July/August 1999 Volume 12, Issue 4 CONTENTS REGIONAL NEWS Africa (cover page) The Americas Asia-Pacific Caribbean E. Europe & NIS Middle East W. Europe PRACTICAL INFORMATION Education in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia RESEARCH Rebuilding the University of Pristina eWENR & WES INFO eWENR Index: Contains links to all eWENR issues that are currently available for viewing. Masthead: Learn more about eWENR and its editorial staff. Subscriptions: Don't miss future issues of eWENR. World Education Services: Learn more about the organization that brings you eWENR. Comments: eWENR's editor welcomes your comments. If you have story ideas, suggestions or feedback regarding eWENR, e-mail us with the details. WENR Archives: You can read WENR back issues from Summer 1995 through Fall 1996. WENR Article Index Through 1996: Features an index of all WENR articles through Fall 1996.

Regional News  Africa  About 40 million children in sub-Saharan Africa are deprived of basic education, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Educational spending per child is half of what it was 20 years ago. While the number of children enrolling in primary school has increased from 25 percent in 1960 to 60 percent today, the ranks of the uneducated have also grown. It is estimated that by 2015 about 75 million children in the world — most of them in Africa — will have no basic education. A major reason for this is lack of funds due to debt repayment. Thirty of Africa’s most indebted nations currently spend as much on loan interest as they do on health and education combined. For the past two decades, austerity measures demanded by international aid agencies like the World Bank and the IMF have led to substantial cuts in government spending. Tanzania, for instance, spends three times as much on debt servicing than it does on education (the education budget has shrunk by more than two-thirds over the past 10 years). Likewise, debt repayment constitutes about 10 percent of Zambia’s GDP, which leaves little money for schools and books. But while thousands of children go without basic education, both of these countries seem to find plenty of money to spend on defense. Zambia’s defense spending rose from 1.1 percent of the GDP in 1985 to 1.8 percent in 1996. That same year, the military budget in Tanzania reached 3.3 percent of the GDP. A few countries, however, have made some progress. Uganda, for instance, has managed to put 2 million more children in school by cutting fees and abolishing school uniforms. According to UNICEF, $2 billion more a year would be enough to educate every child in Africa, a sum which is equal to an increase in government spending from 2 percent of the Gross National Product to 3 percent. The world spends approximately that same amount on military equipment each day. Better-directed aid could also help improve the situation; at present only 15 percent of foreign assistance to Africa is earmarked for education and health. Oxfam has suggested that debt relief programs be contingent on raising educational standards to prevent governments from spending more money on defense. In addition to the debt crisis, there are other reasons contributing to the failure of education throughout Africa. AIDS is a big factor in keeping girls at home to care for stricken relatives. Others catch AIDS at school and are forced to drop out. Teen pregnancy is another reason so many girls leave school, while some parents don’t bother to educate their daughters at all. An even bigger problem is poor salaries for teachers. In Nigeria, for instance, teachers receive only $23 a month and often have to wait months at a time for their paychecks. Sometimes they don’t get paid at all. — The Economist May 26, 1999  RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS