| The success many Asian countries have experienced in expanding access to and quality of basic education over the past three decades has been due largely to a declining enrollment rate, a booming economy, and national development strategies that favored education. However, new pressures created by urgent needs in health, environment, and population combined with an economic slump are fueling a rapid move toward more decentralized education systems. Decentralization in turn is placing new pressures on the school headmaster that few are prepared to meet. Across much of Asia, two of the most urgent challenges of the next decade will be to first strengthen and then support school level administration. |