From schooling access to learning outcomes, an unfinished agenda : an evaluation of World Bank support to primary education

Basic knowledge and skills-not years of education -are key to reducing poverty. Raising enrollments and completing primary schooling are necessary but not sufficient for ensuring basic knowledge and skills. Developing countries and partner agencies like the World Bank, need to focus on raising learning outcomes, particularly among disadvantaged children, to realize the poverty reduction benefits of investing in primary education. The Education for All (EFA) movement, launched in 1990, has resulted in an extraordinary mobilization of World Bank and country resources in support of basic educatio