BASIC EDUCATION

What does "Education for All" mean and why does it matter?

Education is a basic human right and has been recognized as such since the 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Since then, numerous human rights treaties have reaffirmed this right and have supported entitlement to free, compulsory primary education for all children. In 1990, the Education for All (EFA) commitment was launched to ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, those in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality. There is much work to do before the goal of Education for All is achieved. 75 million children are not in school according to UNESCO and by 2005-2006, as many as 90 million children were without access to education.

A 2007 UNESCO and UNICEF report addressed the issue of education from a rights-based approach. Three interrelated rights were specified and must be addressed in concert in order to provide education for all:

• The right of access to education - Education must be available for, accessible to and inclusive of all children.
• The right to quality education - Education needs to be child-centered, relevant and embrace a broad curriculum, and be appropriately resourced and monitored.
• The right to respect within the learning environment - Education must be provided in a way that is consistent with human rights, equal respect for culture, religion and language and free from all forms of violence. [1]

Beyond the basic need for education to support one’s self and family in later years, many social ills occur in the vacuum of free and accessible education. UNICEF underscored the link between child labor and a lack of education in their 2008 Education for All Global Monitoring Report. According to UNICEF, over 100 million children who account for 70 percent of all child laborers, work in agriculture in rural areas where access to schools, availability of trained teachers and educational supplies is severely limited. Though, the education gap runs much deeper than a rural-urban divide. Even in urban areas, poor and marginalized children are unable to benefit from greater access to school facilities because of cost, caste and culture.[2] Also, a lack of free education encourages sexual exploitation of children. Some orphans turn to prostitution to earn the money for school fees and, in the process, contract HIV/AIDS. For many parents who are dying of HIV/AIDS, the greatest worry on their minds is who will pay for the school fees, supplies and uniforms for their children once they have passed? No parent or child should face such terrible choices or worries.

The link between education and public health is strong. Access to education affects HIV/AIDS infection rates, child survival figures and maternal health. According to the Global Campaign for Education, if all children received a complete primary education, as many as 700,000 cases of HIV could be prevented each year.[3] An inextricable link exists between education and well-being.

It is extremely important that girls have access to an education. For every additional year girls go to school, they receive 20 percent higher wages and suffer 10 percent fewer child deaths. Women with some formal education are more likely to seek medical care, ensure their children are immunized, be better informed about their children’s nutritional requirements, and adopt improved sanitation practices. As a result, their infants and children have higher survival rates and tend to be healthier and better nourished. According to The International Center for Research on Women, the education that a girl receives is the strongest predictor of the age she will marry and is a critical factor in reducing the prevalence of child marriage. The World Bank estimates that an additional year of schooling for 1,000 women helps prevent two maternal deaths. Also, each additional year of formal education that a mother completes translates to her children staying in school an additional one-third to one-half of a year.

The Current Situation and Barriers to Access

In 2000, the international community committed to achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015, two specifically related to education: MDG 2 focuses on universal primary education and MDG 3 aims to reduce the gender gap in education. While notable progress has been made in the category of enrolment, much progress is still needed, especially in addressing gender parity and quality of education that addresses socio-economic needs.

Poverty remains the largest barrier to access. Paying school fees is an impossibility for many families struggling to make ends meet, especially in light of the ongoing food crisis and when faced with the burden of HIV/AIDS in their families and communities. School fee abolition is absolutely necessary to ensure that all children are able to receive an education.

Kenya’s process of abolition of school fees serves as a shining example of success for other countries to replicate. In 2003, Kenya followed the lead of Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda and put an end to the fees that precluded many children, especially those from marginalized populations and orphans, from receiving an education. Within a matter of weeks, enrolment jumped by 1.3 million. The next step was to address the fact that the schools were understaffed and underequipped to comfortably accommodate the influx of new students. In response, the government released $6.8 million in emergency grants to help cover the cost of very basic classroom needs and the international community generously supported Kenya’s efforts as well. UNICEF, DfID, the World Bank, the World Food Program and other organizations provided grants to cover the cost of water and sanitation, temporary classrooms and the training of teachers. Progress is still needed. Continued international support will guarantee that all Kenyan children are guaranteed their right to an education.

Global Action for Children supports the abolition of school fees in order to get children into school while, at the same time, seeks to improve the quality of the education that the children receive. Cultural, socio-economic and gender barriers must be addressed to ensure that all children have access to a quality education in an environment where they feel safe and where their rights are protected. According to UNESCO, "children from poor, indigenous and disabled populations are at a systematic disadvantage, as are those living in slums."[4] Additionally, girls are less likely to have access to education. UNESCO noted that this is due to sexual violence, insecure school environments and inadequate sanitation that adversely affect girls’ self-esteem, participation and retention. Textbooks, curricula and teacher attitudes have sometimes enforced negative stereotypes and have kept girls from receiving the education they need and deserve. While improvement is needed in the qualitative sense, the important first step in providing education for all is the removal of the initial barrier to access: school fees.

What is Needed

• Increased Funding and Better Use of Funding - UNESCO estimates that an estimated $11 billion per year is necessary to reach the 2015 EFA goals. The disparity between need and aid is apparent: aid sent to low-income countries to provide basic education in 2004 and 2005 was at an average of $3.1 billion per year. The Fast Track Initiative (FTI) provides one of the most promising paths to universal primary education by 2015. Set up as a partnership between donors and developing countries and non-governmental organizations, the FTI endorses developing countries that put primary education at the forefront of their domestic efforts and develop sound national education plans. Donors then agree to provide coordinated and increased financial and technical support for these plans. Countries that lack donor support can receive assistance from the FTI Catalytic Fund, which was created to provide transitional financial support to low-income countries that have education plans endorsed by the FTI. Investment in the FTI Catalytic Fund would enable resources to go directly to country national education plans and could leverage increased commitments from other countries and a stronger global partnership on Education for All.
• Abolition of school fees - Many countries in Africa and in the developing world do not offer free primary education to all children. School fees must be paid in order to obtain even a basic education. School fees came into existence at the encouragement of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in the 1980s and 90s as a way of addressing crushing debt payments. These, along with "budget ceilings", forced governments to skimp on budgets for social services, such as health care and education, in the name of debt repayment.[5] The World Bank reversed its policy on primary school fees in 2001, but an estimated 77 out of 94 poor countries continue to charge some type of fee for basic education. School fees have greatly damaged development in many countries around the world and continue to be an obstacle for access to education; they are the principal barrier blocking the schoolhouse door for children from poor families and are a major reason why more families do not take in AIDS orphans. Uganda’s and Kenya’s success stories of school fee abolishment serve as an example to other countries. When the $8 annual school fee was abolished in Uganda in 1997, school enrolment figures doubled immediately. The fee was a major burden for families in a country where the average worker earned less than $1 per day.[6]
• Trained teachers - An extreme shortage of teachers in many countries, due to many factors ranging from budget ceilings to the HIV/AIDS epidemic has become problematic in achieving EFA goals. Teachers must be properly trained and paid in order to provide quality education.
• Flexible programs - School programs must take into account social, economic and cultural barriers. Flexible school schedules have allowed girls to attend school around household chores.