Paraguay Region: Latin America and the Caribbean Income Group: Lower Middle Income Source for Region and Income Groupings: World Bank 2018
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Paraguay Region: Latin America and the Caribbean Income Group: Lower Middle Income Source for region and income groupings: World Bank 2018 National Education Profile 2018 Update OVERVIEW In Paraguay, the academic year begins in February and ends in December, and the official primary school entrance age is 6. The system is structured so that the primary school cycle lasts 6 years, lower secondary lasts 3 years, and upper secondary lasts 3 years. Paraguay has a total of 1,339,000 pupils enrolled in primary and secondary education. Of these pupils, about 727,000 (54%) are enrolled in primary education. Figure 3 shows the highest level of education reached by youth ages 15-24 in Paraguay. Although youth in this age group may still be in school and working towards their educational goals, it is notable that approximately 2% of youth have no formal education and 7% of youth have attained at most incomplete primary education, meaning that in total 9% of 15-24 year olds have not completed primary education in Paraguay. FIG 1. EDUCATION SYSTEM FIG 2. NUMBER OF PUPILS BY SCHOOL LEVEL FIG 3. EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, YOUTH (IN 1000S) AGES 15-24 School Entrance Age: Primary Primary school - Age 6 Incomplete No Education7% Upper Post- 2% Primary Complete Secondary Secondary 7% Duration and Official Ages for School Cycle: 283 26% Primary : 6 years - Ages 6 - 11 Lower secondary : 3 years - Ages 12 - 14 Upper secondary : 3 years - Ages 15 - 17 Primary 727 Academic Calendar: Lower Secondary Secondary Complete 329 15% Secondary Starting month : February Incomplete 43% Ending month : December Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics Data Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2016 Data source: EPDC extraction of MICS dataset 2016 SCHOOL PARTICIPATION AND EFFICIENCY The percentage of out of school children in a country shows what proportion of children are not currently participating in the education system and who are, therefore, missing out on the benefits of school. In Paraguay, 6% of children of official primary school ages are out of school as shown in Figure 4, which also considers the proportion of children out of school by different characteristics wherever data is available. For example, Figure 4 shows that approximately 6% of boys of primary school age are out of school compared to 5% of girls of the same age. For children of primary school age in Paraguay, the biggest disparity can be seen between the poorest and the richest children. Figure 5 looks at the percentage of youth of secondary school ages who are out of school in Paraguay. Nearly 15% of female youth of secondary school age are out of school compared to 16% of male youth of the same age. For youth of secondary school age, the biggest disparity can be seen between the poorest and the richest youth. FIG 4. PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN OF PRIMARY SCHOOL AGE FIG 5. PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN OF SECONDARY SCHOOL AGE (AGES 6-11) OUT OF SCHOOL (AGES 12-17) OUT OF SCHOOL 100 100 90 90 80 80 70 70 60 60 50 50 40 40 31 30 30 21 20 20 16 15 15 % of Children Out of School of Out of Children % % of Children Out of School 11 8 10 6 5 5 6 4 6 10 4 0 0 Male Female Urban Rural Richest Poorest Total Male Female Urban Rural Richest Poorest Total Quintile Quintile Quintile Quintile Gender Urbanicity Income Total Gender Urbanicity Income Total Data source: EPDC extraction of MICS dataset 2016 Data source: EPDC extraction of MICS dataset 2016 Figures 6 and 7 look at indicators of participation, completion, and progression in the education system. Figure 6 displays gross indicators (which include under- and over-age students) and net indicators (which include only on-time students of official school age) for student intake, participation, and flows. In Paraguay, the gross enrollment rate in primary education is 91% for both girls and boys combined. This decreases to 84% in lower secondary, with a student transition rate to secondary school of 94%. In Paraguay, the primary net enrollment rate is 78% and the primary completion rate is 89%. Both of these indicators provide a sense of the progress a country is making towards universal primary education -- a key UN Millenium Development Goal -- and, for Paraguay, suggest that the country has yet to achieve universal primary education. Figure 7 displays the repetition rate in primary education, showing the specific grades in which students are more likely to repeat. It suggests that of the first 5 grades of primary in Paraguay, students are more likely to repeat gradeG 1. The repetition rate in grade 1 is 7.2% (for both males and females), which is 2.7 points