Worldwide education out of reach

JAKARTA (JP): Education is the true essence of human development. Without education, development can be neither broad-based nor sustained.

But as the 21st century draws near, nearly a billion people remain unable to read a book or sign their names.

At the same time, over 130 million children of school age in the developing world -- 73 million of whom are girls -- are growing up without access to basic education, while millions of others languish in sub-standard learning situations.

To advance into the third millennium with a quarter of the world's children denied the right to basic education is disheartening.

Depressing facts concerning world education are unveiled in the most recent report of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Prepared by UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy, the report titled The State of the World 's Children l999: Education.tells of the efforts of the international community to ensure the world's children enjoy the human right of a high quality education. The goal of this worldwide movement: Education for All.

The report explores three important factors in education: The Right to Education, The Education Revolution and Investing in Human Rights.

The first section, The Right to Education, investigates the historical context in which children's right to education has been repeatedly affirmed.

The l948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the beginning of a broad effort by the United Nations to promote social, economic, cultural and political rights.

The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the l990 World Summit for Children and the 1990 World Conference on Education for All aim ensure that every child has the right and access to quality education that is relevant to her or his individual life and development.

Progress toward Education for All, however, has been slow. The report says the goals are hard to achieve, especially in the least developed countries and developing countries in Asia- Pacific, Africa and Latin America.

Developing countries tend to plead poverty as an excuse for failing to allocate sufficient resources for Education for All.

For tens of millions of children, living in disadvantaged regions means that education is beyond reach, because they are full-time workers -- around 250 million children are trapped in child labor. For others, there may simply be no school for them to attend. There may be too few qualified teachers, or a child's family may not be able to afford the fees. The school may be too far from home. Or it may lack books and supplies.

In Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, about eight million elementary and junior high school students may have been forced to drop out of schools since the crisis began in the middle of l997.

But the report discloses that the most crucial problem is the lack of governments' political will.

Despite this absence of commitment, world governments have started to pay more attention to education issues, even though they may appear insignificant.

This can be seen from the rising percentage of average world rates of net primary school enrollments. In East Asia and the Pacific region, including South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand, 96 percent of school-age children are enrolled in primary schools.

Nevertheless, people should not be too happy with this fact. Over 150 million children in developing countries start school but do not reach grade five.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by all United Nations' member countries, except the United States and Somalia, focuses on quality education that encompasses not only children's cognitive needs but also their physical, social, moral, emotional and spiritual development.

On the brink of the 21st century, the world community is enforcing educational revolution, one of the second foci of the UNICEF report. Education Revolution describes the meaning of education and the ways in which learning can be enhanced.

Past and present education systems must be totally reformed, the report implies. Education systems must move toward a more- child centered teaching and learning environment in which students participate actively.

Conventional education systems in many countries are too rigid to reach the children who, because of physical disabilities, gender, ethnicity or poverty, have least access to school.

Now the philosophy is "learning through play", the new way of teaching is expected to help children become happy, healthy and creative.

Investment

Many countries are spending less on education purposes. As an example, most East-Asia Pacific countries, including Indonesia, spend on average 1.2 percent of their Gross National Product on annual education expenditure.

International aid contributions generally account for less than 2 percent of a recipient country's education budget. Aid donations continue to drop to record low levels.

In l998, the World Bank allocated 8.6 percent of the total lending to education. Between l991 and l997, 45 percent of education loans by the World Bank went to basic education programs.

It should be noted, however, that much World Bank money for education remains unspent, because the institution lends money rather than providing grants, with the majority of its loans made to middle-income countries carrying commercial interest rates.

Many cash-strapped governments are unwilling to take on debt with such high interest rates to advance the cause of basic education.

According to the report, the world would only need an additional US$7 billion per year for the next 10 years, on average, to educate all children. This is spent on cosmetics in the United States or on ice cream in Europe annually.

The report also disclosed that allocations of global financial resources are made when the economic stability and well-being of developed countries is threatened.

The economic crisis in Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia proved such a shock to the global financial system OECD countries mobilized more than $100 billion to help the suffering "tigers".

In contrast, leading industrial nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other powerful institutions have been less accommodating for the poorest countries.

It would appear the calls for investment in human development and human rights remains rhetoric only. It has taken 50 years for the global community to accept the principle of education rights for all children, but violations continue.

Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Anan says in the foreword: "There is no instant solution to the violations of that right, but it begins with a simple proposition that on the eve of the 21st century, there is no higher priority, no mission more important, than that of Education For All".

When the right to education is assured, the whole world gains. (raw)