1BasicEducationforYouth

The Institute for Domestic and International Affairs

Commission for Social Development

Basic Education for Youth

Rutgers Model United Nations

16-19 November 2006

Director: Jenny Muschinske

© 2006 Institute for Domestic & International Affairs, Inc. (IDIA)

This document is solely for use in preparation for Rutgers Model

United Nations 2006. Use for other purposes is not permitted without the express written consent of IDIA. For more

information, please write us at [email protected]

Introduction _________________________________________________________________ 1

Background _________________________________________________________________ 2 UNESCO’s Education Campaigns ___________________________________________________ 4 World Bank Involvement and Educational Aid ________________________________________ 7 The Global Campaign for Education _________________________________________________ 9

Current Status ______________________________________________________________ 11 Less Developed Countries as Compared With Developed States__________________________ 11 World Youth Report _____________________________________________________________ 12 Gender Equality _________________________________________________________________ 12 Alternative Learning _____________________________________________________________ 13

Key Positions _______________________________________________________________ 14 Regional Positions________________________________________________________________ 14

Asia and the Middle East _________________________________________________________________14 Africa ________________________________________________________________________________16 Latin America/Caribbean _________________________________________________________________17 North America and Europe ________________________________________________________________18 Non-Governmental Organizations __________________________________________________________19 Business Interests _______________________________________________________________________20

Summary___________________________________________________________________ 21

Discussion Questions _________________________________________________________ 22

Works Cited ________________________________________________________________ 23

Rutgers Model United Nations 2006 1

Introduction More than 115 million children worldwide currently do not receive an education,

and another 150 million children do not complete enough primary schooling to be

considered literate.1 The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) deems basic

education an inherent right that each citizen of the world should receive, but it does not

specifically delineate what “basic education” truly means, or how such programs should

be implemented. Since the World Conference on Education for All in 1990, international

organizations, governments, and the United Nations have been working toward

improving the quality of, and access to, education. The UN Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) laid out in 2000, established the goal of providing every child with access

to a basic education by the year 2015. Two of the central components of this goal are

enrollment and retention – not only is it important for children to enroll in primary school

at the proper age, but it is essential that they stay in school for at least five years to be

officially considered literate. Educating children is the best way, according to the United

Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the MDGs, to ensure a secure global future.

Education reduces poverty and provides more opportunity for people regardless of their

location.

There are multiple reasons that children are not given the opportunity to enroll in

some form of basic education, or cannot seize the chance to go to school if it is presented.

Fees for public schools often make an education unattainable, but even in situations

where school is free, it is often too costly for children to attend school, and not help the

family tend their fields. Children are a critical part of the labor force creating a situation

where some adolescents are expected to stay home and work to help support their family,

and thus do not have time for schooling.2 A number of organizations sponsored by both

the United Nations and various non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), exist with the

primary goal of universalizing primary education. These organizations seek to develop 1 Basic Education Coalition, “Why Basic Education?” http://www.basiced.org/whybasiced.php 2 UN Cyber School Bus “The Millennium Development Goals” http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/mdgs/index.html


new and innovative means to lower or eliminate school fees, reallocate funding, and train

teachers to provide a higher quality education. Two of the most significant such

campaigns are Education Now and the Global Campaign for Education.

Providing universal basic education is seen as a way in which a multitude of other

problems facing society can be ameliorated in that equipping the populace with general

knowledge enables them to address other concerns in a sophisticated fashion. Education

promotes progress, and it is therefore vital that children throughout the world be provided

with basic schooling in order to facilitate social growth and development.

Background The term “basic education” encompasses two main ideas. It refers first to the most

basic needs for the transfer of information. The intensity of this level of education varies

among states, and even among regions. For example, in developing states, the primary

concern falls into funding the building of schools

and effectively training teachers, and not

necessarily on the quality of education provided to

the students. In industrialized states, there is not as

much of an issue building physical structures in

which education takes place, and significantly more resources are given to the teachers

and materials with which education takes place. The second idea of basic education

relates to the provision of the most simplistic of educations, so that students, regardless of

age attain functional literacy.3

Education is so strongly valued worldwide because people view it as crucial to

securing a successful global community for the future. Education strengthens minds,

families, and communities, and therefore is critical to future development. That some

people cannot afford supplies, school fees, and uniforms greatly hinders the quest to

provide equal educational opportunity for everyone. The UN has affirmed that lack of

3 H.M. Phillips, Educational Cooperation Between Developed and LDCs, (New York, Praeger Publishers, 1976) 105

Functional Literacy: a level of reading and writing sufficient for everyday life but not for completely autonomous activity. Source: www.nde.state.ne.us/READ/ FRAMEWORK/glossary/general_f-j.html


education in any community is damaging because “literacy, especially functional literacy

and adequate education, represents an indispensable element for the development and

harnessing of science, technology and human resources for economic and social

progress.”4 The UN also notes that education is “essential for achieving the goals of

eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving

gender equality, and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy.”5

Uneducated people are lacking not only in academic knowledge, but more importantly,

life skills. Often, educated people in Western democracies take their academic abilities

for granted as it is hard for many to imagine a life without basic reading or counting

skills. In order for begin to address this problem, people must learn to think globally.

