By Pauline Rose, director of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report
It is very encouraging news that people around the world have so far ranked “a good education” as their top choice in the UN’s My World poll on post-2015 priorities. It’s too early to celebrate yet, however. There are recent signs that advocates have to work even harder to demonstrate that education is not only a fundamental goal in its own right but also a crucial route to achieving other development goals.
For one thing, education was not even mentioned in the communiqué of the recent Bali high-level panel the post-2015 agenda on ‘developing a global partnership for development’. The communiqué made progress in aligning two competing visions for the post-2015 development agenda – one centred on eradicating poverty and the other on sustainable development. But it is worrying that the communiqué failed to mention education, which underpins all other development efforts and transforms them into long-term change. While the high-level panel failed to recognize education’s importance, 200,000 people voting on their post-2015 priorities – whose views were passed on to the meeting in Bali – have placed education at the top.
Better healthcare, improving governance and protecting the environment are certainly key issues. So are food security, gender equality, job creation, clean water and the other priorities listed in the My World poll. What they all have in common is that education makes them happen. Education should be front and centre in the post-2015 development framework not just because it is essential in itself and a human right but also because it empowers people to look after themselves, their families, their communities and their environment.
Here are just a few examples of how education builds a foundation for reaching other development goals:
- Education reduces poverty: If all children in low-income countries left school with basic reading skills, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty – equivalent to a 12% cut in world poverty.
- Education reduces child mortality: If the average child mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa were to fall to the level for children born to mothers with some secondary education, there would be 1.8 million fewer child deaths.
- Education promotes health: Women with secondary education are far more likely to be aware of measures for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. In Malawi, 27% of women with no education are aware that the risk of mother-to-child transmission can be reduced if the mother takes drugs during pregnancy; for women with secondary education or higher the share rises to 60%.
Education should not only be central in the post-2015 process; it is also vital that we reach a consensus on what a “good education” entails, and set measurable targets to achieve it. Here is our proposed goal for education:
Every child, young person and adult, whatever their circumstances, should have an equal opportunity to learn to read and write with understanding, and do basic mathematics.
This means that all children, regardless of their circumstances, should complete pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education of good quality. Youth and adults need the opportunity to acquire skills to obtain decent jobs and lead fulfilling lives. Achieving this goal will not only be beneficial for individuals (including for the 250 million children who are currently not even achieving the basics), but also for the societies in which they live.
The Millennium Development Goals have often been criticised for being designed with a “top-down” approach. The UN and high-level panel are doing their utmost to ensure that this time around, the process is more consultative. For this very reason, it would be wrong to ignore the clear message coming through the My World poll that a good education is the top priority for a world after 2015. The high-level panel also has the task of reflecting the mutual benefits and interconnections between all sectors when drafting a new set of goals – and education’s role in enabling the rest of the development agenda is undeniable.
This is very true, education eliminates a great deal of ignorance and opens one upto a whole new world of opportunities and also a healthy living as well. Education is indeed top priority.
Education is the key to sustainable development and governance. Am glade and happy that through leadership of certain nations have recognised the importance of achieving through MDG 2.
Building the economic of any nation begins with empowering the human resources, especially in countries that lacks to natural resources. Man is the basic power for economics. For this; education is their path to existence; as nations are conquered from the minds of people and not by weapons.”
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Dear Pauline,
I am writing on behalf of the Secretariat of the High Level Panel to acknowledge your comments and assure you that Education has been a strong theme across the Panel’s consultations with civil society and other stakeholders. Do note that the HLP meeting in Bali was focused on one part of the HLP Framing Questions – dealing with Global Partnerships and Means of Implementation. The communique therefore represents only this section of the Panel’s discussions. We would urge you to await the final report, which is due in a few weeks, in order to get a composite view of the Panel’s recommendations.
Best regards,
Lysa John
Head of Outreach (UN HLP Secretariat)
Yes, Education is the lifeline to development. It wipes away ignorance and negative cultural practices that militates against women, children and men. It can actually give power to vulnerable and voiceless. Forget it, if education is foregone.
Yes, Education is the lifeline to development. It wipes away ignorance and negative cultural practices that militates against women, children and men. It can actually give power to the vulnerable and voiceless. Forget it, if education is forgone.
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