Why learning assessments matter

BHP Director John Richards has published research findings on education in South Asia: “Primary education is the foundation of secondary and post-secondary education. Without it, human capital remains weak, so most teenagers South Asia remain illiterate. With two Bangladeshi colleagues, I have just completed a second edition of a book for University of Toronto Press summarizing the weakness of primary and lower secondary education in much of South Asia.”

John has also published numerous articles for academic journals about education in developing countries. In one article he quoted Jim Yong Kim, head of the World Bank in the 2010s: ‘Schooling without learning is a terrible waste of precious resources and of human potential.’ Given the impact for population health and other development indicators, Kim insisted on assessments of national literacy rates. BHP is now preparing the third in-depth assessment of learning at OfP’s Bluebell School to compare with other primary schools in the district. (You can read about our second assessment in 2024.)