Just because education in one state is adequate to provide for the needs of its population

does not mean that neighboring states are afforded the same opportunity.

Accommodating the education needs of every state will take a long time, and requires a

great deal of patience.

While it might seem like primary education would be an area in which all states

would be concerned, it actually took a few decades for some regions to agree that it was

an issue that needed attention. The United States and the United Kingdom surprisingly

were among the last of the states to

put education among the top of their

priorities. Much of the employment

in Western cultures such as the US

and the UK was based on

apprenticeship, so basic education

was not necessary for the stability of the economy. Now, however, the US and the UK

have some of the most developed school systems in the world. The perception regarding

education in these two states has changed as the skill sets necessary for nearly all fruitful

employment and productivity within society now require more than even a basic 4 United Nations General Assembly. Resolution A/C.3/52/L.II/Rev.1. November 1997 5 Ibid.

Apprenticeship: A system of training regulated by law or custom which combines on-the-job training and work experience while in paid employment with formal off-the-job training. The apprentice enters into a contract of training or training agreement with an employer which imposes mutual obligations on both parties. Traditionally, apprenticeships were in trade occupations and were of four years’ duration. Source: www.southbank.tafe.net/site/tools/glossary/A-E.asp


education. Higher education in the United States and the United Kingdom is now

considered invaluable and almost mandatory.

Since the institution of the organization, the United Nations has affirmed that

“everyone has the right to education.”6 From the time of the drafting of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, many UN bodies, namely the United Nations Educational,

Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as well as United Nations Children’s

Fund (UNICEF), have drafted and overseen the implementation of resolutions addressing

the paramount need for basic education all over the world.

UNESCO’s Education Campaigns The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization developed

from the Allied Ministers of Education, an organization established in London in 1942,

and continues to uphold a philosophy that education is essential for being, and that every

human has a basic right to knowledge and instruction.7 The first official UNESCO

campaign for “free and compulsory education” began in 1951, and set an agenda that, in

many ways, is still in place today. The goal of the campaign reached beyond the scope of

simply providing an education for all the children of the world – this campaign sought to

provide equal education for every child. Each child across the world should have the

opportunity to reach his or her goals based on merit and personal knowledge regardless of

location or culture; they should not be punished merely because they were born in Africa

or underdeveloped regions of Asia or Europe. When UNESCO first introduced this

campaign, it promulgated the ideology that education is “the most fruitful of all

investments.”8

Arguably the most significant UN campaign for development of basic education

was the World Conference on Education for All, held in 1990 in Thailand. Organized by

6 “Universal Declaration on Human Rights” United Nations General Assembly, December 1948 7 UNESCO “Education: Right to Education” The United Nations, http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=9021&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Accessed March 31, 2006 8 Jean Debiesse, “The Right to Free and Compulsory Education” UNESCO Courier. August 1951.


UNESCO, UNICEF, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP),9 the

conference sought to spread the importance of primary education and to drastically

reduce illiteracy rates. The conference addressed many issues, some of which included

the fact that at the time, more than 100 million children had no access to primary

education. Moreover, in many places where children may have satisfied attendance

requirements, they were not receiving quality instruction.10 A new concept of basic

education was developed at this conference, referred to as the “Expanded Vision” which

builds upon the previous view of basic education, delving deeper into problem, while

broadening the methods of solution.11

At the World Conference on Education for All, UNESCO also developed the

“Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs,” which outlined a plan for

national governments, international organizations, as well as bi- and multilateral-aid

organizations to enact and carry out the programs designed by the World Declaration on

Education for All. The Framework encompasses three main levels of action, which are

“direct action within individual countries, co-operation among groups of countries

sharing certain characteristics and concerns, and multilateral and bilateral co-operation in

the world community.”12

In 1995, The World Programme of Action for Youth on Education predicted that

many least developed countries (LDCs) would fall short of universal primary education

by the year 2000. The three main areas that were addressed by the program, were 1) the

inability of many parents in LDCs to send their kids to school based on the economic and

social factors in the country; 2) the lack of educational opportunities for girls, migrants,

refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, street children, indigenous youth, young people in

rural areas and young people with disabilities; and 3) the quality of the education

9 Nelly P. Stromquist and Michael L. Basile, Politics of Educational Innovations in LDCs, ( New York, Falmer Press, 1999) 61 10 World Declaration on Education for All, “Meeting Basic Learning Needs” UNESCO, 1990 11 Stromquist and Basile. 64 12 World Conference on Education for All, “Framework for Action: Meeting Basic Learning Needs” UNESCO, http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/ed_for_all/background/07Bpubl.shtml


provided.13 Many of these problems remain today.

