Equality in education: Creating a level playing field in formative years is vital, but many people are denied a fair education from the start.
Our Future Planet analyses the situation.
Sadly, many of our planet’s children are still denied the right to a worthwhile education. This isn’t just happening in developing or disaster stricken countries. Developed nations are still failing to tackle poverty, gender inequality and racism.
And the obvious effect is a generation of disincentivised individuals already pushed to the margins of global society. Poor education impacts directly on minimised job opportunities, involvement in crime, drugs or high rates of child birth and mortality.
The issue is clear. UNICEF’s ‘The State of the World’s Children 2009’ data suggests children of primary school age who are not attending school, per region, in 2007, may be more than you think.
The numbers not getting the right start are worrying. In Western and Central Africa, 25.4 million, in South Asia, 35 million, in Latin America and the Caribbean, 4.2 million children weren’t in school.
East Asian and Pacific youngsters denied education numbered 4.7 million, Middle Eastern and North African, 6.7 million, and Eastern and Southern African 20.1 million.
Changing the system
So what’s to be done? Numerous agencies are working worldwide to help fix the problems of early education. But there’s more to do than just getting children into school in the first place. Even when youngsters have made it through the school gate, there are still hurdles to overcome.
These include bullying or poor resourcing. Home life impacts massively on children’s abilities to flourish. And remarkably, supposedly prejudice free places like university can still prove challenging to those from minority backgrounds or of differing sexualities or creeds.
Right now is a tough time, as economic downturns force governments to cut budgets. Sue Cavanagh is Deputy Chief Executive of the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU), which helps students realise potential, regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief
“At a time when the higher education sector is facing considerable financial pressure, it is particularly important to understand and address ongoing, and in some cases increasing patterns of disadvantage to ensure that the economic situation does not perpetuate or increase these.” she says.
“While statistics alone do not fully explain the complexities of the issues of disadvantage, they can be used as a starting point for institutions to identify where they can most effectively focus their efforts and measure the impact that their policies are having in promoting equality and diversity.”
Data confirms this. Equality in higher education: statistical report 2009 found that over the past five years:
‘The proportion of black and minority ethnic (BME) students achieving first and 2.1 honours degrees has increased; however the attainment gap between BME and white students continues to widen.’
Then again, ‘Higher education institutions have seen a marked increase in the proportion of students disclosing a disability, from 5.5 per cent of all students to 7.3 per cent.’
But The experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans staff and students in higher education: research report 2009 shows ‘High levels of homophobia and discrimination on campus, a factor that contributes to 20 per cent of LGB and 28.5 per cent of trans students suspending their studies.’
A fifth of students giving up due to pressure over sexuality is not a promising statistic.
World without walls
These figures are for the UK alone, but are a valuable reminder of how deep rooted change needs to become no matter how ‘advanced’ a society. Returning to the need to get youngsters into school in the first place, UNICEF has run programmes in Thailand, Macedonia, Nicaragua and Uganda aimed at achieving just this.
The American Institutes for Research (AIR) gave some feedback to the UNICEF work. It reckoned ‘The CFS initiative has provided Ministries of Education with a useful and relevant framework for improving education that promotes child development and is inclusive, participatory and responsive.’
This sounds like good news, but the difficulties may lie in maintaining positive work done by NGO’s in developing countries after programme funding or initiatives have ended.
Another vital issue is what’s seen in the West as standard infrastructure. Teaching is nigh on impossible without adequate sanitation, drinking water, and simple facilities like a roof, blackboards, chalk, pencils or books.
The trouble is that securing these comes down to wider economic and political issues in developing States, and solving these is something achievable only at international, governmental level.
The UNICEF Machel Study 10 Year Strategic Review, 2009, estimates ‘Almost two thirds of children not attending primary school are living in conflict affected countries and territories, (2006)’
This explains just how damaging are the wider socio-economic contexts governing education access. And UNESCO, EFA Global Monitoring Report 2009 data tells us we will face ‘Worldwide teacher shortage by 2015: 18 million,’
Whilst such figures remain disheartening, positive results have and will be achieved. From October 2009, more than 100 new schools had been constructed and handed over to the government in Pakistan administered Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), in an initiative by UNICEF and Pakistan’s Earthquake Reconstruction and Recovery Authority (ERRA) to ‘build back better’ in areas where schools were destroyed in the 2005 earthquake.
“Our real aim is to ensure that children receive the best education possible,” says Syed Fawad Ali Shah, UNICEF Pakistan Emergency Education Officer. “Teachers at the schools have been trained in child friendly teaching methods that promote interactive learning and ban corporal punishment, and that support and empower children as they learn.”
There is now another emerging need for just the same kind of work in Haiti. Since March 9, UNICEF is supplying its Early Childhood Development (ECD) kits. Containing things like crayons, scribblers and brightly coloured building blocks these are designed to help restore some sense of normality and aid makeshift learning.
“These games help provide a secure space,” said UNICEF Child Protection and Gender Based Violence Specialist Catherine Maternowska. “It offers us a chance to do informal education, to brush up on maths skills or reading skills, or talk about issues such as gender based violence, and how children can protect themselves.”
There’s no doubt the challenge of opening worldwide access to education is a daunting prospect, and something that can’t be achieved in isolation from economic and political factors. But realising change in this most fundamental of areas must become a priority for future societies.
What are your views? Not sure? Read the resources below for more information. Add your comment below. We welcome your thoughts and proposals. Not a Planetary Citizen? Sign up to Our Future Planet now!
Resources:
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010 – Reaching the Marginalised
Machel Study 10-Year Strategic Review- Children and Conflict in a Changing World
UNICEF – Manual Child Friendly Schools
All Children, Everywhere- A strategy for basic education and gender equality
UNICEF’S Child-Friendly Schools In Thailand: A Case Study
Child-Friendly Schools A Case Study: China
Nicaragua Child-Friendly And Healthy School (CFHS) Initiative: A Case Study
UNICEF’S Child-Friendly Schools: Uganda A Case Study
Mainstreaming Child-Friendly Schools In Sri Lanka: A Case Study
Developing Child-Friendly Schools in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: A Case Study
The experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans staff and students in higher education Research report 2009
The Century Foundation - Turnaround Schools That Work - Moving Beyond Separate but Equal. By Richard D. Kahlenberg
American Institutes for Research ® UNICEF Child-Friendly Schools Programming: Global Evaluation Final Report
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