Producing textbooks in developing countries.

Producing Textbooks in Developing Countries

Half

the world's children typically sit in classrooms sharing only one book among the entire class, learning by rote, or copying, probably inaccurately, old and often inappropriate texts written on a blackboard by an underpaid, undereducated teacher. These are the children of the developing world, in countries facing difficult economic choices and under severe financial constraints. The absence of textbooks is a major handicap that will not only affect these children but also the development prospects of their countries. The evidence is now clear that textbook availability is one of the most consistent predictors of academic achievement among students in developing nations. Levels of available reading materials strongly determine the kind of educational experience a nation is able to provide for its children and youth.

Many developing countries could improve their educational systems by changing the way their ministries of education procure and produce textbooks. Governments could allow more competition in textbook publishing and use the

savings in total expenditures for textbook production to increase the number and quality of textbooks and teaching materials. In some countries, however, reduction of costs would not supplant the need for additional resources.

Background

In the past few decades, there has been a significant expansion of formal schooling in developing countries. Maintaining these new facilities is very expensive. Typically, education accounts for approximately 12 percent of public recurrent expenditures, but often is as high as 30 percent. While primary school teaching staff in most developing countries has quadrupled since 1960, two out of three poor nations have had to reduce educational spending. Reductions have fallen most heavily on nonsalary items such as chalk, maps, furniture, equipment, and textbooks. Such expenditures in primary education represented about 4 percent of recurrent educational expenditures in Africa and about 9 percent in Asia, compared to approximately 14 percent in members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in the 1970s. These expenditures were squeezed even further in the 1980s. In the early 1980s, Bolivia spent only $0.80 per year on nonsalary inputs for each of its primary school students; Malawi spent $1.24; Indonesia $2.24; Brazil and Thailand $4.00; Mexico $5.64; and Algeria $8.96. These compared to $300 spent in Sweden and other Nordic countries.