In 2000, the Member States of the United Nations met in Dakar, Senegal at the

World Education Forum, where they established the Dakar Framework for Action:

Meeting our Collective Commitments, which stemmed from the Education for All 2000

Assessment (EFA 2000), the most comprehensive analysis of basic education at the

time.14 This Framework was similar to the one previously drafted in Thailand, but

expanded upon the former ideas, and updated the plans. The Dakar Framework also

included six sub-frameworks that were oriented towards specific regions, including the

Sub-Saharan Conference on Education for All,

the Asia and Pacific Conference on the EFA

2000 Assessment, the Arab Regional

Conference on Education for All, the Third

Inter-Ministerial Review Meeting of the E-9

Countries, the Conference on Education for All

in Europe and North America, and the Regional

Education for All Conference in the Americas.

The Dakar Framework laid out strategies for the six essential goals of the

conference, which were: 1) the improvement and expansion of early childhood care and education, especially for disadvantaged children; 2) Ensuring that free basic education was accessible to all citizens by the year 2015; 3) guaranteeing that each person is equipped with basic life skills and literacy; 4) improving adult literacy by 50 per cent by 2015; 5) closing gender gaps, and ensuring equal opportunities for girls; and 6) improving the general quality of education, especially in basic life skills, literacy, and numeracy.

This was perhaps the first time that concrete, tangible, and indeed attainable goals were

deliberated and discussed by a broad cross-section of national leaders. Whether or not

the ambitious objectives can be reached by their respective deadlines is not yet known,

13 The World Programme of Action for Youth on Education (A/RES/50/81). UNESCO. 1995 14 “The Dakar Framework for Action” UNESCO. France. 2000

E-9 Initiative: The E-9 initiative was launched in 1993 to represent high-population states in their question for education. The nine members are:

Bangladesh Indonesia Brazil Mexico China Nigeria Egypt Pakistan India

Source: http://www.unesco.org/education/e9/


but the fact that they were enumerated made it clear that they were to be treated as a

necessity.

World Bank Involvement and Educational Aid Because materials for primary education could be produced locally, it was not

until the late 1960s that aid agencies saw a need to get involved with basic education.

Beginning in the early 1970s UNESCO ran an educational aid program, in which various

organizations and member states would volunteer their money and services to other areas

that needed educational development. Organizations and member states would negotiate

the terms of the project they wanted to sponsor. Help from many multilateral agencies

across the globe, such as UNICEF, the World Bank, and the United Nations Development

Program (UNDP), as well as aid from bilateral donors has successfully helped to fund

various education programs, however, significant reform remains necessary in the

efficient organization and management of these donations. Many less developed

countries expect their assistance from multilateral organizations, despite the fact that

bilateral donors often prove more helpful and effective.15

The World Bank, though a monetary-based organization, feels that the most

important thing that they can do for governments is to advise them on the feasibility of

their solutions. The Bank helps to plan and design various education programs, tailoring

different projects to the needs and demands of the state with which they are working.

Since their first education project in Tunisia in 1963, the World Bank has lent nearly

USD $20 billion to more than five hundred projects throughout the world.16 The Bank

has expressed its opinion that infrastructure for schools, while an easy place to lay blame

for problems, does not actually affect the accessibility or quality of offered to students.17

Rather, it suggests that school costs should be shared by the community and the family as

education of young people will prove beneficial not only to the individual student, but

15 Phillips, 25. 16 Rosa-Marie “Torres “Improving the Quality of Basic Education? The Strategies of the World Bank.” Politics of Educational Innovations in LDCs, 1999. 17 Ibid. 65


indeed to the community as a whole. The important thing about the World Bank is that

its concern with education refers mostly to schooling and youth education, as it believes

essential for every person around the world.

In 2002 the World Bank also launched the Fast Track Initiative (FTI), a funding

plan to help LDCs achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The FTI provides

incentives for those states that fit specific criteria for building sound education plans.

