majority of this spending. High education expenditures have paid off to some degree, as a large proportion of U.S. adults have very high levels of qualification. Because of the slow growth rates of the past decade, however, the U.S. has slipped behind many other nations. While spending per tertiary student between 2005 and 2011 increased by 10% across OECD countries on average, U.S. spending decreased over that time. And the U.S. was one of only six countries to cut public education spending between 2008 and 2011. Like other countries where education is controlled by regional authorities, tertiary attainment levels vary widely in the United States, from as little as 29% in Nevada, to as much as 71% in the District of Columbia.

24/7 WALL ST.: See the rest of the Top 10 most educated countries in the world

24/7 Wall St. is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

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The most educated countries in the world

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CLOSE More people access higher education today than ever before. One in three adults in developed countries held a college degree in 2012, a substantial increase from 2000 when just over one in five had attained such qualifications.

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Carly Hocum