Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- About the Authors -- Abbreviations -- CHAPTER 1. EAST ASIA EDUCATION STUDY TOUR: AN OVERVIEW OF KEY INSIGHTS -- CHAPTER 2. EDUCATION IN AFRICA: KNOWLEDGE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE -- CHAPTER 3. EDUCATION IN SINGAPORE: DEVELOPMENTS SINCE 1965 -- CHAPTER 4. EDUCATION IN VIETNAM: DEVELOPMENT HISTORY, CHALLENGES, AND SOLUTIONS -- CHAPTER 5. EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA: APPROACHES, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND CURRENT CHALLENGES -- CHAPTER 6. EDUCATION IN THAILAND: IMPROVING SECONDARY EDUCATION -- CHAPTER 7. EDUCATION IN IRELAND: EVOLUTION OF ECONOMIC AND EDUCATION POLICIES SINCE THE EARLY 1990S -- References -- Index -- Box 6.1: The Path to Universal Secondary Education in the Republic of Korea -- Box 6.2: Summary of Government-Initiated Interventions -- Box 6.3: Measuring the Quality of Education across Countries -- Box 6.4: Private Participation in Education: Examples from Korea, Africa, and Chile -- Figure 3.1: The New Education System, 1979 -- Figure 3.2: Ability-Driven Education System, 2007 -- Figure 5.1: The Current School System -- Figure 5.2: The Changing Pattern of Enrollment Growth by School Level -- Figure 5.3: The Enrollment and Quality Index of Elementary School -- Figure 5.4: The Enrollment and Quality Index of Middle School -- Figure 5.5: The Enrollments and Quality Index of High School -- Figure 5.6: The Enrollment and Quality Index of Tertiary Education -- Figure 5.7: Performance in Mathematics and the Impact of Socioeconomic Background -- Figure 5.8: Teacher Remuneration, per Capita GNI, and Number of Primary Students per Class and per Teacher -- Figure A5.1: Trends in Number of Students by Level of Education, 1945-2005 -- Figure A5.2: Trends in Number of Teachers by Level of Education, 1945-2005 -- Figure A5.3: Trends in Number of Students per Class by Level of Education, 1945-2005.

Figure A5.4: Number of Students per Teacher, 1945-2005 -- Figure 6.1: Primary School Participation Rate by Income Quintile, 1994-2002 -- Figure 6.2: Education Transition Patterns -- Figure 6.3: Comparison of Secondary GER Trends, 1970-2000 -- Figure 6.4: Secondary Participation Trends by Income Quintile, 1994-2002 -- Figure 6.5: Thailand Education Attainment Profiles for Ages 16 to 19, 1994-2002 -- Figure 6.6: Transition of Three Cohorts from Grades 1 to 12, 2001-03 -- Figure 6.7: School Participation Rates, Gross Enrollment Rates, and Net Enrollment Rates by Gender and Gains, 1994-2002 -- Figure 6.8: Secondary Net Enrollment Rates by Region, 1994-2002 -- Figure 6.9: Survival Curve Estimates for Ages 6 to 15 in Thailand, 1994 and 2002 -- Figure 6.10: Trends in Secondary GERs across Asian Countries, 1980-2003 -- Figure 6.11: Percentage of Upper-Secondary Graduates in the Population, 2003 -- Figure 6.12: Reasons Cited for Dropping Out, Grades 7-12, 2004 -- Figure 6.13: Average Annual Expenditure on Education per Person by Education Levels, 2002 -- Figure 6.14: Share of Children and Youth at School or Work by Age, 2002 -- Figure 6.15: Ratio of Number of Students Attending Public to Private Schools at Secondary Level, 1992-2003 -- Figure 6.16: PISA 2003 Test Score Results in Mathematics by Income Group -- Figure 6.17: PISA 2000 Test Score Results in Reading Literacy by Income Group -- Figure 6.18: Trend Line of TIMSS Mathematics Scores against 2003 GNI per Capita -- Figure 6.19: Trend Line of TIMSS Science Scores against 2003 GNI per Capita -- Figure 6.20: Average Mathematics Performance by Wealth, 2000 -- Figure 6.21: Cross-National Comparison of Average Mathematics Achievement and Class Size, 1999 -- Figure 6.22: Share of Education Budget by Spending Category, 1997-2004.

