Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
50
2011 with 82 percent of the 4th grade children taking the test passing the lowest benchmark.
Azerbaijan is followed by Iran and Indonesia with 76 and 66 percent of children passing the
lowest benchmark in each country respectively. Given that Azerbaijan and Iran are upper middle-
income countries and Indonesia is a lower middle-income country, countries’ level of income does
not seem to make a difference for the OIC countries’ level of achievement. In fact in the high-
income participating countries Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia a smaller share of
children (65 percent or less) managed to pass the lowest benchmark. A similar picture emerges
for achievement in mathematics for 4 th grade students in the OIC (Se anel B). Among
13 OIC countries participating in TIMSS 2011, the most successful one was Kazakhstan with 88
percent of children passing the lowest benchmark.