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Amel Karboul: The global learning crisis -- and what to do about it
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The most important infrastructure we have is educated minds, says former Tunisian government minister Amel Karboul. Yet too often large investments go to more visible initiatives such as bridges and roads, when it's the minds of our children that will really create a brighter future. In this sharp talk, she shares actionable ideas to ensure that every child is in school -- and learning -- within just one generation.
Amel Karboul - Education pioneer
Dr. Amel Karboul builds bridges between the private, public sector and civil society to solve today’s global challenges in education. Full bio
Dr. Amel Karboul builds bridges between the private, public sector and civil society to solve today’s global challenges in education. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
I'm the product
of a bold leadership decision.
of a bold leadership decision.
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After 1956, when Tunisia
became independent,
became independent,
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our first president, Habib Bourguiba,
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decided to invest 20 percent
of the country's national budget
of the country's national budget
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in education.
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Yes, 20 percent,
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on the high end of the spectrum
even by today's standards.
even by today's standards.
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Some people protested.
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What about infrastructure?
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What about electricity,
roads and running water?
roads and running water?
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Are these not important?
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I would argue
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that the most important
infrastructure we have are minds,
infrastructure we have are minds,
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educated minds.
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President Bourguiba helped establish
free, high-quality education
free, high-quality education
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for every boy and every girl.
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And together with millions
of other Tunisians,
of other Tunisians,
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I'm deeply indebted
to that historic decision.
to that historic decision.
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01:10
And that's what brought me here today,
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because today, we are facing
a global learning crisis.
a global learning crisis.
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I call it learning crisis
and not education crisis,
and not education crisis,
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because on top of
the quarter of a billion children
the quarter of a billion children
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who are out of school today,
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even more, 330 million children,
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are in school but failing to learn.
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And if we do nothing,
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if nothing changes,
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by 2030, just 13 years from now,
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half of the world's children and youth,
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half of 1.6 billion children and youth,
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will be either out of school
or failing to learn.
or failing to learn.
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So two years ago,
I joined the Education Commission.
I joined the Education Commission.
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It's a commission brought together
by former UK Prime Minister
by former UK Prime Minister
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and UN Special Envoy
for Global Education Gordon Brown.
for Global Education Gordon Brown.
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Our first task was to find out:
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How big is the learning crisis?
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What's actually the scope of the problem?
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Today we know:
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half of the world's children by 2030
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will be failing to learn.
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And that's how actually we discovered
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that we need to change the world's focus
from schooling to learning,
from schooling to learning,
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from just counting
how many bodies are in classrooms
how many bodies are in classrooms
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to actually how many are learning.
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And the second big task was,
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can we do anything about this?
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Can we do anything
about this big, vast, silent,
about this big, vast, silent,
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maybe most-neglected international crisis?
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And what we found out is, we can.
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It's actually amazing.
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We can, for the first time,
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have every child in school and learning
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within just one generation.
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And we don't even have to really
invent the wheel to do so.
invent the wheel to do so.
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We just need to learn
from the best in class,
from the best in class,
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but not any best in class --
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the best in your own class.
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What we did is actually
we looked at countries by income level:
we looked at countries by income level:
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low-income, mid-income, high-income.
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We looked at what the 25 percent
fastest improvers in education do,
fastest improvers in education do,
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and what we found out is
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that if every country moves
at the same rate as the fastest improvers
at the same rate as the fastest improvers
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within their own income level,
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then within just one generation
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we can have every child
in school and learning.
in school and learning.
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Let me give you an example.
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Let's take Tunisia for example.
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We're not telling Tunisia,
"You should move as fast as Finland."
"You should move as fast as Finland."
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No disrespect, Finland.
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We're telling Tunisia,
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"Look at Vietnam."
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They spend similar amounts
for primary and secondary pupils
for primary and secondary pupils
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as percentage of GDP per capita,
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but achieves today higher results.
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Vietnam introduced a standardized
assessment for literacy and numeracy,
assessment for literacy and numeracy,
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teachers in Vietnam are better monitored
than in other developing countries,
than in other developing countries,
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and students' achievements
are made public.
are made public.
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And it shows in the results.
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In the 2015 PISA --
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Program for International
Student Assessment --
Student Assessment --
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Vietnam outperformed
many wealthy economies,
many wealthy economies,
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including the United States.
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Now, if you're not an education expert,
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you may ask, "What's new and different?
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Don't all countries track student progress
and make those achievements public?"
and make those achievements public?"
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No. The sad answer is no.
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We are very far from it.
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Only half of the developing countries
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have systematic learning assessment
at primary school,
at primary school,
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and even less so
at lower secondary school.
at lower secondary school.
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So if we don't know
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if children are learning,
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how are teachers supposed to focus
their attention on delivering results,
their attention on delivering results,
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and how are countries supposed
to prioritize education spending
to prioritize education spending
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actually to delivering results,
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if they don't know
if children are learning?
if children are learning?
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That's why the first big transformation
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before investing
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is to make the education system
deliver results.
deliver results.
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Because pouring more money
into broken systems
into broken systems
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may only fund more inefficiencies.
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And what deeply worries me --
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if children go to school and don't learn,
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it devalues education,
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and it devalues spending on education,
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so that governments
and political parties can say,
and political parties can say,
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"Oh, we are spending
so much money on education,
so much money on education,
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but children are not learning.
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They don't have the right skills.
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Maybe we should spend less."
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Now, improving current
education systems to deliver results
education systems to deliver results
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is important, but won't be enough.
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What about countries where
we won't have enough qualified teachers?
we won't have enough qualified teachers?
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Take Somalia, for example.
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If every student in Somalia
became a teacher --
became a teacher --
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every person who finishes
tertiary education became a teacher --
tertiary education became a teacher --
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we won't have enough teachers.
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And what about children in refugee camps,
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or in very remote rural areas?
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Take Filipe, for example.
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Filipe lives in one
of the thousands of communities
of the thousands of communities
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alongside the Amazonas rivers.
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His village of 78 people has 20 families.
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Filipe and a fellow student
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were the only two
attending grade 11 in 2015.
attending grade 11 in 2015.
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Now, the Amazonas is a state
in the northwest of Brazil.
in the northwest of Brazil.
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It's four and a half times
the size of Germany,
the size of Germany,
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and it's fully covered
in jungle and rivers.
in jungle and rivers.
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A decade ago, Filipe
and his fellow student
and his fellow student
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would have had just two alternatives:
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moving to Manaus, the capital,
or stopping studying altogether,
or stopping studying altogether,
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which most of them did.
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In 2009, however, Brazil passed a new law
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that made secondary education
a guarantee for every Brazilian
a guarantee for every Brazilian
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and an obligation for every state
to implement this by 2016.
to implement this by 2016.
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But giving access
to high-quality education,
to high-quality education,
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you know, in the Amazonas state,
is huge and expensive.
is huge and expensive.
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How are you going to get, you know,
math and science and history teachers
math and science and history teachers
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all over those communities?
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And even if you find them,
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many of them would not want to move there.
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So faced with this impossible task,
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civil servants and state officials
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developed amazing creativity
and entrepreneurship.
and entrepreneurship.
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They developed the media center solution.
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It works this way.
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You have specialized,
trained content teachers in Manaus
trained content teachers in Manaus
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delivering classroom via livestream
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to over a thousand classrooms
in those scattered communities.
in those scattered communities.
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Those classrooms have five to 25 students,
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and they're supported
by a more generalist tutoring teacher
by a more generalist tutoring teacher
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for their learning and development.
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The 60 content teachers in Manaus
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work with over 2,200 tutoring teachers
in those communities
in those communities
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to customize lesson plans
to the context and time.
to the context and time.
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Now, why is this division
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between content teacher
and tutoring teacher important?
and tutoring teacher important?
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First of all, as I told you,
because in many countries,
because in many countries,
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we just don't have
enough qualified teachers.
enough qualified teachers.
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But secondly also because
teachers do too many things
teachers do too many things
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they're either not trained for
or not supposed to do.
or not supposed to do.
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Let's look at Chile, for example.
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In Chile, for every doctor,
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you have four and a half people,
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four and a half staff supporting them,
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and Chile is on the low end
of the spectrum here,
of the spectrum here,
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because in developing countries,
on average, every doctor
on average, every doctor
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has 10 people supporting them.
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A teacher in Chile, however,
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has less than half a person,
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0.3 persons, supporting them.
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Imagine a hospital ward
with 20, 40, 70 patients
with 20, 40, 70 patients
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and you have a doctor
doing it all by themselves:
doing it all by themselves:
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no nurses, no medical assistants,
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no one else.
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You will say this is
absurd and impossible,
absurd and impossible,
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but this is what teachers are doing
all over the world every day
all over the world every day
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with classrooms of 20, 40, or 70 students.
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So this division between content
and tutoring teachers is amazing
and tutoring teachers is amazing
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because it is changing
the paradigm of the teacher,
the paradigm of the teacher,
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so that each does what they can do best
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and so that children
are not just in school
are not just in school
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but in school and learning.
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And some of these content teachers,
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they became celebrity teachers.
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You know, some of them run for office,
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and they helped raise
the status of the profession
the status of the profession
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so that more students
wanted to become teachers.
wanted to become teachers.
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And what I love about this example
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is beyond changing
the paradigm of the teacher.
the paradigm of the teacher.
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It teaches us how we can harness
technology for learning.
technology for learning.
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The live-streaming is bidirectional,
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so students like Filipe and others
can present information back.
can present information back.
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And we know technology
is not always perfect.
is not always perfect.
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You know, state officials expect
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between five to 15 percent
of the classrooms
of the classrooms
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every day to be off live-stream
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because of flood, broken antennas
or internet not working.
or internet not working.
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And yet, Filipe is one
of over 300,000 students
of over 300,000 students
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that benefited from
the media center solution
the media center solution
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and got access to postprimary education.
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This is a living example
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how technology is not just an add-on
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but can be central to learning
and can help us bring school to children
and can help us bring school to children
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if we cannot bring children to school.
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Now, I hear you.
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You're going to say,
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"How are we going to implement this
all over the world?"
all over the world?"
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I've been in government myself
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and have seen how difficult it is
even to implement the best ideas.
even to implement the best ideas.
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So as a commission,
we started two initiatives
we started two initiatives
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to make the "Learning
Generation" a reality.
Generation" a reality.
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The first one is called
the Pioneer Country Initiative.
the Pioneer Country Initiative.
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Over 20 countries from Africa and Asia
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have committed to make
education their priority
education their priority
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and to transform their education
systems to deliver results.
systems to deliver results.
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We've trained country leaders
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in a methodology
called the delivery approach.
called the delivery approach.
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What this does is basically two things.
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In the planning phase,
we take everyone into a room --
we take everyone into a room --
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teachers, teacher unions,
parent associations,
parent associations,
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government officials, NGOs, everyone --
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so that the reform
and the solution we come up with
and the solution we come up with
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are shared by everyone
and supported by everyone.
and supported by everyone.
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And in the second phase,
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it does something special.
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It's kind of a ruthless
focus on follow-up.
focus on follow-up.
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So week by week you check,
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has that been done,
what was supposed to be done,
what was supposed to be done,
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and even sometimes sending a person
physically to the district or school
physically to the district or school
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to check that versus
just hoping that it happened.
just hoping that it happened.
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It may sound for many common sense,
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but it's not common practice,
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and that's why actually many reforms fail.
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It has been piloted in Tanzania,
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and there the pass rate
for students in secondary education
for students in secondary education
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was increased by 50 percent
in just over two years.
in just over two years.
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Now, the next initiative
to make the Learning Generation a reality
to make the Learning Generation a reality
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is financing. Who's going to pay for this?
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So we believe and argue
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that domestic financing has to be
the backbone of education investment.
the backbone of education investment.
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Do you remember when I told you
about Vietnam earlier
about Vietnam earlier
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outperforming the United States in PISA?
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That's due to a better education system,
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but also to Vietnam
increasing their investment
increasing their investment
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from seven to 20 percent
of their national budget in two decades.
of their national budget in two decades.
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But what happens if countries
want to borrow money for education?
want to borrow money for education?
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If you wanted to borrow money
to build a bridge or a road,
to build a bridge or a road,
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it's quite easy and straightforward,
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but not for education.
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It's easier to make a shiny picture
of a bridge and show it to everyone
of a bridge and show it to everyone
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than one of an educated mind.
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That's kind of a longer term commitment.
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So we came up with a solution
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to help countries escape
the middle income trap,
the middle income trap,
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countries that are not poor enough
or not poor, thankfully, anymore,
or not poor, thankfully, anymore,
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that cannot profit from grants
or interest-free loans,
or interest-free loans,
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and they're not rich enough
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to be able to have attractive
interests on their loans.
interests on their loans.
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So we're pooling donor money
in a finance facility for education,
in a finance facility for education,
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which will provide
more finance for education.
more finance for education.
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We will subsidize,
or even eliminate completely,
or even eliminate completely,
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interest payments on the loans
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so that countries that commit to reforms
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can borrow money,
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reform their education system,
and pay this money over time
and pay this money over time
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while benefiting
from a better-educated population.
from a better-educated population.
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This solution has been recognized
in the last G20 meeting in Germany,
in the last G20 meeting in Germany,
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and so finally today
education is on the international agenda.
education is on the international agenda.
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But let me bring this back
to the personal level,
to the personal level,
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because this is where the impact lands.
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Without that decision
to invest a young country's budget,
to invest a young country's budget,
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20 percent of a young country's
budget in education,
budget in education,
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I would have never
been able to go to school,
been able to go to school,
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let alone in 2014
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14:34
becoming a minister in the government
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that successfully ended
the transition phase.
the transition phase.
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Tunisia's Nobel Peace Prize in 2015
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as the only democracy
that emerged from the Arab Spring
that emerged from the Arab Spring
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is a legacy to that bold
leadership decision.
leadership decision.
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Education is the civil rights struggle,
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it's the human rights struggle
of our generation.
of our generation.
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Quality education for all:
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that's the freedom fight
that we've got to win.
that we've got to win.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Amel Karboul - Education pioneerDr. Amel Karboul builds bridges between the private, public sector and civil society to solve today’s global challenges in education.
Why you should listen
Amel Karboul nurtures and inspires a new generation of responsible leaders, teams and organizations to create breakthroughs in their thinking, to transform themselves and to work towards a just and sustainable future.
Together with the Education Commission team, she has played a leading role in a major global initiative engaging world leaders, policymakers and researchers, and she has developed a renewed and compelling investment case and financing pathway for achieving equal educational opportunity for children and young people.
Karboul has also built The Maghreb Economic Forum (MEF) as a non-partisan think- and do-tank, and with her team she has engaged a new type of conversation between public and private audiences and nurtured new solutions for education (including de-radicalisation), employment, leadership and gender equality. She also co-lead the establishment of first democratic society in Arab nation, began economic reform and created and deployed effective pioneering digital media engagement between government and citizen on very limited budget as cabinet minister.
Karboul published her book, Coffin Corner, outlining a new leadership culture suited to the complexity and dynamics of the 21st century. Nominated as one of ten leading young African politicians, her professional brand is first and foremost that of a highly intelligent, well connected, creative and inspirational go-getter with a track record of making things happen.
Karboul received a Master's degree with honors in mechanical engineering from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany and holds a Doctorate in Coaching and Mentoring from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom. She has held leadership roles at numerous firms including Mercedes-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and worked in senior consultant roles at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Beratergruppe Neuwaldegg as well as visiting faculty at DukeCE. Her two daughters, meditation and yoga keep her sane.
Amel Karboul | Speaker | TED.com