Last Week Was Huge For Education — On Paper, At Least
Over 130 Ministers of Education from across the world and over 1,000 representatives of UN agencies, donor agencies and civil society organizations, came together at the World Education Forum in the Republic of Korea to agree a common vision for education for the next 15 years.
The Incheon Declaration, agreed at the Forum, committed those present to “ensure the provision of 12 years of publicly-funded, equitable quality primary and secondary education” for all by 2030.
But what does this mean for the millions of young people, including over 60 million girls, currently denied an education because of poverty, conflict or discrimination?
On paper at least, it means that every one of these young people will be guaranteed access to 12 years of good quality primary and secondary education in the next 15 years, whoever they are and wherever they live.
It means that girls like Sakina from Nigeria, Mezon from Syria and Tay Thi from Vietnam will no longer have to battle as hard to get the education they need to give them the future they want.
It means that the world is committing to aim higher for education over the next 15 years and, in doing so, unlocking the transformative power of girls’ education to help achieve many of the other global development goals the world’s leaders will agree later this year.
On paper at least, last week was a good week for education. In reality though, the commitments made could fall short unless particular attention is given to three critical issues:
Firstly, unless 12 years of primary and secondary education is provided for free, girls will still continue to drop out of education before completing secondary schooling.
The Incheon Declaration commits to 12 years of “publicly-funded education.” This does not equate to “free.” Under a publicly-funded system, governments can still charge fees for the provision of education.
When parents have to pay for education, it is girls that are routinely discriminated against. Imagine finishing eighth grade and being told that to continue school, you’ll have to pay. For a girl living in poverty who can’t afford school fees, it means her education is over.
Experience from the past 15 years at the level of primary education shows that fee-free education can have a strong and positive impact on enrolment in school. For the ambition of 12 years of good quality primary and secondary education for all children to be met by 2030, access must be free.
Secondly, efforts must start with those children who are furthest away from meeting the target of 12 years of good quality primary and secondary education. The last time the world came together to agree global education goals, it led to increased global efforts to get more children into school, particularly at the primary level. However, most efforts started with the easiest to reach first. Leaving the poorest children, children affected by conflict, children from with disabilities and vulnerable girls making up the majority of the millions still out of school today.
The Incheon Declaration states that “no target should be considered met unless met for all.” This is best achieved by starting with the most marginalised first. The poorest girls in the poorest countries spend just 3 years in school and, when they do go to school, it is questionable whether what they learn equips them to gain the future they hope for. It is here we must start.
Thirdly, efforts to provide 12 years of good quality primary and secondary education for all must be properly financed and tracked. The Incheon Declaration recognizes that to meet the level of ambition for education it sets out, more money is needed. Indeed, at the World Education Forum last week the Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) announced that to meet the goal of 12 years education for all the world would need to find an additional $39 billion each year. A big number when you first look at it, but not when you consider, as the GMR helpfully pointed out, that this is equivalent to just 8 days of global military spending.
To ensure that increased spending is meeting the challenge of getting more of the most marginalized children, particularly girls, into school and benefiting from a quality education for a full 12 years, the world’s education leaders will also need to improve ways of measuring this. For a start, information on who and who is not currently in school beyond the age of 14–15, which is not currently collected in the majority of countries, will need to be collected.
The last time the world came together to agree global goals for education was 15 years ago. The time frame for meeting these goals is the end of this year. Despite progress, we are still far off meeting the vision for education put forward in 2000. