South Asia is the fastest-growing region in the world today. For the region to maintain this eminence in the global economy, it will need to continue attracting capital and exporting goods and services. Each depends increasingly upon sophisticated human capital inputs-and while the region has made considerable gains in expanding access to educational opportunities at all levels, it still has some distance to go to meet its development objectives.

Realizing the Promise: Education for All in South Africa is a companion piece to the World Development Report 2018 and examines the record of South Asian countries in the areas of early childhood education, schooling, teaching, skills, and higher education. It provides the most recent data and analyses on these topics as well as operational lessons.