These criteria include concepts such as “commitment to poverty reduction and a sound

education sector plan.”18 The FTI Committee is headed by two bi-lateral agencies. The

G8 president serves as one co-chair and the leader of a non-G8 country as the other.19

Some countries currently working in conjunction with the FTI include: Kenya,

Mozambique, Yemen, Honduras, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Namibia, Malawi, Mali, Ghana,

and Uganda.

In 2003, the International

Monetary Fund (IMF) assessed the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),

especially in the provision of basic

education to eradicate poverty. The

MDGs are much more costly than the

UN, the World Bank, and governments

originally realized, as many of the

countries at which the MDGs are directed

will not be able to fund the proposed

solutions. The IMF plays an extremely important role in funding the programs

implemented in an effort to reach the MDGs. As a seasoned provider of funding for

programs that it deems to be meaningful, the IMF needs to “use its technical expertise

working with Governments to design macroeconomic frameworks that can accommodate

18 “Education for All in Africa” UNESCO. http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=31054&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html 19 Education for All Fast Track Initiative. “About FTI.” http://www1.worldbank.org/education/efafti/overview.asp

Millennium Development Goals All 191 United Nations Members States made a commitment to the MDGs in 2000, with an aim to achieve them by 2015. They are: • Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger • Achieve universal primary education • Promote gender equality and empower women • Reduce child mortality • Improve maternal health • Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other

diseases • Ensure environmental sustainability • Develop a global partnership for development Source: www.eu2005.gov.uk/servlet/Front


these increased resources”20 for more effective educational funding.

The Global Campaign for Education In 1999, a number of non-governmental organizations, including Education

International and Global March Against Child Labor, joined forces with the United

Nations to form the Global Campaign for Education (GCE). The mission of this

campaign states is to promote education as a basic human right, and to mobilize pressure

on the international community “to provide free, compulsory public basic education for

all people.”21 The UN and the NGOs aim to have a means to provide every child with a

free education by the year 2015.22

The campaign is comprised of a number of different NGOs, from teachers unions

to international organizations such as Oxfam International and the International Save the

Children Alliance, to smaller scale, local NGOs. All of these organizations share the

same belief that the international community needs to implement the Education for All

goals that were established in Dakar in 2000. Some other policies of the GCE include

asking that states suspend the fees it charges for public education through the use of tax

levies or other government funding. The GCE also stresses collaboration among

students, teachers, members of the surrounding community, and government officials in

an effort to offer a sense of ownership to the various stakeholders that rely upon the

education system.23

The GCE, in conjunction with UNESCO, has organized a number of programs

such as Global Action: Education for All Week 2004, to promote basic education as a

natural right. During that week, a million children lobbied within their own states, asking

their governments to do more to provide opportunity for education for children all over

20 Oxfam International. “The IMF and the Millennium Goals: Failing to Deliver for Low Income Countries” Oxfam Briefing Paper. 2003. 21 “About Us” Global Campaign for Education, http://www.campaignforeducation.org/about/about.html 22 Brendan O Malley. “Free School is a Tall Order” The Times Educational Supplement no. 4580 (April 23 2004) 20 23 “Principles” Global Campaign for Education. http://www.campaignforeducation.org/about/about_principles.html


the world.24 Much of the work done during that week, and throughout the GCE’s

projects took place in Sub-Shaharan Africa and South and West Asia. Some 73 per cent

of the 100 million children who are not being schooled live in these regions, not

surprisingly, seeing as these areas tend to be poverty stricken and extremely

unindustrialized.25

The Global Action Week in 2005 was entitled “Send My Friend to School,” and

was extremely successful. By the end a number of African countries signed pledges to

“Educate to End Poverty.” Many important global figures met with members of the

campaign to learn about the effort, and to hear what people thought the most effective

legislative changes would be within individual states. In some states, government

officials showed their support of the campaign by “going back to school” for a few hours,

with the hopes that there would be increased funding for their school systems.26

The theme Global Action Week 2006 was “Every Child Needs a Teacher,”

stressing the importance of having qualified teachers available to students seeking an

education. The goal of the GCE in 2006 is to lobby for more teachers in order to help

meet the 2015 goal of providing a meaningful education to students regardless of age or

location.27 Around the world, teachers are faced with the pressure of teaching classes

with up to 100 students, and the challenge of teaching without sufficient supplies. In

order to meet the 2015 goal of universal primary education, at least 15 million new

teachers are needed worldwide.28

24 Education for All Week “Time for School” UNESCO. http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28708&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html 25 Ibid. 26 “What Happened in 2005?” Global Campaign for Educationhttp://www.campaignforeducation.org/action/action_2005_happened.html 27 Business Day “South Africa; Call for System to Improve Teacher” Africa News. 2006. Lexis Nexis. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=57abbe3be296a3e4090abde12bc0aaf0&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVtz-zSkVA&_md5=592fee240b07491f8c2025ded2433594 28 Global Campaign for Education. “Campaign Briefing- Every Child Needs a Teacher.” April 2006.


