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Past Issues - November 2004 Note: Most hyperlinks will open in a new window. Please close the new window in order to be automatically returned to the GCE site. ETHIOPIA: CHALLENGES OF GETTING MORE CHILDREN INTO SCHOOL ADDIS ABABA(IRIN) - A massive drive to get more children into school has seen enrolments in Ethiopia leap from three to nine million in the last decade, with more girls attending classes in urban centres, helping close the enormous gender gap. Despite the advances, however, education is becoming a hot political issue in the run-up to the 2005 federal elections, with parties clashing in television debates on how best to address continuing quality challenges. Some analysts say Ethiopia is unlikely to achieve universal primary completion by 2015 unless more teachers are hired to improve quality and drop-out rates are reduced. But the education minister disputes this, saying appropriate steps are being taken to reduce pupil-teacher ratios and attract better candidates into the teaching force. Four million children still remain out of school. Female enrolment, especially in rural areas, still lags far behind males. An issue of increasing concern is the substantial drop out rate. While enrolments have increased, so have the drop out rates. A third of children fail to complete the first year of primary education, according to government figures, which had set a target of 14 percent. The teacher-to-pupil ratios exceed targeted proportions of 60 children per teacher. "What has been achieved in the education sector, so far, must be commended," Dirribsa Dufera, a researcher with the Institute of Educational Research in Addis Ababa, told IRIN. Still, he noted, too much emphasis had been placed on getting children into schools at the expense of other issues that could improve their education and keep them in class. He cited four areas -- continued access to schools, the quality of education, equity in terms of girls attending schools and management -- as key factors to educational progress. In Afar region, in northeastern Ethiopia, only eight percent of females were in school. Overcrowding in classrooms, teacher training and the quality and the numbers of textbooks available to children was also hampering learning, he added. Ethiopia, he said, needed to cut primary education by two years - bringing the length of primary education into line with other developing countries - from eight years to six. "Many teachers are not qualified for teaching at that level and reducing the years in class may help lower the drop out rate," he said. Education minister Genet Zewdie told IRIN that key issues the government was trying to address include bringing down student teacher ratios and improving quality. Sixty thousand of the 160,000 teachers in the country were being given additional English language training, she added. She also said teachers earn higher wages compared to other civil servants and receive extra training and rapid promotions are helping to attract new staff, urging local communities to work alongside the government to help fund their own school programmes where shortages exist. "Community mobilisation will help us gain resources," said the minister, adding that the biggest impediment to improving the education system in the country was lack of resources. The current annual education budget is around US $509 million. Universal primary education is a key target of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals - an ambitious initiative that aims to eradicate extreme poverty, end hunger and slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. "Within 10 years definitely we should achieve the goals," Zewdie said. Mehari Taddele Maru, director of the Office for University Reform at Addis Ababa University, told IRIN that implementation of policies was weak. "The policies are very good and the achievements that have been made by the government is astonishing in areas like the numbers attending schools," he said. "But we suffer from a lack of classrooms, laboratories and facilities - that means implementing the policies is very difficult." Haile Wolde Mikel, president of the privately run Africa Beza College in Addis Ababa with 5,000 students, said the private sector was trying to meet the gap the government could not fill. "Without the private sector, the government would not be able to meet the demand," he told IRIN. "Private colleges are now training around 20,000 students a year." Ethiopia's educational system has become an issue for federal elections due in 2005. Beyene Petros, vice chair of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, a 14-strong coalition of opposition groups, told IRIN the education policy needed overhauling. 26 November 2004 INDIA: TOWARDS ACHIEVING THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION As part of the ASPBAE/GCE "Real World Strategies" project, India's National Coalition for Education held a three-day workshop in New Delhi to identify core advocacy issues and develop state-by-state action plans. The workshop brought together teachers' unions, NGOs and a noted parliamentarian. Click here to download the report 26 November 2004 INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ADMITS FAILURE ON GIRLS' EDUCATION - BUT TAKES STEPS TOWARDS GLOBAL EDUCATION COMPACT Faced with looming failure on the first of all the Millennium Development Goals - the target for getting more girls into school by 2005 - donor agencies took a crucial decision last week in Brasilia to expand the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) in order to mobilise more resources for more countries with credible education plans. Campaigners applauded the move, but stressed that donors will need to find at least $2 bn a year in additional funding for FTI partner countries to make it work. "An ambitious expansion of the FTI is exactly what is needed to spur more action both from developed and developing countries - and if backed by serious resources from rich countries, it could turn the tide from failure to success on the Education for All