Among developing member countries (DMCs), Indonesia and the
Philippines rank fairly high in the distribution of real GDP per capita in PPP
dollars while Bangladesh ranks much lower. In terms of aggregate schooling,
the Philippines has secondary and tertiary enrollment rates that are substantially
higher, while Indonesia has rates that are substantially lower, than that predicted
based on all DMCs and their respective real products per capita. The Philippines
also has expected grades for synthetic cohorts that are substantially above the
overall mean for DMCs. In terms of public expenditures on education, all three
countries have about the same percentage of GNP invested in education, a little
over 2 percent, which is significantly below the level predicted by the experience
of all DMCs given their respective real products per capita. There has been
considerable public pressure for decentralization of education in DMCs in recent
years. This pressure has been driven largely by fiscal constraints but has also
been motivated by concerns over the effectiveness of a centralized system for
delivering education services. The three country studies provide a rich
characterization of the evolving–and in certain respects, rapidly changing–
education systems in these DMCs.