Current Status While it is apparent that the goal of providing all children with free basic

education by 2015 is not realistic based upon current realities, some significant advances

have been made since the establishment of the goal in 2000. Many countries reallocated

funding for education, and some lowered education fees, resulting in the doubling and

tripling school enrollment. Some 46 out of 163 countries have already achieved universal

primary education, and if trends continue, twenty more countries will reach the goal by

2015.29 Unfortunately, insufficient educational opportunity is still a problem in Sub-

Saharan Africa, where countries are not approaching the goal; in some LDCs, enrollment

rates are even declining.

Less Developed Countries as Compared With Developed States There is a significant discrepancy between education in LDCs and the developed

world, as industrialized nations have technologies and resources unavailable to the

poorest states. In industrialized states, education reform refers more to school choice,

site-based management, high stakes testing, and curriculum restructuring, than merely

building and staffing new education institutions. In LDCs, the idea of education reform

centralizes on making the most effective use of the money allocated for education, so that

the quality of education is improved, while at the same time, education costs are reduced.

Though this is also characteristic of industrialized states, the intent is different. It is a

matter of achieving efficiency in both cases: in LDCs the focus is on minimizing material

costs while in industrialized nations, it is a matter of maximizing what can be attained for

the least amount of money. Regions with many LDCs, such as Sub-Saharan Africa and

Southeast Asia, are having the most trouble establishing a concrete plan of action to

accomplish the MDGs. These are the areas where education improvement is needed the

most, and yet where it is least conceivable.

29 “Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2006” UNESCO. 2006


World Youth Report The World Youth Report, released every two years, addresses a number of topics

relating to youth, ranging from education, to youth employment, to youth and drugs.

Highlighted in the first chapter of the 2003 version of this report, the Economic and

Social Council of the United Nations clearly saw education as one of the more important

issues facing youth.30 The 2005 World

Youth Report addressed similar issues,

just from an updated perspective. The

report again acknowledged that the

number of children enrolled in primary schools had increased since 1995, but that some

countries were still far from making any significant progress. One of the very important

issues brought up in the report was the digital divide. Like many transnational issues at

this day in age, the digital divide becomes an area of concern. The digital divide refers to

the technological discrepancies between LDCs and developing nations. The 2005 Report

states, “Urgent attention is needed to prevent the digital divide between developed and

LDCs from widening in the next generation.”31

Gender Equality Of the 115 million children worldwide that are not receiving basic education, 60

per cent are females.32 In LDCs there is a tendency for families to put pressure on the

girls of the family to refrain from enrolling in school so that they may stay home and help

around the house, while the males are encouraged to receive an education and to provide

for the family. The Global Campaign for Education proposed that some sort of incentive

be offered to families in LDCs that send their daughters to schools. Proposed incentives

include free meals at school or a stipend awarded for good attendance.33

One of the primary concerns with the lack of educated women internationally is

30 Department of Economic and Social Affairs. “World Youth Report 2003” United Nations. 2004 31 ECOSOC “World Youth Report 2005.” 2005. 32UN Cyber School Bus “Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education” ECOSOC. http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/mdgs/index.html 33 “A Fair Chance: Attaining Gender Equality in Basic Education” Global Campaign for Education. 2003. 1

Digital Divide: The gap between those people and communities who can access and make effective use of information technology and those who cannot. Source: www.mountainpartnership.org/glossary.html


chain reaction that will result. The woman, as a mother, has tremendous influence over

the child and the household; an uneducated woman is less likely to stress education in her

children’s lives, thus they are less likely to recognize the value of a primary education.34

Educating women also helps to ensure that children are raised in a healthy manner.

Children born to a mother with no basic education are twice as likely to die of

malnutrition before the age of five, than children that are born to mothers who completed

even just a few years of primary school.35 In the report “A Fair Chance” the GCE

acknowledges the need for policymakers to consult women in civil society when making

their plans to improve girls education.36

The World Youth Report of 2005 also suggested that more female teachers be hired

to possibly evoke a stronger feeling of comfort for girls who attend school. Other

suggestions on the part of ECOSOC include raising the minimum age for marriage,

providing school based health education, offering separate and improved sanitation

facilities for girls, and making sure that schools are in areas that are safe for females to

walk. These ideas, proposed by the World Youth Report 2005, and supported by the

Global Campaign for Education, are slowly being implemented but not at a sufficient

rate.

