Mauritania Region: Sub-Saharan Africa Income Group: Lower Middle Income Source for Region and Income Groupings: World Bank 2018
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Mauritania Region: Sub-Saharan Africa Income Group: Lower Middle Income Source for region and income groupings: World Bank 2018 National Education Profile 2018 Update OVERVIEW In Mauritania, the academic year begins in October and ends in June, 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 4 years, and upper secondary lasts 3 years. Mauritania has a total of 836,000 pupils enrolled in primary and secondary education. Of these pupils, about 627,000 (75%) are enrolled in primary education. Figure 3 shows the highest level of education reached by youth ages 15-24 in Mauritania. Although youth in this age group may still be in school and working towards their educational goals, it is notable that approximately 24% of youth have no formal education and 33% of youth have attained at most incomplete primary education, meaning that in total 57% of 15-24 year olds have not completed primary education in Mauritania. 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: Post- Secondary Upper Secondary Primary school - Age 6 3% Secondary Complete 61 5% No Education Duration and Official Ages for School Cycle: Lower 24% Secondary Primary : 6 years - Ages 6 - 11 148 Secondary Incomplete Lower secondary : 4 years - Ages 12 - 15 27% Upper secondary : 3 years - Ages 16 - 18 Academic Calendar: Starting month : October Primary Primary Complete Primary 627 8% Incomplete Ending month : June 33% Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics Data Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2017 Data source: EPDC extraction of MICS dataset 2011 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. Figure 5 looks at the percentage of youth of secondary school ages who are out of school in Mauritania. Nearly 40% of female youth of secondary school age are out of school compared to 33% 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 12-18) OUT OF SCHOOL 100 100 90 90 80 80 70 70 60 60 56 50 50 40 44 38 37 40 40 33 28 29 30 23 23 30 22 20 15 20 % of Children Out of School of Out of Children % 8 % of Children Out of School 10 10 #N/A 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 2011 Data source: EPDC extraction of MICS dataset 2011 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 Mauritania, the gross enrollment rate in primary education is 95% for both girls and boys combined. This decreases to 38% in lower secondary, with a student transition rate to secondary school of 66%. In Mauritania, the primary net enrollment rate is 76% and the primary completion rate is 68%. 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 Mauritania, 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 Mauritania, students are more likely to repeat grade 5. The repetition rate in grade 5 is 3.2% (for both males and females), which is 0.7 points higher than the average repetition rate across primary grades of 2.5%. 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 120.0 % 6.0 102 104 98 100.0 93 5.0 5.2 78 74 4.6 80.0 71 69 65 62 4.0 3.9 60.0 51 3.7 50 3.4 3.2 39 38 3.0 40.0 24 2.4 22 2.3 20.0 2.0 0.0 1.0 Gross Intake Net Intake Gross Net Enrollment Completion Transition to Gross Gross Enrollment lower Enrollment Enrollment 0.3 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 Mauritania 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, Mauritania ranks at the 9 percentile in 33rd percentile access and at the 9 percentile in learning. Figure 9 compares youth and adult literacy 75 rates and shows that, in Mauritania, the literacy rate is 56% among the youth population; this is lower than the average youth literacy rate in other lower middle Other countries income countries. Mauritania (Youth) Literacy 50 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 66 age 15-24 100% 48 90% 80% At the highest Mauritania 57 performance age 15+ 70% 35 benchmark 60% no data no data 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 Lower Middle Income 0% Mauritania Mauritania Reading Mathematics Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (see Data Table for year) EDUCATION EXPENDITURE Figures 11 and 12 compare Mauritania'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 Mauritania, PPE in primary education as a percentage of GDP per capita is 11%, lower than the median PPE in primary for lower middle income countries, which is 13%. In Mauritania, the PPE in primary is lower than the PPE in secondary. PTR is a proxy learning quality and resource availability indicator. In Mauritania, the PTR in primary education is 36.4, meaning that on average there is one teacher for every 36.4 primary school students. This is higher than the median PTR in primary for lower middle income countries, which is 27. In Mauritania, 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 45 40 16 38 14 15 Lower Middle 35 36 Lower Middle 12 Income countries 30 Income countries (median) (median) 10 11 25 8 20 6 Mauritania 15 15 Mauritania 4 10 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 Mauritania are compared to all countries, to Sub-Saharan Africa, and to low and middle income countries. The percentile rank that is given indicates Mauritania's standing relative to these country groups. A higher percentile rank indicates better relative performance than a lower percentile rank. Percentile rankings above 66% are considered high and colored in green, rankings between 33% and 66% are considered average and colored in yellow, and rankings below 33% are considered low and colored in red. For example, the gross enrollment rate for females in primary education in Mauritania is 98%. For this indicator, Mauritania ranks in the 28 percentile relative to all countries, meaning that 28% of countries have lower gross enrollment rates than Mauritania. As another example, the survival rate to grade 5 of primary school for males in Mauritania is 75%, and Mauritania ranks in the 18 percentile relative to all countries, in the 58 percentile relative to Sub-Saharan Africa, and in the 25 percentile relative to low and middle income countries for this indicator. KEY PERCENTILE RANK RELATIVE TO… Sub- Low and All Saharan Middle Countries INDICATOR VALUE YEAR Africa Income‡ DATA SOURCE Literacy rate, 15+, Female 35 2007 8% 24% 10% UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Literacy rate, 15+, Male 57 2007 8% 24% 10% UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Literacy rate, 15-24, Female 48 2007 6% 22% 8% UNESCO Institute