South Asia has poor outcomes in human development in general and
in education in particular. Using one prominent measure, the region as
a whole receives a score of 0.611 in the United Nations Development
Program’s Human Development Index (HDI), with most of the countries
in the region (for example, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan) clustered
together among the lower half of countries classifi ed as having achieved
a medium level of human development (UNDP 2007). Th is overall
score ranks the region higher than Sub-Saharan Africa, but lower than
all other world regions.
Th e HDI, however, belies the true picture with respect to education
levels in the region. It becomes apparent when the HDI is decomposed
into its constituent indices (income, health, and education) that what
diff erentiates South Asia from Sub-Saharan Africa is much more its
levels of income and life expectancy than its level of education: South
Asia has a value of 0.598 versus 0.571 for Sub-Saharan Africa in the
education index of the HDI.1 Th is suggests that education systems in
South Asia are generally underperforming relative to the region’s level
of economic development.