Alternative Learning In pursuit of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, many states have

established alternative education systems which are intended to teach “life

competencies,” through strategies such as informal learning, lifelong learning, distance

education, electronic learning (e-learning), peer education, and on-the-job instruction.37

Informal and non-traditional learning gives children an experience they could not receive

inside the traditional classroom. Sometimes, non-formal education is more accessible

and effective to students who may not have the resources to enroll in a traditional school

34 Phillips, H.M. Basic Education: A World Problem. New York. Praeger Publishers. 74 35 Bicego G., and O. Ahmad 1996, Infant and Child Mortality, Demographic and Health Surveys Comparative Studies no. 20. Calverton, Maryland: Macro International 36 “A Fair Chance” 7 37 World Youth Report 2005. Article 27


Brain Drain: The emigration of a significant proportion of a country's highly skilled, highly educated professional population, usually to other countries offering better economic and social opportunity Source: www.planetwire.org/glossarylist.php

program. Distance learning, a technique of teaching through broadcast or over the

Internet, is also looked at as a way to train multiple teachers, and therefore students at

once. The problem with distance education and e-learning is that in states where it would

be most helpful, such as in LDCs, there are not the resources to make the alternative

learning a reality.38

Key Positions Most states recognize the importance of providing at least a basic education to

their populations, but many lack the resources or the techniques necessary to achieve this

goal. Exacerbating this problem is the fact that

good schools, typically located in more

developed states, will often recruit the best

students from a given region, thereby causing

what is known as a “brain drain.” This

phenomenon not only takes those people with the most potential out of a given

community, it also lowers the norm in terms of academic opportunity throughout the

region.

Regional Positions Asia and the Middle East Educational opportunities in Asia differ by state. Some states excel above and

beyond other parts of the world, while other states have difficulty even retaining students.

In Karnataka, India, the problem with education does not lie in accessibility.

Schools are available and free for anyone who wants to attend, however, there is a

significant faction of the population that does not take advantage of the free education

opportunities, as many families in this area simply do not see the value in education, and

would prefer that their children work and bring in a source of income. Vimi Pinto, a 21-

year-old citizen of Karnataka, decided to promote the value of education by writing a

38 Independent Youth Forum “Report On The World Programme of Action for Youth” 2005


comic book which uses pictures and illustrations to explain the value of education. Once

completed, the comic book was distributed to 5,000 children in the less fortunate areas

near Karnataka.39

Possibly due to the fact that the Conference on Education for All took place there,

Thailand has an exceptionally strong education system. In the past seven years, the

public and private sector have contributed a total of USD $2.2 billion to improving basic

education.40 In Thailand, the Ministry of Education is pushing for a stronger emphasis on

vocational programs and a reexamination of basic education curriculum.41 The Office of

Basic Education Commission and teachers around the state cannot seem to find common

ground on education reform, which makes the process significantly more difficult.

China, like Thailand, is very concerned with vocational education, as children are an

extremely important part of the labor force, and many of the industries in China require

intensive technical skills.

Although East Asia and Central Asia are on the right track to reaching the

Millennium Development Goals, South Asia and the Pacific constitute areas that will

most likely not fulfill the hopes of free basic education by 2015. In order to remedy this

problem, delegations from the Maldives and Sri Lanka will meet in Colombo to draft an

assessment plan for the Education for All efforts in the region.42

Education in Arab states tends to fluctuate much more than anywhere else. When

the area is peaceful, the enrollment rate of children in primary schools increases,

sometime by as much as fifty per cent in just a few years.43 When the countries in the

region are at unrest, there tends to be a significant decline in school enrollment. Many

39 UN Cyber School Bus 40 Jonathan M. Hipcap “$2.2 Billion Given to Deped for Adopt-A-School Program” Manila Times. 8 Dec 2005. Lexis Nexis. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=0dfd50923d08dc874ed521a5835a53ec&_docnum=5&wchp=dGLbVlb-zSkVb&_md5=4c4f18165e19ba7d1335d4e2aded18f7 41 “Thailand Education Minister Urges to Adjust Vocational Education to Reach Public Wants.” Thai Press Reports. December 2005. LexisNexis. http://web.lexis-nexis.com 42 “South Asia Set to Start Planning for National EFA Assessments” EFA News. March 2006 43 Phillips. Basic Education. 42


children, especially males, start training with the army at a young age, or are needed to

sustain the economy while older men are in the armed forces.

