Basic Education in Developing Countries. Hearing Before the International Task Force of the Select Committee on Hunger. House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, First
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 290 664 SO 018 692 TITLE Basic Education in Developing Countries. Hearing before the International Task Force of the Select Committee on Hunger. House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, First Session. INSTITUTION Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Select Committee on Hunger. PUB DATE 5 Mar 87 NOTE 120p.; Serial No. 100-3. Some pages contain small, light type. AVAILABLE FROMSuperintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. PUB TYPE Legal/Legislative/Regulatory Materials (090) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Developing Nations; *Economic Development; Economics; *Educational Development; Educational Improvement; Educational Supply; *Financial Suppot; Foreign Countries; Global Approach; Hearings; *Hunger; International Education; International Relations; Poverty; Primary Sources; Quality of Life; Secondary Education; United States Government (Course); World Problems IDENTIFIERS Africa; Agency for International Development; Asia (Southeast); *Basic Education; Congress 100th ABSTRACT The responsibility of the U.S. House of Representatives Ta0K Force on Hunger is to investigate the causes and dimensions of world hunger and to develop le.islative recommendations addressing the issues raised. At this hearing, the issue discussed was of basic education as a crucial link in expanding opportunities for poor and hungry people to provide for themselves. The committee members saw a slide presentation provided by the World Bank (the printed narration from the presentation is included). Dennis Brennan, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Science and Technology, Agency for International Development (AID), outlined the role played by the U.S. government in increasing student enrollment in educational programs in developing nations. Ruth K. Zagorin, former Director of the Office for Human Resources (AID), discussed the relation between basic education and development. Douglas H. Windham, Professor of Education and Professor of Public Policy, State University of New York at Albany, spoke about efficiency enhancement as the focus of any donor-supported toward education in the developing world. The prepared statements of the committee members and witnesses appear at the conclusion of the document. Charts and tables supplied by AID, illustrating the funding of educational programs in developing nations, are included. (SM) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original docur a.nt. * *******************************************i *************, **,,******** BASIC EDUCATION IN DEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES 4= HEARING t BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCE OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON HUNGER HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDREDTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MARCH 5, 1987 Serial No. 100-3 Printed for the use of the Select Committeeon Hunger U.S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EOUC IONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Ms document has been reproduced as Fp received from the person or orgentl._. ti originating it C Minor changes have been made to improve 4 reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in t his deCu- ',lent do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy U S GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 7.t -722 WASHINGTON 1987 For sale by the Supenntendent t-,f Documents, Gong ..stuanal Sales Office U S Government Printing Office. Waning-0n, DC 20402 BEST COPYAVAILABLE 2 6 SELEC ' COMMITTEE ON HUNGER MICKEY LELAND, Texas. Chairman TCNY P HALL, Ohio MARGE ROUKEMA, New Jersey BOB TRAXLER. Michigan BILL EMERSON, Missouri LEON E PANETFA. California SID MORRISON, Washington VIC FAZIO. California BENJAMIN A GILMAN, New York SAM GEJDENSON, Connecticut ROBERT F (BOB) SMITH. Oregon PETER H KOSTMAYER, Pennsylvania DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska BYRON L. DORGAN. North Dakota FREDERICK S UPTON. Michigan BOB CARR. Michigan --- --- TIMOTHY J. PENNY, Minnesota GARY L. ACKERMAY, New York 6 MIKE ESPY, Mississippi FLOYD H FLAKE. New York JAMES H BILBRAY. Nevada KWEISI MFUME, Mary lam ELIZABETH J PATTEKSON. South Carolina 3 i !Fi P iiAVA YQ.C) 1-(::3'il r CONTENTS Page Hearing held in Washington, DC, March 5, 1987 1 Statement of: B"reuter, Hon. Doug, a Representative in Congress from the State of Nebraska, opening statement of 2 Brennan, Dennis, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Technical Coopera- tion, Bureau for Science and Technology, Agency for International Development (A.I.D.) 5 Hall, Hon. Tony P., a Representative in Congress from the State of Ohio, opening statement of 1 Le