goals," said Kailash Satyarthi, chairperson of the Global Campaign for Education. "We urge the African Union, the G8 leaders and the Africa Commission to make this a priority for 2005." The Fast Track Initiative requires countries to present costed education strategies that meet rigorous standards of efficiency and accountability for results. It assumes that countries themselves will pay for most of what needs doing, and requires them to allocate about 20% of the national budget to education. Donors coordinate to increase the overall level of funding for plans that receive FTI approval. The extra support allows governments to budget for more ambitious efforts, so that more children can go to school sooner and so that they also benefit from smaller class sizes, more learning materials and better-trained teachers. Twelve countries have received FTI endorsement of their plans and of these, five have received the full amounts they need to implement their plans in full, while the other seven have achieved an average 20% increase in external support to basic education. Government investment in basic education has also gone up in the FTI countries and accounts for about 75% of the total resources mobilised. Campaigners pointed to dramatic progress in these first 12 FTI countries as evidence that scaling up the FTI is the world's best bet to gear up to achieve the international education goals. · In 2000, about three-quarters of the 1.1 million out of school children in Yemen were girls, but the government has been closing the gap between girls and boys at the rate of more than 3 percentage points a year . At the same time, it has increased spending on education to more than 20% of the government budget, and is making strong progress on improving quality and raising literacy rates. FTI funds have been used to build schools in remote parts of the country that have never had schools before. Beyond the first 12 FTI-endorsed plans, another 25 low-income countries have plans waiting for FTI endorsement, and a further 13 could develop such plans by 2006, according to the FTI secretariat based in the World Bank. These include countries with some of the largest numbers of out-of-school children in the world, such as India, Ethiopia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Pakistan. Their financing needs will amount to $1.5 to $2bn a year, the FTI secretariat told the Brasilia meeting. "With so little time remaining to achieve universal basic education, the urgent question is how to make every low-income country a success story," commented Gene Sperling, former chief economic adviser to ex-President Bill Clinton and chair of the GCE's US chapter. "If you were a chef with a successful restaurant and had a chance to expand into the vacant premises next door, your accountant wouldn't let you do it, no matter how long the queue outside your door every night, unless he knew for sure that you could raise enough money to buy the extra tables and chairs and pay the extra staff." "I've talked to many education ministers over the past couple of years," Sperling said, "and they have the same problem. They want to keep their promises to get more girls and boys into school, abolish school fees and give them a better quality education, but when their finance minister does the math, works out that the government can't afford it, and asks who's going to make up the shortfall, all they have to show from donors is a vague promise. This lack of certainty is killing Education for All progress. Donors this week took an important step forwards by agreeing to mobilise more resources to bring more countries into the FTI partnership. But to make a real impact on the 57 million girls still out of school worldwide, donors need to find at least $2bn more per year for FTI-approved countries," said Sperling. "We urge donors to explore innovative ways of making the necessary funds available with maximum predictability and certainty, including through debt cancellation and through financing mechanisms that seek to promote mutual accountability of developed and developing country partners, such as the Millennium Challenge Account and the proposed International Financing Facility," said GCE spokesperson Charles Abani, a member of the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All in Nigeria. Caucus with Southern Education Ministers The GCE was privileged to co-organise, together with the Brazilian Minister of Education who kindly hosted the event, an informal breakfast meeting with education ministers from Africa and Asia. The meeting provided an invaluable opportunity for candid discussion of the FTI's strengths and weaknesses and it was agreed that this dialogue should be continued and expanded in future. Members of the GCE Board who took part in the discussions took away several salient points for the GCE's future advocacy work, including the urgent need to find equitable and affordable ways to expand post-primary education, the need for donors to dramatically increase the proportion of aid given as flexible budget support, and the need for increased transparency and accountability on all sides. UNESCO High Level Group on EFA, UN Girls' Education Initiative Global Advisory Committee and UNICEF Technical Meeting on Girls' Education The decision to expand the FTI came in the wake of high-level UNESCO and UNICEF meetings earlier the same week, where experts in the field warned the world that school systems in many developing countries are inadequate to deliver on the 2015 goal for achieving universal completion of primary education (UPE), with overflowing and unequipped classrooms, poorly managed schools, and a paucity of trained teachers. Worse, the 2005 target for gender parity in primary and secondary enrolments - widely seen as a stepping stone not only to UPE, but also to better health and nutrition and improved incomes - will be missed by a wide margin, the high-level gatherings admitted. "The costs of this failure will be measured in human lives," said Rasheda Chowdhury, director of CAMPE, a Bangladesh NGO coalition, and a spokeswoman for the GCE. "Many millions