Figure 6.23: Incidence of Public Expenditure across Income Quintiles by Education Level, 2002 -- Figure 7.1: Education System in Ireland -- Annex 1: Asia Education Study Visit for African Policy Makers, Singapore and Vietnam, June 18-30, 2006 -- Annex 2: List of Participants in Asia Education Study Visit for African Policy Makers, Singapore and Vietnam, June 18-30, 2006 -- Table 2.1: Development of Pupil-Teacher Ratios, 1980-90 -- Table 2.2: Gross Intake Rate in Primary School -- Table 2.3: Literacy Rate 15 Years and Over in the Developing World -- Table 2.4: Evolution in Access to Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1990-91 to 2004 -- Table 2.5: EFA Development Index, 2004 -- Table 3.1: Pupil Enrollment in Primary and Secondary Schools -- Table 3.2: Annual Expenditure on Education, 1959-67 -- Table 3.3: Output of Degrees, 1980-89 -- Table 3.4: Research Scientists and Engineers (RSEs) -- Table 5.1: Major Economic Indicators -- Table 5.2: Stages of Korean Education Development -- Table 5.3: Social and Economic Index of the Economic Growth Period -- Table 5.4: Qualitative Improvement of Education by School -- Table 5.5: Net Changes in the Number of Students -- Table 5.6: The Years of Attainment of Universal Enrollment -- Table 5.7: Development of Elementary Education Enrollment, 1945-57 -- Table 5.8: Quality Index of Elementary Education -- Table 5.9: Social Indicators for Korea, 1965-2001 -- Table 5.10: Status of Vocational High Schools, 1945-2005 -- Table 5.11: Departure Rate of Teachers -- Table 5.12: International Comparison of Teacher Salaries, 1995 -- Table 5.13: Number of Titles and Volumes of Published Textbooks -- Table 5.14: Ministry of Education Budget as a Share of GDP and Total Government Budget -- Table 5.15: Sources of Revenues for the Local Education Special Account.

Table 5.16: Per Capita Expenditure on Public Education: Korea and Some OECD Countries -- Table 5.17: International Comparison of Elementary School Teacher's Salary against per Capita GDP, 1996 -- Table 5.18: Education-Related R&D Institutes -- Table 5.19: Foreign Assistance in the Postliberation Period -- Table 5.20: Foreign Loans and Donors -- Table A5.1: Quantitative Growth of Elementary Schools, 1945-2005 -- Table A5.2: Quantitative Growth of Middle Schools, 1945-2005 -- Table A5.3: Quantitative Growth of High Schools, 1945-2005 -- Table A5.4: Quantitative Growth of Tertiary Education, 1945-2005 -- Table A5.5: Quantitative Growth of General and Vocational High Schools, 1945-2005 -- Table A5.6: Changing Trends in the Number of Students, 1945-2005 -- Table A5.7: Changing Trend in Number of Teachers, 1945-2005 -- Table A5.8: Number of Students per Class, 1945-2005 -- Table A5.9: Number of Students per Teacher, 1945-2005 -- Table A5.10: Enrollment Rates of Each School Level, 1945-2005 -- Table A5.11: Ratio of Students Entering Upper Level Education, 1950-2005 -- Table A5.12: Dropout Ratio of Teachers at Each School Level, 1965-2005 -- Table A5.13: Teacher Wage Comparison with Principal Countries, 1998-2004 -- Table 6.1: Incidence of Public Spending for Primary Education by Income Quintile, 2000 -- Table 6.2: Incidence of Public Spending for Secondary Education by Income Quintile, 2000 -- Table 6.3: Differences in Education Attainment of Household Head, Gini Coefficient by Country and Share -- Table 6.4: Average Years of Education Attainment, 1999-2003 -- Table 6.5: Age Distribution by Grade, 2002 -- Table 6.6: School Participation Rate by Income Quintile and Provincial per Capita Income, 2002 -- Table 6.7: Number of Disabled and Special Students by Type and Gender, Academic Year 2004.

Table 6.8: Private Expenditure Estimates on Education by Income Quintile, 1994-2002 -- Table 6.9: Percent of Teachers with Master's Degree or Higher, 2002 -- Table 6.10: Education Budget per Fiscal Year, 2000-05 -- Table 6.11: Education Budget Allocation and Student Enrollment by Spending Category, 2002 -- Table 6.12: Total Secondary Education Expenditure as Percent of GDP by Source of Funding, 2003 -- Table 6.13: Per Capita Education Expenditure by Region, 2002 -- Table 6.14: Household Expenditure on Education by Region, 1994-2002 -- Table 6.15: Household Expenditure on Education by per Capita Income Quintile, 1994-2002 -- Table 6.16: Utilization Ratios by Education Level, 2002 -- Table 7.1: Changes in Population and Labor Force, 1926-61 -- Table 7.2: Ireland-Basic Data -- Table 7.3: Destination of Exports by Region, 1960-2005 -- Table 7.4: Macroeconomic Management Indicators, 1986 and 2005 -- Table 7.5: Secondary Enrollment Growth in Ireland -- Table 7.6: Full-Time Students in Institutions Aided by the Department of Education -- Table 7.7: Percent of GNP Spent on Secondary and Higher Education -- Table 7.8: Current Expenditure per Pupil/Student -- Table 7.9: Full-Time Student Numbers by Sector, Selected Years, 1965-66 to 2003-04 -- Table 7.10: Public Expenditure on Third-Level Education, 1995-2004 -- Table 7.11: Education Attainment of the Irish Labor Force.