higher than the average repetition rate across primary grades of 4.5%. FIG 6. STUDENT INTAKE AND FLOW FROM PRIMARY TO SECONDARY SCHOOLS FIG 7. STUDENT REPETITION BY GRADE AND LEVEL IN PRIMARY SCHOOL male by grade female by grade % Male Female Male Female male primary female primary 100.0 92 95 94 % 89 86 89 89 9.0 90.0 83 83 85 78 78 8.0 8.2 80.0 73 67 7.4 70.0 7.0 57 57 6.7 60.0 6.0 6.1 50.0 5.0 40.0 4.8 4.8 4.4 30.0 4.0 20.0 3.0 3.0 2.7 10.0 2.0 0.0 1.6 Gross Intake Net Intake Gross Net Enrollment Completion Transition to Gross Gross 1.0 Enrollment lower Enrollment Enrollment secondary 0.0 Prim G1 Prim G2 Prim G3 Prim G4 Prim G5 Primary Lower Upper Secondary Secondary Data sources: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), EPDC calculation based on UIS data (see Data Table for year) Data source: EPDC calculation based on UIS data (see Data Table for year) LEARNING This section provides information on indicators of learning, which lend insight into the FIG 8. COMPARISON OF ACCESS AND LITERACY quality of educational provision. In this profile, learning is measured through literacy 100 rates, which are important because literacy is a foundational skill needed to attain 66 th percentile higher levels of learning, and national performance on learning assessments. Figure 8 demonstrates where Paraguay stands in comparison to other low and middle income countries in access to education, measured as the primary school net enrollment rate, and youth literacy. Compared to other countries, Paraguay ranks at the 15 percentile in 33rd percentile access and at the 61 percentile in learning. Figure 9 compares youth and adult literacy 75 rates and shows that, in Paraguay, the literacy rate is 98% among the youth population; this is higher than the average youth literacy rate in other lower middle income Other countries countries. Figure 10 looks at the most recent TERCE reading and TERCE math assessment results for Paraguay in Grade 6, administered in 2014. It displays the Paraguay (Youth) Literacy percentage of test takers that have fallen below the lowest performance levels and the percentage of test takers that have exceeded the highest performance levels in these assessments. Nearly 7% of test takers in Paraguay performed below the lowest 50 performance benchmark in reading, compared to an average of 3% for other countries that took the same assessment. To learn about assessment data and what competencies correspond with performance benchmarks, see www.epdc.org/data- about-epdc-data/about-epdc-learning-outcomes-data. 25 33rd percentile 66 th percentile FIG 9. LITERACY RATE AMONG YOUTH AND ADULT 25 50 Access 75 100 (Primary NER) POPULATION Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (see Data Table for year) Male Male Female Female % 0 20 40 60 80 100 FIG 10. PERFORMANCE ON LEARNING ASSESSMENTS 98 2 age 15-24 100% 5 4 99 12 90% 80% At the highest Paraguay 95 performance age 15+ 70% 94 benchmark 60% 50% 95 age 15-24 40% Below the lowest 94 performance Percent Students of Percent 30% benchmark 20% 87 age 15+ 10% countries (median) 81 7 3 5 Lower Middle Income 0% 1 Paraguay TERCE Means Paraguay TERCE Means Reading Mathematics Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (see Data Table for year) Data source: EPDC extraction of TERCE microdata 2014 EDUCATION EXPENDITURE Figures 11 and 12 compare Paraguay's per pupil expenditure (PPE) and pupil teacher ratio (PTR), where data is available, to those of other lower middle income countries. PPE indicates a country's commitment to education at each school level. In Paraguay, PPE in primary education as a percentage of GDP per capita is 15%, higher than the median PPE in primary for lower middle income countries, which is 13%. In Paraguay, the PPE in primary is lower than the PPE in secondary. PTR is a proxy learning quality and resource availability indicator. In Paraguay, the PTR in primary education is 24.2, meaning that on average there is one teacher for every 24.2 primary school students. This is lower than the median PTR in primary for lower middle income countries, which is 27. In Paraguay, the PTR in primary is higher than the PTR in secondary. FIG 11. PER PUPIL EXPENDITURE (PPE) BY SCHOOL LEVEL (% OF FIG 12. PUPIL TEACHER RATIO (PTR) BY SCHOOL LEVEL GDP PER CAPITA) 18 30 16 15 15 25 14 Lower Middle 24 Lower Middle 12 Income countries 20 Income countries (median) 19 (median) 10 18 15 8 6 Paraguay 10 Paraguay 4 5 2 Pupil teacher ratio (PTR) % of per % capita GDP 13 15 27 20 18 0 0 Primary Secondary Primary Lower Secondary Upper Secondary Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (see Data Table for year) Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (see Data Table for year) DATA TABLE In this table, the values of different education indicators for Paraguay are compared to all countries, to Latin America & Caribbean, and to low and middle income countries.