The situation in Azerbaijan concerning EFA and the
follow up actions that were agreed to at the Jomtien conference in 1990
is significantly different from many other countries and requires
explanation. In 1990 Azerbaijan was part of the former Soviet Union and
was not directly represented at the Jomtien conference, but indirectly
represented by the participation of Russian educators. Indeed, senior
educational managers and policy makers from Azerbaijan had no inputs to
the Jomtien conference and were not aware that the conference had taken
place. Following independence in 1991, Azerbaijan was preoccupied with
two major crises: the impacts of the war with Armenia and the transition
to the market economy. These preoccupations were also evident in the
Ministry of Education. Given this situation in Azerbaijan during the
1990’s, it is not surprising that the plans of action ratified by others
at the Jomtien conference were not a priority.
As a result, the current cohort of senior educational
managers and policy makers in Azerbaijan first became aware of the
Jomtien EFA goals and plans of action during a UNESCO meeting in
Tashkent in 1998. It was at this meeting that the requirements for EFA
reporting and assessment procedures for EFA – 2000 were being discussed.
Further follow-up took place during 1999 when UNICEF initiated a task
force meeting with the involvement of the five organisers: WB, UNDP,
UNFPA, UNESCO and UNICEF together with the Ministry of Education.
Several regular meetings took place between the Cabinet of Ministers and
the Ministry of Education and UNICEF at senior levels, including
technical meetings. Despite being uninvolved in earlier activities of
EFA, Azerbaijan readily agreed to become involved and to take part in
the EFA 2000 Assessment process. At the end of May 1999, the Cabinet of
Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan issued an instruction to
establish a formal working group for the EFA National Assessment. This
working group comprised representatives from the following organisations:
·
Ministry of Education;
·
Ministry of Economy;
·
Ministry of Finance;
·
Ministry of Youth and
Sports;
·
Ministry of Culture;
·
Internal Affairs Ministry;
·
Ministry
of Agriculture;
·
Ministry of Labour and
Social Defense of the Population;
·
Ministry of Health Care;
·
Defense Ministry;
·
Executive Power of the City
of Baku;
·
The Academy of Sciences;
and
·
State Statistics Committee.
This working group was under the organizational
guidance of the Ministry of Education and its first task was to appoint
a National Assessment Coordinator; the Deputy Minister of Education -
Mr. Iskander Iskanderov. The complete list of members of this working
group is provided in Annex 1. This working group began to collect
information and received technical assistance from UNESCO and UNICEF in
July 1999 during a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan. UNICEF, UNFPA and UNESCO
provided further technical assistance through the services of a
specialist to support the National Assessment Working Group in the
preparation of its report. Thus, the entire national assessment process
has had to occur within the very short time period, May to September
1999.
As a result of the above situation, this report
provides information on educational development in Azerbaijan during the
time period 1990 to 1998 with a focus on early childhood development
programs, primary education and literacy, rather than on specific EFA
activities. However, the philosophy of education in Azerbaijan and its
constitutional protection are consistent with the goals and aims of EFA
and therefore this project report will be relevant to the global EFA
2000 assessment process. To ensure the maximum relevancy and for
consistency with other country reports, the analytical section is based
upon the 18 core indicators specified in the technical guidelines
provided by UNESCO.
The development of education, and in particular the
achievement of the goals of universal education at pre-school and
primary levels in Azerbaijan during the decade covered by the Jomtien
declaration have been hindered by a number of events. It should be noted
that prior to the 1990 Jomtien declaration, education in Azerbaijan was
already highly developed. In fact adult literacy levels had reached 83%
in 1939 and in 1989 were at 99.6%. However, the decade of the 1990s has
proved to be one of the most difficult in Azerbaijan’s history since
education, together with all sectors, has had to face a number of
challenges brought about by:
·
the Armenian aggression;
·
the loss of 20% of its
territory (including 616 general secondary schools and 300 other
educational institutions);
·
a large inflow of refugees
and internally displaced persons following this aggression;
·
hyperinflation;
·
transition to a market
economy; and
·
the collapse of trading
partners brought about by the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
Thus, the major challenge to education during the
decade of the 1990’s has been to minimise the decline in educational
development given these difficulties. While the period of the 1990’s has
been difficult for education, it is not without hope since in recent
times a number of international oil contracts have been signed for
utilisation of the oil reserves that have been discovered in the Caspian
Sea. Thus, the economic future of Azerbaijan appears to be moving to a
better future and this should allow educational reform to be implemented
and participation in education to be expanded, thus achieving the goals
of EFA.
