Planning Post-Primary Education: Taking Targets to Task

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have shaped much educational target setting by governments and their development partners to the extent that they have focused on just two of the commitments-universal enrolment and completion of primary schooling, and gender equality in primary and secondary school access and achievement. A consequence is that many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have yet to develop coherent plans for the post-primary sub-sector. Yet without expanded access beyond primary it is unlikely that the MDGs will be achieved. Privileging investment in the enrolment and completion of the last primary child over-investment at post-primary levels may satisfy a rights-based approach to development; it may not be the best strategy to sustain gains in access to educational services or to alleviate poverty through redistribution or growth. Skews in investment unfavourable to post-primary are partly the result of target setting that has been narrowly interpreted and which depends on assumptions that become questionable on close analysis. This paper first summarises the case for reconsidering investment strategies for post-primary education in general, and for secondary schooling in particular. Second, it explores issues related to target setting and target getting in relation to post-primary provision, many of which apply to target setting generally. Finally, concluding remarks draw together the case to reconsider how targets are defined and how they might be used in national planning more productively.