Worldwide Education Statistics Enhancing UNESCO's Role (1995) / Chapter Skim
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3 The Effects of a Decade of Retrenchment
3 The Effects of a Decade of Retrenchment
Pages 18-28
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From page 18... ...
However, the biennial reports and interviews with current staff reveal that the actual operations are increasingly dominated by the servicing of the data base, preparation of the Statistical Yearbook, and a dramatically reduced servicing of member states' needs. Moreover, the quality of the data base itself is threatened by diminishing resources for data verification and documentation and by the virtual absence of the developmental activities that are essential to adapt to users' changing needs.
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From page 19... ...
It makes no mention of users beyond member states and internal program sectors, despite growing requests for assistance from such users. The division, for example, provides a copy of its total data base to the World Bank every six months; gives a copy of the data base on education in Latin American/Caribbean countries annually to the Inter-American Development Bank; prepares information on literacy trends and projections and selected education indicators for UNICEF, and in 1994 accelerated its annual primary school survey to meet UNICEF's needs; provides annual education indicators and selected tables to UNDP and the United Nations Statistical Division; and replies to numerous other requests for assistance.
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From page 20... ...
. These statistics are obtained primarily from 15 paper questionnaires distributed early in each calendar year through the UNESCO National Commission in each country.1 Since the national commission is most commonly located in each member state's education ministry, the return rate, timeliness, and accuracy are 1Article VII of the UNESCO constitution calls on each member state to "make such arrangements as suit its particular conditions for the purpose of associating its principal bodies interested in educational, scientific, and cultural matters with the work of the Organization, preferably by the formation of a National Commission broadly representative of the Government of such bodies." These commissions advise their respective delegations to the General Conference and serve as liaison agencies.
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From page 21... ...
Although immigration might explain an apparently anomalous result, the statistical algorithm would be a valuable way to signal what data need further verification.) If the data clerks have time and other sources of information are available, they may check questionnaire results with individual country reports or data provided by other agencies; these latter sources are also used to fill in missing data items on the questionnaires.
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From page 22... ...
and the lack of documentation to help them interpret the data. Third, a great deal of the division's knowledge about individual country circumstances and the idiosyncrasies of country data resides in the heads of staff members or in individual paper files rather than in systematic technical documentation.
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From page 23... ...
It has insufficient processing capacity to provide reasonable response times for LAN users or adequate disk space for large, complex applications. Moreover, it has a large number of low-capacity PCs connected to it.
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From page 24... ...
The major activity in support of these states comes not from the UNESCO regular budget, but from the extrabudgetary NESIS (National Education Statistical Information Systems) project, which is discussed more thoroughly below.
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From page 25... ...
The NESIS project developed from recommendations made by the Donors to African Education Working Group on Educational Statistics in 1990-1991. In October 1991 the project was initiated with funding from the Swedish International Development Authority.
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From page 26... ...
First, the basic methodology of the project the training modules is designed to stress local capacity development without the expectation of significant external assistance by consultants or project staff. Second, improving management information systems is intended to take place as part of individual country projects, funded on an ad hoc basis by individual donors.
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From page 27... ...
In addition, it works with OECD and Eurostat on joint questionnaires so that individual countries do not have to provide basic education statistics to three different agencies. Within UNESCO, the division's chief collaborative endeavor is with the Education Sector, in particular through providing statistical data undergirding the development of education indicators that appear in the Education Sector's World Education Report.
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From page 28... ...
28 WORLDWIDE EDUCATION STATISTICS: ENHANCING UNESCO'S ROLE levels and types of education will be offset by losses in continuity of the data series. Although the desirability and feasibility of revising ISCED may be unclear, what is apparent is that the Division of Statistics is perceived as having moved slowly to address the concerns.
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