A number of Arab organizations met in 2004 to discuss what should happen to

forward the goals of the Education for All initiatives in the area. Some of the important

themes addressed at this conference were the improvement of curricula, the quality of the

school environment, and the use of new technologies to reach EFA goals. They

discussed the challenges facing the region, such as civil unrest and human rights

violations, and how these challenges might effect education.44 The primary concern in

many Arab States is gender in equality, where the education rate of women is lower than

anywhere else in the world.45 Although it is not necessarily reflect the general

philosophy of state governments, national groups within states tend to impose their views

upon their followers. The traditions of Islam and other regional traditions have put

significant restrictions on the manner in which women are involved in society, and

educating women is seldom considered a priority.

Africa In modern times, Africa has been in a dire state concerning access to universal

primary education. In 1961, UNESCO tried to establish some solutions through the

Regional Conference of Ministers of Education at Addis Ababa, but the proposals

developed at those meetings were not feasible, and thus could not be effectively carried

out. Despite having received more multi-lateral support for education than any other

region, Africa remains at the bottom of all states in terms of universal access for all

students.46

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of countries at risk for not reaching

the Education for All goals, not to mention the Millennium Development Goals. In 2000,

only 58 per cent of students that were primary school age were enrolled in some type of

44 “EFA Action Plans: What’s Next?” Arab EFA. Lebanon. 2004 45 “EFA Action Plans.” 46 Phillips. Basic Education. 39


education program.47 Female enrollment in primary schooling in Africa is also lower

than anywhere else in the world. Six countries, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea,

Mauritania, Mozambique and Niger, have received funding from the Fast Track

Initiative, but results cannot yet be determined.48 While Africa as a whole is suffering

from educational deficiencies, one cannot make generalizations about the continent, as

the situation in different countries range considerably.

Thirty per cent of education spending in Sub Saharan Africa is spent on school

fees, a practice that southern and eastern states in Africa are trying to terminate.49 One

practice in place in this region is the incentive program, in which the UN World Food

Programme works in conjunction with educational institutions providing a feeding

program, and allowing children to take home food rations at the end of the day.50

The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC)

developed a curriculum to advance the pursuit of universal primary education. The

initiative addresses lower basic (grades 1-3), middle basic (3-6), and upper basic (Junior

Secondary School (grades 6-9) schooling levels. The program will place an emphasis on

using the skills developed to meet the qualifications of basic education for the purpose of

performing actual tasks.51

Latin America/Caribbean While there is not generally a problem with enrollment in Latin American schools,

there is a high drop out rate, along with a tendency for overage students.52 Education for

All in Latin America and the Caribbean coordinated a number of organizations and

forums to get feedback about the effectiveness of existing programs, and to receive

suggestions from all different types of people. These forums include the Latin American 47 EFA Global Monitoring Report 2003/4. “Regional Overview: Sub Saharan Africa” UNESCO. 2004. 48 “Education for All in Africa” 49 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. “Central Africa; Free Basic Education the Way Forward, UN Official Says.” Africa News. April 2005. LexisNexis. http://web.lexis-nexis.com 50 Ibid. 51 Juliana Taiwo. “More Facts Emerge on Nine-Year Basic Education.” Global Newswire. Financial Times Information. April 2006. 52 Phillips. Basic Education. 40


Network for Teacher Training, the Educational Innovations Network, and the Network of

School Leaders.53 Latin America and the Caribbean are facing a similar situation to

Africa in that there is considerable inequality among socio-economic classes. The

poverty rate is growing, and the region lacks the resources to guarantee free basic

education to many students. There is significant effort underway, however, to remedy

this problem. The UNESCO regional branch of Education for All in Latin America

works very hard to provide the needed resources.

The magnitude of social and economic changes that have taken place in South

American states in recent years caused an increase in the value parents place on providing

education for their children. Brazil recently allocated USD $200 million toward

enhancing the work of the Basic Education Maintenance and Development Fund

(Fundeb). Due to the fact that Brazil has such a large population, according to the

National Council of State Secretaries of Education, “the increase will not be sufficient to

maintain the initial value of resources spent per student allowed for in the proposal sent

to Congress.”54

North America and Europe The developed states of the Western world face very different problems when it

comes to providing basic education than do the LDCs of the world. In Europe and North

America, quality and effectiveness of education is the concern, not establishment of

educational programs. This area has the 23 states that have already fulfilled the MDGs

with regard to education, and many states that have already shown significant progress in

this regard.

With economies facing a downturn in some areas of the West, keeping education

programs of consistent quality is going to be the big challenge. The discrepancy in

quality of schooling within states is also another difficulty. In the United States and

53 Education for All in Latin America and the Caribbean. http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/region_forums/latin_amer_car/index.shtml 54 Karla Correia. “Brazil's Finance Minister Announces Release of $200 Million for Basic Education; Palocci Opens the Coffer for Education.” Gazeta Mercantil. November 2005.