In 1999 the population of Azerbaijan was
approximately 8 million persons living in 5 major cities and 65
districts, including the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan. There are
4,610 schools and 1.6 million students covering 11 years of free and
compulsory education. Of these 11 years, grades 1 to 4 constitute
primary education (the focus of this report), grades 5 to 9 are lower
secondary education and grades 10 and 11 are upper secondary education.
Basic education is grades 1 to 9. In addition to general education, in
1999 there are 48 higher education institutions of which 17 are private,
74 technical professional schools and colleges and 118 vocational
schools and Lyceums. There are also special schools for those with
learning difficulties and boarding schools for those students in need.
Since 1989, gifted children are able to attend special classes and/or
special schools. School for gifted students have a duration of 11 years
and it is possible for gifted students to skip years and complete
general education in less than 11 calendar years. There are special
boarding schools for handicapped children, such as children with visual,
hearing or speaking disabilities. In remote areas where the density of
handicap is low, special classes are provided in regular schools.
The Education Reform Project commenced at the
beginning of the 1999/2000 school year (September) and involves all
grade 1 teachers (9,400) and students (170,000). This reform project is
being introduced in a phased approach and more detail concerning this
project is provided in Part III of this report.
The administrative structure of education in
Azerbaijan involves a number of different stakeholders. At the national
level, the following are involved:
Ministry of Education
During the Soviet era, the Ministry of Education had
primary responsibility for all aspects of education. Since independence,
the District Education Offices have taken over the role of implementing
education programs, monitoring and inspecting the system. The Ministry
of Education has responsibility for development and publication of
curricula and syllabuses, textbooks, methodological manuals, for the
quality of education, initial and in-service training of teaching
personnel, for attestation, accreditation and licensing of educational
institutions and realization of some other issues. Since the
Presidential order of 1998 to instigate an education sector reform
project, the Ministry of Education has been focussing on the processes
required to support such a reform. More detail concerning the nature of
this reform is provided in Part III of this report.
The Ministry of Finance is responsible for allocating
funding to schools, early childhood education institutions and other
educational institutions. For early childhood education institutions and
general schools, this allocation takes place through the District
Finance Offices.
At other levels, the following bodies are involved:
The Chief of each District Education Office is
appointed by the Ministry of Education upon the recommendation of the
local executive body, although the complete budget for the office is
provided from the Executive Committee of the District whose Chief is
appointed by the President of Azerbaijan. The formal mechanism for
communication and information flow between the District Education
Offices and the Ministry of Education occurs through both annual reports
concerning early childhood development programs and general education
and dissemination of appropriate norms by the Ministry of Education.
District Education Offices are responsible for
managing all early childhood development programs and general
educational institutions in the district. This office is also
responsible for school guidance and supervision.
The Education Law of 1992 has promoted a model of
decentralisation that allows schools to have considerable control.
Schools are responsible for hiring and firing of teaching staff and are
also able to propose changes to improve the curriculum and educational
programs. Although schools have been given more responsibility and
autonomy, many school directors need to upgrade their skills in
administration, finance and management since many come from teaching
backgrounds. Thus, there is a need to provide appropriate training
courses for school directors.
The Law on Education in 1992 provided for the
creation of School Councils to support a decentralised model. School
councils are comprised of teachers, parents, students and
representatives of social organisations. The roles of school councils
include strengthening the material basis of schools, providing proposals
for the solution of pedagogical and economic problems, and to facilitate
the introduction of a democratic system of management.
Education is funded through two sources: the
Republican budget and local city or district-level budgets. General
schools and early childhood education institutions are funded primarily
through local budgets although in cases where a deficit is created,
financial subsidies can be made from the Republican budget. Technical
and vocational schools together with higher education institutions are
funded solely by the Republican budget.
The salary component is the major part of general
school funding. The number of classes determines the number of teachers
in individual schools with class size in urban areas being 25 to 30
students while class size in rural and remote areas is more flexible.
Alongside with the number of classes, the teaching load also determines
the number of teachers required in a school. Teachers are normally
required to teach a minimum of 12 hours per week and can teach in more
than one shift. Typically, most schools work in two shifts per day.
There are also schools working in three shifts.
Schools provide their budget requests each year to
the District Education Office who then pass these to the District
Finance Office. The District Finance Office is responsible for defining
individual school budgets within the context of determining the complete
District budget, although the District Education Office also has some
input to this process. The District Education Office is then responsible
for payment of teacher salaries through school directors and for school
running-costs such as electricity, water, heating, etc. Annual budget
reports are provided to the District Finance Office. Since 1997, schools
have been permitted to have individual school bank accounts although
these are special accounts rather than budget accounts. These accounts
can be used for funding provided by sponsors, parents, companies, etc.
