A Smarter Future: Skills, Education, and Growth in Asia - Key indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2015 Special Chapter

Asia has made substantial progress in improving educational attainment. Nevertheless, there remain significant shortfalls in the quantity and quality of education. To raise quality will require commitment to making evidence based policy decisions and accountability, financial efficiency that delivers better skill outcomes per dollar of public investment, educational delivery and access, and generating conditions for learning on-the-job.

Aniruddha Vinaykumar Patil

As the Head of the Social Sectors Team, Private Sector Operations at the Asian Development Bank, Aniruddha Patil is responsible for ADB’s direct lending to and investments in private healthcare and education companies in Asia and the Pacific. Prior to joining ADB, Aniruddha worked for Macquarie Capital in Singapore, The Boston Consulting Group in Munich and the World Bank in New Delhi.

David Evans

David Evans is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, working on education, health, and social safety nets. Previously he was at the World Bank, where he co-authored the World Development Report 2018, Learning to Realize Education’s Promise, coordinated impact evaluation work for sub-Saharan Africa, and managed education projects in Brazil. Evans has evaluated education, early child development, agriculture, health, and social safety net programs in Brazil, the Gambia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania.

Making Impact Evaluation Matter (Pre-Event)

A co-learning activity between ADB's Education Sector Group (formerly Education Community of Practice) and the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department (formerly Economics and Research Department), this event on Making Impact Evaluation Matter: Better Evidence for Effective Policies and Programs covered sessions on impact evaluation (IE) in general, along with specific sessions on IE and education. It also provided knowledge and skills to both ADB Headquarters and Resident Mission (RM) staff in the design and implementation of better education projects.

Giving Kids a Head Start: The Impact of Early Commitment of Financial Aid on Poor Students in Rural China

Poor junior high students in the People’s Republic of China drop out of junior high or fail to matriculate into high school due to financial constraints. Introducing the early commitment for financial aid strategy may reduce dropout and increase high school matriculation among poor junior high students.