Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Also called: OECD · Topic: Schools of Economic Thought and Economic Laws · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organisation, meaning a body made up of member governments. Its members are mostly high-income market economies, and its headquarters is in Paris. It does not lend money. Its main work is collecting comparable data across countries, studying policy and advising members on good practice. Its best-known reports are Education at a Glance (published every year), the PISA tests of student learning, and country-by-country Economic Surveys. It is not a United Nations body. India is not a member, but it often uses OECD data as a benchmark.
Example
The OECD's Education at a Glance reported that France's average primary class size was 21.6 in 2023, down from 23.4 in 2013, against an OECD average of 21. In OECD Economic Surveys: France 2024, the OECD advised France to move more of its education money to primary schools. Indian planners can compare their own figures with numbers like these, for example when they debate pupil-teacher norms under NEP 2020.
Don't confuse with
- UNESCO: a United Nations agency for education, science and culture. Education at a Glance and PISA come from the OECD, not from UNESCO.
- World Bank: lends money to developing countries and gives them grants. The OECD gives no loans. It works through data, peer review and policy advice.