EDUCATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL – ENSURING INCLUSIVE AND EUQALITABLE QUALITY EDUCATION AND PROMOTING LIFE-LONG OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL
In 1948 – seventy years ago – the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in Paris: this document established the rights that belong to all human beings. This official text became particularly important in leading our countries’ laws and action and, among its thirty articles, the twenty-sixth clause states that every individual has the right to education in order to achieve their full development. Thus, education is one of the fundamental rights of the person, and, according to the UNESCO, it is important “to build peace, eradicate poverty and drive sustainable development”. Therefore, it should be accessible to all children and should ensure the acquisition of key skills that students will be able to use for the rest of their lives. All girls and boys should have free, fair and quality primary and secondary education, which is already occurring for 1.5 billion children, but is not the case 57 million people. This is an issue, because no schooling results in the lack of qualifications to complete high-paid jobs, and around 17% of the world’s adults, meaning around 793 million people, do not even have basic literacy skills, which impedes social development. The main objectives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural committee with regards to education are: the achievement of Educational for All, effective leadership in education in all areas, strong education systems and the resolution of global issues through education. In order to achieve this, the UN is involved in all the aspects of learning, from pre-school to higher education with specific training and learning in schools. It works at ensuring equality and access to education, better quality of teaching, and the acquisition of useful knowledge and skills for students linked to sustainable development and health during this process. Moreover, in order to achieve this, UNESCO collaborates with governments and organizations to change the way that education is approached and treated, as well as other bodies of the United Nations should always promote education.
PROBLEM
A report that was issued by UNESCO in 2010 states that one hundred and fifty million children and young people across the world did not have access to education. Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, it is shocking to note that one child out of three, was denied the right to go to school. In fact, in the countries that are located in this area, education is not accessible, thus generating poverty and discrimination. This is because, without schooling, it is difficult – if not impossible – to guarantee a hopeful future for all African children, who cannot, as a result, contribute to the development and improvement of society.
The lack of education is even more relevant to girls: around the world, approximately 63 million girls are not going to school, and 15 million of them have never seen what a classroom looks like. Very often, in developing countries, and more particularly in rural areas, girls exit early from formal schooling due to poverty, child marriage, household chores, need to work to survive and early pregnancy are the main reasons for education drop-outs. Without education, girls cannot make their own choices about their future, and might not understand the importance of receiving some schooling. Not having been schooled becomes worse when girls grow and become women. Without education, they are considered inferior and unequal to men, they are not empowered socially and economically, and they do not have the opportunity to free themselves from the poverty cycle. Two thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women and, in Africa, there are ten of the eleven countries where more than half of the population is illiterate. The situation is worrying, because education is the key to sustainable development in order to achieve no poverty, reduce inequalities, economic growth, and awareness of climate change.
The areas where the right to education is denied are often affected by poverty, where not only education is an issue, but women and children (with respect to child exploitation and child marriage) are denied their freedom. Despite the Millennium Development Goal that aimed at allowing inclusive education in all of the 86 countries of concern where access to primary education is an issue, 58 of these states still have a serious problem with regards to schooling. The countries where primary education is less spread are: Liberia (62% do not go to school according to UNICEF), South Sudan (59%) and Eritrea (59%). We notice immediately that all of these countries are located in Africa, which makes this continent a serious matter to achieve education for all and enable sustainable development. Actually, we can say that the lack of education causes poverty and discrimination, but also that poverty and discrimination cause inequalities in schooling. In fact, due to poverty, there is a rise in gender discrimination, and many girls cannot go to school just because they are girls. Most women in Africa and Asia are expected to work at home and to take care of children, so many families feel that it is unnecessary to spend money to give them education when they will never need it for their work. This is also the reason why 2/3 of the illiterate people around the world are women. Another major cause of the denial of the right to education is child exploitation. In some developing countries, children have to start working very young to be resourceful for their families. Often, their jobs are inappropriate for their age and, of course, do not allow children to go to school. In some African countries, 40% of young people are illiterate even though they have been attending school for 5 years: as stated by Save Children, in Nigeria, "only 28% of children from poorer backgrounds complete the elementary cycle", and in South Africa, "over half of poor children cannot even learn the basics". Lastly, children cannot go to school due to war. Let’s just take Syria as an example: as many as 2 million children do not go to school because of the conflict that is currently taking place in this country.
Furthermore, according to Save the Children, 130 million children have access to education, but they receive poor quality education. Therefore, the problem lies not only in the opportunity to be educated, but also in an appropriate type of teaching since the United Nations’ goal is achieving quality education for all children. In fact, in Africa, only half of the children who go to school are taught effectively.
LINK TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
This issue is mainly focused around the achievement of SDG N°4 to “ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning”. All children should have the right to a good education, and should keep on learning and developing their capacities and skills further for their entire lives. In addition, as already mentioned previously, the attainment of such goal will facilitate the achievement of No Poverty (Goal 1), Gender Equality (Goal 5), Economic Growth (8), Infrastructure and Industrialization (9), and Sustainable Cities and Communities (11). In fact, as stated by Nelson Mandela, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.
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