United Kingdom especially, there are significant variations on what is covered in primary

school, as the required curriculum tends to be very general. Since they have

accomplished the task of providing general access to education within their countries,

these states must now work to ensure that everyone receives the same caliber education

within their country.

Within the US, education officials must decide upon what educational policy is in

the hands of the federal government, and what is in the hands of the states. The literacy

rate in the United States is not terrible, although the US is not up to par with some of the

other industrialized states. The No Child Left Behind Act, a comprehensive education

plan in place now, sets out the goal of putting the United States educational system on the

same plane as other developed states.

Many Western European states have notable literacy rates, and strong educational

programs. In Finland, the School System Act of 1968 brought an end to a two-track

elementary school system, and replaced it with a nine-year course of studies for basic

education.55 Following graduation from the nine-year system, students continue their

educations either vocational schools or academically oriented secondary institutions.

This model has evolved into the Helsinki Program, a plan of action being implemented in

many developed states throughout the world. In Portugal, the educational system is

based on the constitution of 1976, which guarantees the right to create private schools,

proposes to eliminate illiteracy, and emphasizes strong special education programs for

those who need them.

Non-Governmental Organizations There are a significant number of non-governmental organizations that addresses

the goal of universalizing primary education; among which are Oxfam and the Global

Campaign for Education. The topic at hand is one of the most widely addressed issues by

NGOs, and much of the progress thus far in providing universal basic education has been

achieved by the UN working in conjunction with various organizations’ campaigns. The

55 US Library of Congress. “Primary and Secondary Education.” CountryStudies. http://www.countrystudies.us.


GCE is especially prominent in the field and has carried out successful initiatives

intended to work toward fulfilling the MDGs. Collaboration with NGOs is essential to

achieving the goal of universal primary education.

Business Interests Business involvement in the spread of primary education can be both beneficial

and detrimental. Some companies employ child laborers, forcing long hours and low

pay. These exploitative labor practices deprive children of time during which they could

be in school and provide and economic incentive for children to forego school. Many

children are forced into becoming child laborers by their families and do not possess the

autonomy to defy orders from their superiors in favor of getting an education. Many

corporations, however, establish initiatives and programs to aid in providing education to

the world’s youth. These services can range from funding children’s education through

charitable donations to providing vocational training and basic literacy programs. Stride

Rite, an American shoe company, was one of the first corporations to develop an early

childhood education program.


Summary According to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, a free basic education is

an entitlement that every human deserves. Millions of children worldwide will end up in

poverty, lacking basic nutrition, with AIDS, or facing some other hardship. This can in

part be contributed to a failure to provide these children with access to a primary school

education. Many countries have universalized their primary education, demonstrating

that this can actually happen. Those areas that have trouble providing free basic

education to their citizens have a number of options for accomplishing this goal.

A number of initiatives and organizations exist with the goal of universalizing

primary education by 2015. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural

Organization manages a number of campaigns, such as Education for All and the Dakar

Framework for Education. Many NGOs also have campaigns for basic education, among

the most prominent are Oxfam’s Education Now, the Global Campaign for Education,

and the Basic Education Coalition.

Infrastructure is not the biggest concern with education systems; instead the

primary shortcomings are the quality of education provided by teachers, the development

of universal curricula, and most importantly, the manner in which education is funded.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have addressed this issue and have

devised solutions for funding, but in many cases, these strategies have not been

implemented properly, or were not as successful as intended. Although many countries

probably will not reach the Millennium Development Goal of providing basic education

for all by 2015, this does not mean the efforts cannot be continued beyond that point.

The goal needs met as soon as possible to ensure a solid future for the citizens of the

world.


Discussion Questions • What is more important, the accessibility or the quality of education? How

important is the physical structure in which instruction is provided? • How does the need for education differ in LDCs and industrialized nations? • Where should funding for education come from? International organizations?

Governments? Communities? • Should basic education be free for everyone? • Should countries that have fulfilled basic education goals help those that do not

have the resources to do so? If so, how can they do this? • What methods of alternative learning are most effective for which countries? • What are some ways in which NGOs can be utilized in establishing basic

education? • Are the Millennium Development Goals for education feasible? Does setting such

an ambitious goal help or hurt the process of offering universal basic education? • What are some major deterrents in providing universal education? How can they

be overcome? • What factors cause different regions to have differing opinions on the importance

of education? • How important is primary education? What factors does education affect in a

person’s future? • Is literacy the most important part of an education?


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