Taiwan education indicators outperform global, East Asian averages

Taipei, Feb. 1 (CNA) Multiple education indicators in Taiwan outperformed global and East Asian averages across all levels of education in 2024, according to a report released by the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Jan. 22.

The report said that Taiwan's education completion rates in 2024 stood at 100 percent for primary education, 99.69 percent for lower secondary education and 98.81 percent for upper secondary education, compared with global averages of 88.1 percent, 78.1 percent and 59.6 percent, respectively.

In East and Southeast Asia, the average completion rates were 98 percent for primary education, 90.7 percent for lower secondary education and 73.3 percent for upper secondary education, according to data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (UIS).

As for children who are over-age for their grade -- defined as students who are at least two years older than the official age for their current grade -- Taiwan's rates stood at 0.01 percent for primary education and 0.04 percent for lower secondary education.

These figures were far below the global averages of 9.93 percent and 9.35 percent, as well as the East and Southeast Asia averages of 3.8 percent and 5.73 percent, respectively.

Taiwan's gross enrollment ratio for tertiary education reached 94.35 percent, compared with the global average of 43.61 percent and the East Asia average of 76.1 percent, according to data from the MOE and the UIS.

Gender equality in education is measured using the adjusted gender parity index (GPIA), which is calculated by dividing the female index value by the male index value.

A GPIA close to 1 indicates parity, with values above 1 reflecting higher female participation and values below 1 indicating higher male participation. Generally, a GPIA between 0.97 and 1.03 is considered to represent gender equality.

In Taiwan, the GPIA for education completion was 1.0 across primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education, indicating full gender parity. Taiwan's GPIA for tertiary gross enrollment stood at 1.08, slightly below the global average of 1.12 and the East Asia average of 1.11.