WORLD EDUCATION DAY: Ten years left to fight exclusion

In 2015, 193 heads of state met at the United Nations and gave themselves 15 years to the day to reach 17 Sustainable Development Goals to build a world without disease, famine, inequality or poverty, in which everyone would have access to 12 years of free education. Almost nothing has changed in the past five years; on the contrary exclusion and inequality seem to be constantly increasing and it is a safe bet today that the next ten years will not achieve these objectives. Indeed, almost two thirds of developing countries are behind in achieving the SDGs related to food, health, access to water and sanitation, and education. As for fragile states, this proportion rises to four out of five countries. On average, the world will, therefore, be more than 50 years behind in keeping this promise, estimates UNESCO.

Aide et Action is committed to the right to education of the most vulnerable

Founded 37 years ago to provide education for all, including children in primary school, the association now directs its actions towards the most vulnerable, the most isolated, those whose human rights, including the rights to education, are the most flouted. We will now accompany them throughout their lives so that

they acquire knowledge, from pre-school to socio-professional learning through primary and secondary, with the sole objective of offering everyone the same development opportunities. In addition to the projects it carries out in the field, Aide et Action will support people on the path to citizenship so that they contribute to social change at local, national and international levels. These new lines of intervention will take into account the challenges in terms of climate change, security and migration. They will ultimately allow us to act globally, on all the obstacles to education, so that the most vulnerable and marginalized can, through knowledge and knowledge, control their own development and contribute to a more peaceful and sustainable.

Newsletter | March 2020

Unesco is celebrating World Education Day on January 24, 2020, thus underlining the funda-mental nature of education to combat inequality and secure the future of the world. The fact remains that as of today, there are just ten years left to realize the right to education for all, as pledged by 193 heads of state in 2015 in the development of the 2030 Agenda. This sadly now stands unrealistic in a world where exclusions and inequalities are only growing.

MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION: preserving diversity and ensuring inclusion

Yet even today, it is not uncommon to see schools ignore this resolution and offer no alternative to students. Thus, cases of school failure concerning children who speak minority languages are increasing.

Aide et Action have always promoted multilingual education as a means of improving learning and bringing cultural diversity to life. Wherever it is necessary, we support communities so that their education systems can become more inclusive. To do so, we train teachers in bilingual education methods, we develop teaching

25 years after the Beijing Declaration, gender equality is still far from being achieved! Regardless of age, origin or social level, women are constantly subject to gender discrimination and inequality. Today, women make up 63% of the global illiterate population and nearly 29 million girls still remain excluded from primary education. Aide et Action stressed that girls’ education must be recognized as a development priority around the world in order to build a more just and sustainable world. In India, where being born female too often means a girl will be deprived of education, Aide et Action has been carrying out the “Enlight” project for the past five years which currently supports 300 marginlaised young girls of primary school age across ten cities to access education The Project Manager first had to convince communities of the need to send their daughters to school. Meetings were organized, once or twice a month, to discuss this with families and in particular with mothers. Today, we see a big shift in the communities’ attitudes to education, where both adults and children alike are now convinced that education is the only way to break the cycle of poverty many have been trapped in.

In 1999, during the 30th session of the General Conference of UNESCO, countries adopted a Resolution establishing the concept of “multilingual education” to refer to the use of at least three languages in education: the mother tongue(s), a regional or national language and an international language.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2020The cause of girls and women is at the heart of Aide et Action’s priorities. Enlight is one of the flagship projects led by “Education for Women Now”, an international philan-thropic campaign launched earlier this year by Aide et Action, to fight against gender inequalities around the world. Aide et Action takes the floor to ensure that their fundamental rights are never violated again! Our NGO will continue to mobilize by supporting girls and women on the paths of parity, freedom and especially education.

materials adapted to the language of each community and we work in close collaboration with local authorities so that this issue is understood and integrated by all.

Every two weeks, a language disappears foreverToday, even though we are making progress in this field, especially relating to preschool education, almost 40% of the world population still does not have access to education in their mother tongue. According to UNESCO: “More than 43% of the approximately 6,700 languages spoken worldwide are at risk of disappearing. Only several hundred languages are really valued in the education system and in the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world. This means that every two weeks a language disappears forever, taking with it a whole cultural and intellectual heritage.”

But beyond keeping and respecting traditions, it is the mastery of one’s first language, or mother tongue, that the basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic can be acquired. It’s a simple matter of fairness and essential to creating a more just and equal world.

The doors to education remain CLOSED for girls and women!

This project aimed to enhance the role of Community Centers as a local mechanism for ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. It offered English and IT classes to primary school kids nearby. Some of our AEA supporters have been visited this Center few years ago, they were impressed by this drastic change - an empty place transformed to this well-developed learning center with proper classroom setting and computers.

Holistic Community Development – iLead Community Center at Kandal.

This project aimed to e

nsure

access to quality early

childhood

care and education for

children

in target areas through

enhanced

teaching and quality of

learning,

responsive parenting a

nd local

ownership. Early childh

ood care

and education is the fu

ndamental

for Aide et Action. This p

roject

particularly focus in inc

reasing

the enrolment of 3 to un

der 8

year0old pupils to impr

ove

school readiness.

Early Childhood Care

and Education

(ECCE) - Svay Rolum

School

Aide et Action runs mobile librarie

s –

in the form of tuk-tuks and motos

to

deliver books to hard-to-reach

communities.

During the visit, our supporters

worked with the mobile library

facilitator for the children reading

activities. Our supporter acted as

the

story-teller and the children were

so

attentive and enjoyed.

Innovative Education –

Mobile Library

CAMBODIA trip sharing

Since 2011, Aide et Action has been organizing solidarity trips and this is our 10th trip to Cambodia. The participants have spent extraordinary holiday with a combination of sightseeing and volunteering in the last Christmas (25th-30 Dec 2019). Let see their trip highlights:

Some students lived far from the school and putting them at a high risk of late enrollment, irregular attendan-ce, grade repetition and early dropout. During the visit, our supporters assisted in delivering bicycles to the marginalized students who required long travelling from home to school in order to remove their obstacle to access school.

Access to education – Project visit at Phum Thmey Primary School

The absence of schooling is very

often a symptom

of social exclusion. Poverty, ethnic

ity, disabilities⋯

the reasons for the rejection of b

oth children and

their families are multifarious, but

their consequen-

ces are identical: millions of child

ren and youth are

deprived of their right to educatio

n.

Our inclusive education approac

h is to enable the

social integration of children with

little or no access

to quality education because of th

eir socio-econo-

mic circumstances, ethnicity or d

isability. This

project aimed to ensure equitabl

e, quality, and

relevant primary education for ch

ildren with

disabilities.

During the visit, our supporters a

nd the students

painted an “Education Tree” w

ith their hands.

This “Education Tree” represen

ted the

fundamental of the human right -

everyone has the

opportunity to develop their full po

tential through

access to education and quality l

earning.

Inclusive Education for Children w

ith Disabilities

and Ethnic Minority Children – P

roject visit at

Pouk district