Reforming education

The Research Triangle Institute worked in more than ten countries over during the 1990s to improve education policy dialogue. It works with government – the supply side – to improve their management of education policy and to provide them with planning tools that will help them take into account such factors as population and salary trends. The demand side is equally important, although poorly understood. The public must be empowered to challenge decisions that are not in the public interest. This is achieved by by providing the same analytic tools to a range of stakeholders, including local political leaders, PTA members, progressive private-sector people and members of efficient grass-roots organizations. For instance, in 1990 RTI began working in South Africa with nongovernment groups, particularly the African National Congress, to help them use computer modelling tools to develop numerically informed positions for negotiation on post-apartheid education policy. More recently, RTI has helped the post-apartheid government plan and budget for changes such as an influx of students into tertiary education.

UNESCO's programme includes the following elements: contributing to the review, reconstruction and in-depth transformation of education systems in countries with expressed needs for changes; enabling countries experiencing emergency situations to meet their immediate needs for education and to begin the process of reconstruction.

A profound restructuring of the education system is occurring in Haiti, where only 35 percent school-age children are enrolled. This project is supporting and training a high-level technical team or "think tank" that is leading the reform effort; supporting the development of a national education plan that draws in parents, teachers, political parties and other interest groups to build consensus on the plan; and providing technical support to a range of other organizations.