Funding is used to improve the material basis of schools. Not all
schools have established these special accounts and among those schools
that do have these accounts, the amount varies considerably.
Although each District Education Office is
responsible for payment of non-salary items for all schools in the
district, the reality is that this budget is in deficit. As a result of
this deficit, there is no funding for maintenance of school facilities
and little funding for school supplies and learning materials. Thus, the
quality of school facilities has deteriorated during the decade.
Under the constitution of 1995, general education
continues to be free and therefore there are no school fees. In primary
education (grades 1 to 4) textbooks are provided free of charge to all
students while in secondary education (grades 5 to 11) families must
purchase textbooks. There are also no “hidden” school-level fees such as
maintenance fees, administration fees, etc.
The difficult situation that Azerbaijan has faced
during the decade of the 1990’s has attracted the attention of the
international community. In particular, about 1 million of the
population are considered as refugees or internally displaced with no
permanent peace agreement yet concluded. The size of this refugee
problem can be better understood by considering that at the beginning of
1999 some 85,000 children attended 700 temporary schools situated within
refugee camps. These schools operate in very difficult conditions. The
need for urgent accommodation has also meant that 53,000 people now live
in what were formally school buildings. In addition, a World Bank 1997
study classified some 60% of the population as being poor with one third
of this number being “very poor”. The economic crisis brought about by
the collapse of the former Soviet Union has caused political and social
instability and introduced a new phenomenon for the country, that of
child labour. GDP growth contracted by about 20% annually during the
period 1992 through 1994 with annual rates of inflation reaching more
than 1000% in 1993 and 1994. Beginning from 1994, the economic situation
has stabilised. At the same time, the future for Azerbaijan is
optimistic with net financial benefits from the Azerbaijan State Oil
Company’s joint venture expected to flow into the economy during the
second half of the next decade, 2005 -2010. Thus, there is concern among
various stakeholders for ensuring that the deterioration in education is
minimised during this interim period and that the benefits of a renewed
economy will be able to be absorbed by the education system quickly and
efficiently.
Within this context, the programs of UNICEF have
focussed on providing advice and guidance for design models of social
policy reform and efficient, effective implementation of these reform
activities. Across all programs, UNICEF has also endeavoured to promote
the Convention of the Rights of the Child. UNICEF has supported
the Ministry of Education to develop and implement a series of
television programs specifically designed for pre-school development in
order to offset the decline in the number of children attending formal
early childhood development programs. To arrest the deterioration of the
system and to improve the quality of education, UNICEF has assisted the
Ministry of Education to establish goals for the decentralisation of
management and improvement in school level management. A pilot project
in five schools has been used to exemplify these new techniques. In
redesigning the system, the following principles were applied:
·
Introduction of
self-financing mechanisms at the school level in the form of conditional
matching grants;
·
Decentralisation of
financial and administrative management through opening of school bank
accounts;
·
Rationalisation of the
district education structure to be more cost-effective; and
·
Improved community
participation through school committees to apply the self-financing
systems in schools and to contribute community resources.
Other international organisations have also been
active in educational development in Azerbaijan over the decade. The
UNHCR was involved in provision of education in refugee camps and
continues to do so until the present time given that almost 1 million of
the total population are still considered as refugees or internally
displaced persons. UNESCO has assisted the Ministry of Education through
a program for retraining of teachers. The Soros Foundation has been
active in Azerbaijan providing support for improving methodological
issues, curriculum design and training of teachers through foreign
placements. The Council of Europe has provided programs for educational
managers at all levels and foreign language training in Azerbaijan has
been supported through the activities of the British Council, The German
Program for Exchange and the French Embassy. “Freedom Support”, a USA –
based NGO also provides exchange programs for approximately 50 students
from Azerbaijan each year.
NGOs are active in Azerbaijan but their involvement
tends to be directly with schools or specific districts and no
consolidated data is easily obtainable. However, several NGO’s have
collaborated with UNICEF and these include World Vision International,
BUTA, Women and Development and KAINAT. A number of
international oil companies have also provided support to individual
schools.
Total enrolments and the gross enrolment ratio in
early childhood education programs have both declined significantly over
the decade. The number of institutions offering these programs has also
declined with 10% of all urban institutions and 20% of all rural
institutions closing since 1993. Participation in early childhood
development programs in rural areas is particularly low compared to
urban areas. In all areas of the Republic, fewer girls than boys attend
early childhood education programs and this disparity is particularly
significant in urban areas.
The constitution allows private sector involvement at
this level of education, however, private sector involvement in early
childhood development programs in Azerbaijan is virtually unknown, a
result of the philosophy inherited during the Soviet era.