Montenegro registers improvement in quality of education
PODGORICA, September 17, 2020 - A child born in Montenegro today will reach 63 percent of her productive potential of a fully educated adult in good health, says the latest update of the World Bank's Human Capital Index (HCI), which measures pre-pandemic human capital outcomes around the world. Between 2010 and 2020, the HCI value for Montenegro increased from 59 percent to 63 percent.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening the gains made so far, as governments throughout the world struggle to maintain health and education services in the face of restrictions to protect public health, including school closings.
"The unprecedented crises from COVID-19 have increased the urgency of investing in human capital," said Emanuel Salinas, World Bank Country Manager for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. "A highly skilled workforce is a prerequisite for a country's ability to tackle complex challenges like the pandemic and is essential for Montenegrins to have access to more and better jobs. We commend Montenegro for the improvement in the quality of education recognized in the report. This is a step in the right direction, but more remains to be done."
When assessing education in Montenegro, the report shows that, on average, children can expect to complete 12.8 years of schooling by age 18. However, this is only equivalent to 8.9 years of effective education when taking into account the quality of learning.
Quality of learning matters most for developing quality human capital. This means that improving the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms and schools around the country is the pathway to increasing human capital and unlocking the growth potential.
This year's report includes a decade-long analysis of human capital development from 2010 to 2020 in 103 countries. Albania, Azerbaijan, and Russia are among the top 10 global improvers in progress made on health and education.
The World Bank is helping governments develop long-term solutions that will build more resilient, inclusive economies in the post-pandemic era. Examples of such work include Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the World Bank is supporting the country's health response to COVID-19 through financing for protective equipment, supplies and facilities.
Globally, the HCI report also calls for better measurement of data to enable policy makers in countries to target support to those who are most in need.
The World Bank's HCI looks at a child's trajectory, from birth to age 18, on such critical metrics as child survival (birth to age 5); expected years of primary and secondary education adjusted for quality; child stunting; and adult survival rates. HCI 2020, based on data up to March of this year, provides a crucial pre-pandemic baseline that can help inform health and education policies and investments for the post-pandemic recovery.