larvi, Hon. Mickey, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, opening statement of 2 Windham, Douglas M., Professor of Education and Professor of Public Policy, State University of New York at Albany 11 Zagorin, Ruth K., former Director, Office of Human Resourc Agency for International Development (A.I.D.) 7 Prepared statements, letters, supplemental material, et cetera: Brennan, Dennis, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Technical Coopera- tion, Bureau for Science and Technology, Agency for International Development (A.I.D.): Peace Corp 'volunteers 83 Prepared statement of 73 Responses to questions submitted by Hon. Tony P. Hall 84 Charts and tables: Countries in greatest need of basic education (two tables)................ 66 Effect of nutrition education for mothers on children's nutritional status (chart) 68 Fiscal year 1987 summary of obligations (in $000) (table) 70 Fiscal year 1987 summary of obligations (in $000), The Africa Bureau (table) 72 Funding percentages for education subsectors for the 1980's (table) 69 Funding percentages for education subsectors for the 1980's: The Africa Bureau 71 Hall, Hon. Tony P., a Representative in Congress from the State of Ohio, prepared statement of 27 Leland, Hon. Mickey, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, prepared statement of 29 Stanton, J. William, counselor to the president, the World Bank: "Investing in Children, The Economics of Education," World Bank, 1986, publication entitled 52 Letterto Congressman Tony Hall, enclosing statement, dated March 3, 1987 33 Windham, Douglas M., Professor of Educationar 1 Professor of Public Policy, State University of New York at Albany prepared statement of 97 Zagorin, Ruth K., former Director, Office of Human Services, Agency for International Development (A.I.D.), prepared statement of 85 inn BASIC EDUCATION IN DEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES THURSDAY, MARCH 5. 1987 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCE, SELECT COMMITTEE ON HUNGER, Washington, DC. The task force met, pursuant to call, at 10:05a.m., in room 2447, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Tony P. Hall,chairman of the task farce, presiding. Members present: Representatives Leland, Bereuter,Gilman, and Penny. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. TONY P. HALL, A REPRESI:NTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OFOHIO Mr. HALL. This is our first official InternationalTask Force meeting. We've had other meetings, but this is thefirst time this session that this International Task Force hashad. We're charged with investigating the causes and dimensions ofworld hunger and developinglegislative recommenuations toaddress theissues raised. We have explored many issues relatingto hunger, including basic health care, food assistanceprograms, microenterprise credit, and humanitarian assistance to sub-Saharan Africa. Today we are looking at the issue of basiceducation as a crucial link in expanding opportunities forpoor and hungry people to pro- vide for themselves. Lack of basic reading,writing, and arithmetic skills prevent millions of people in the developingworld from ade- quately entering the economic mainstream oftheir societies and gaining access to employment and services. In Africa,half of the school-age population does not attain the basicliteracy and numer- acy needed for productive involvement in the developmentprocess. The situation is worse for rural populationsthan urban popula- tions and for women than formen. In South Asia, where illiteracy among men averages 41 percent, illiteracyamong women is a shocking 69 percent of the total adult femalepopulation. Common sense tells us that education isnecessary to promote the social and economic development of peopleand nations. Yet worldwide, literacy rates are decliningas education budgets face relent:ess pressures in debt-ridden countries, andfunds for main- taining and improving school systems decline. Today we have with us a representative of theAgency for Inter- national Development whocan tell us what the U.S. Government is doing to address the pressing need for improvingeducational sys- tems in less developed countries. We also have withus two wit- (I) 5 2 nesses who are experts in the field of international education to ex- plore some of the issues relating to the economics of educational assistance, and possibilities for improving education programs worldwide. Before we hear from our witnesses, we have a slide presentation on the economics of education. While World Bank officials are not able tr testify before Congress, they have graciously made available this valuable and informative visual presentation for our use. Before we go into the slide presentation, we have the ranking mi- nority member of this task force, Mr. Bereuter on my right, and the chairman of the Select Committee on Hunger, Mr. Leland, on my left. And I would just ask those men if they have any state- ments