Armenia : Restructuring to Sustain Universal General Education

Perkins, Gillian ; Yemtsov, Ruslan

Washington, DC:World Bank

关键词: ACHIEVEMENT;    ADAPTABILITY;    ADDITIONAL FUNDS;    AGE GROUP;    AGED;   

DOI  :  10.1596/0-8213-4927-9
RP-ID  :  WTP498

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Before the breakup of the Soviet Union,Armenia had a highly developed and expensive educationsystem, matching the needs of the command economy. Thecountry is now facing a challenge to sustain universalcoverage and performance standards in primary-secondaryeducation with a small fraction of the former budget, whilereorienting the system to the needs of a democratic societyand market economy. The purposes of this paper are toclarify the case for rationalization by quantifying thefuture cost implications and affordability of variouseducational policy options, and to identify further measuresneeded in Armenia to promote restructuring and to secureadequate financing of the education system over the mediumterm. The paper examines recent evolution of the structureof inputs and expenditure to general education in Armenia incomparison with international norms and practice, andoutlines various approaches that have been proposed forrestructuring the system in the context of thegovernment's sectoral reform strategy. Conclusions aredrawn concerning the depth of rationalization and thefinancing strategy that would be needed to sustain universalaccess and quality of the system over the medium term.Finally, some of the practical and institutional obstaclesto actually implementing rationalization are identified, andmeasures are proposed to help overcome these constraints.