of children will die unnecessarily and millions more will grow up malnourished, income and productivity will be lost, and some 7 million young adults will be infected with HIV/AIDS, because we did not take the simple and affordable step of making a free, quality primary education available to every girl and boy. "The only good thing about a human disaster of these proportions is that, after years of rhetoric and platitudes, the international community may finally be forced into action. We are glad that the FTI donors are stepping up to the plate but we stress the need for a serious and concerted mobilization of rich country resources in 2005 in support of equally serious and concerted action by poor country governments," Chowdhury said. Chowdhury said that the GCE was encouraged by steps taken in Brasilia to turn the UN Girls' Education Initiative, which has been heavily criticized for lack of action and results, into a dynamic movement energized by full and equal partnership between civil society, UN agencies and governments. GCE members of the UNGEI Global Advisory Committee will contribute to revising the UNGEI strategy and operational guidelines for launch early in 2005, she added. At the High Level Group, delegates were alerted by the EFA Global Monitoring Report about the pressing need to combine expanded access with better learning and teaching conditions, especially in the poorest communities. GCE welcomed the resolutions of the EFA High Level Group on reducing pupil-teacher ratios and ensuring proper support and appropriate salary structures for teachers, setting minimum competence levels for all teachers whether in traditional or non-traditional classrooms, abolishing school fees, expanding post-primary opportunities, tackling child labour, strengthening education system responses to HIV/AIDS and addressing the educational needs of conflict and post-conflict countries. However, campaigners reminded the international community that many of these resolutions simply repeat the largely unimplemented recommendations of past High Level Group meetings. "Without substantially increased aid and debt cancellation linked to sound plans and investments by developing countries, and without a shift in priorities away from military spending towards education, these noble resolutions will remain unimplementable," said Kailash Satyarthi. GCE also called on UNESCO to ensure that High Level Group members are held accountable from one year to the next for each of the commitments they make at the Group's annual meetings. GCE members and affiliates taking part in the Brasilia meetings included: Mary Hatwood Futrell, founding president of Education International, who addressed the High Level Group on teacher issues; Kailash Satyarthi, chairperson of the GCE, who addressed the HLG on the relationship between equity and quality; Rasheda Chowdhury, executive director of CAMPE, who addressed the HLG, UNGEI and FTI meetings on gender equity; Gene Sperling, chair of the GCE US chapter, who reported to the HLG on the outcomes of a World Economic Forum meeting on private/public partnerships in education; Carlos Zarco Mera of CEAAL and Charles Abani of CSACEFA, both of whom spoke on resource mobilization issues; Adelaide Sosseh, a founder of the Gambia EFA Coalition and member of ANCEFA, who spoke on civil society's role in the FTI; and Khadijah Fancy of CAMFED and Ruth Kahurananga of World Vision, GCE representatives on the UNGEI Global Advisory Committee. 14 November 2004 15 MILLION MORE TEACHERS ARE NEEDED -- TEACHERS' PARLIAMENT Together with UNESCO and EI's Brazilian affiliate CNTE, EI organised a "teachers' parliament" in Brasilia, Brazil, just ahead of the High Level Group (HLG) meeting on Education For All (EFA). Over 50 teachers from all over the world joined 25 Ministers of Education, 7 Development Ministers, and heads of 5 UN agencies in Brasilia to discuss issues related to "Quality Teachers for Quality Education". Achieving Education For All (EFA) will require the recruitment of some 15 million new primary teachers, the meeting warned, and to achieve this, at least 6% of GNP should be allocated to education and debt must be written off to free up budgetary resources. To guarantee quality, class sizes should be restricted to 30 pupils, teachers should be paid salaries which reflect the value of the professional work that they do and must be paid on a regular basis, and all teachers must be professionally trained before entering the classroom to teach. Governments should "stop the practice of systematically excluding teachers and their representative organisations from opportunities to participate in the discussions in search of consensus on educational issues." Read the declaration in full Support teachers: Send a postcard to the IMF today 14 November 2004 HISTORIC MEETING OF LATIN AMERICAN CIVIL SOCIETY Together with the Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education, the Brazil National Campaign for the Right to Education and the International Council of the World Education Forum, GCE was proud to be a co-organiser of an historic gathering of Latin American networks, movements and organisations in Brasilia on 8-9 November. As well as making considerable progress towards consolidating a Latin American network, the meeting also produced a set of recommendations to the High Level Group and the international donor community, which included:
14 November 2004 PRSPs: DOES PARTICIPATION MEAN MORE THAN NGOS? New research from the University of Oxford’s Queen Elizabeth House finds that local people, communities or organisations often have only minimal input to Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. The research says civil society participants mostly consist of a mix of NGOs which are not necessarily representative either of society as a whole or of the poor in particular. http://www.id21.org/society/s9bfs1g1.html 11 November 2004 ARE AFRICAN TEACHERS REALLY A HIGH-RISK GROUP FOR HIV? There is a widespread belief that African teachers are a high-risk group for HIV infection. It is thought they are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour due to their relatively high social status, income, mobility and separation from spouses. But does the evidence support these ideas? Research by independent consultant Paul Bennell suggests that teachers are actually a relatively low-risk group in most sub-Saharan African countries. http://www.id21.org/education/e5pb1g1.html 11 November 2004 BOTSWANA: MOGAE PROMISES UNIVERSAL EDUCATION President Festus Mogae says his government will ensure that the provision of high quality education and training continues to improve in order to produce a more competent and innovative labour force that can drive socio-economic and technological development. He said that his government was committed to ensuring better education by ensuring that opportunities for tertiary education are improved through the expansion of the University of Botswana, the building of a second university, whose curriculum would focus on science and technology, as well as a medical school. http://www.sarpn.org.za/newsflash.php#2205 11 November 2004 SWAZILAND: HEADMASTERS THREATEN SCHOOL CLOSURE Government's unmet commitment to finance the education of AIDS orphans and children from indigent families could lead to the imminent closure of all primary schools in the country, headmasters have warned. "If government fails to pay by 10 November, we would be compelled to close down all schools," said Themba Shabangu, chairman of the Swaziland Head Teachers' Association, in a statement. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44056 11 November 2004 PROTEST OVER LAURA BUSH AS LITERACY AMBASSADOR The Pronunciamiento Latinoamericano, a virtual network that is a member of the GCE, is protesting the appointment of Laura Bush as UNESCO´s literacy ambassador. To find out more visit: http://www.fronesis.org/prolat.htm 11 November 2004 EFA GLOBAL MO9NITORING REPORT 2005: QUALITY OF EDUCATION The quality of education systems is failing children in many parts of the world and could prevent many countries from achieving EFA by 2015. Full report available at: www.unesco.org/education/GMR2005 AIDS AND OVERCROWDING HAMPER EDUCATION GOALS Financial Times A combination of AIDS, overcrowded schools and poorly qualified teachers is responsible for many children round the world dropping out of primary school without achieving a minimum set of cognitive skills. Full story available at: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1c165e72-31f5-11d9-97c0-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=ftalert_ ftarc_ftcol_ ftfre_ftindsum _ftmywap_ftprem_ftspecial_ftsurvey_ftworldsub_ftym_ftymarc_ic_ ipadmintool_nbe_poapp_printedn_psapp_reg_worldpress,s01=2.html 9 November 2004 EDUCATION FOR EVERYONE Boston Globe One success story after another among developing countries has shown the crucial importance of free, quality education for all children, girls and boys. In spite of this, more than 100 million children worldwide are not in school and are in danger of joining the world's 860 million illiterate adults. The United States should take the lead in getting rich countries and poor countries to make the goal of universal education a reality. Full editorial available at: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2004/11/07/ education_for_everyone/ 7 November 2004 HAITI EDUCATORS ARE DESPONDENT OVER CONDITIONS Los Angeles Times Like most adults in Haiti, where 90% of the population lives in dire poverty, Lazarre is struggling for her child's education. In a nation where 53% of those 15 and older can read and write, political unrest has accelerated the decline of Haiti's schools, clouding children's prospects for an education. Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-haitischools1nov 01,1,629351.story 1 November 2004 STIPEND PROGRAMS BRING GIRLS TO SCHOOL In Bangladesh, Turkey, Brazil and Pakistan, stipend programs encourage greater participation of girls in school. Read more: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20280410 ~menuPK:34457~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html INDIAN YOUTH TO EDUCATE MP'S ON HIV/AIDS Delhi: India's legislators are to be educated by youth leaders during a mock parliament on HIV/AIDS on Nov. 7-8, reports the Hindustan Times. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former PM A.B. Vajpayee, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and senior cabinet ministers will witness the youth parliament. Over 540 student leaders have been hand-picked to act as parliamentarians and are being trained by real MPs in parliamentary procedure. But the absence of MPs at this forum is worrying organizers. According to a senior Congress leader, as against the expected attendance of 100 MPs, only 30 have confirmed that they will be able to attend the two-day session. "Flying them in when Parliament is not in session is always a difficult task," he said. The mock Parliament will follow proper parliamentary procedure. The student MPs will go through Question Hero and Zero Hour on various aspects of HIV/AIDS.There will be six standing committees and each will prepare a status paper on one of the issues concerning HIV/AIDS. At the end of the day, they will adopt a draft legislation that will be presented to Union health minister A. Ramdoss. The new government's support for this event is part of a wider move towards a more proactive and multi-sectoral AIDS strategy. The Information and Broadcasting Minister is asking private TV channels to provide free airtime for messages on HIV/AIDS, and one has already agreed to allot a prime time slot for a daily soap dealing with AIDS issues. The education ministry has announced plans to include HIV/AIDS education in teacher training, and the subject will also form part of alternate education schemes for young people out of school. Adapted from: Hindustan Times, Delhi edition, 3 November 2004, page 7 3 November 2004 ©2004 GCE You are welcome to reproduce items from the GCE E-News for any non-profit use, as long as you credit GCE together with any original source mentioned in the article. |
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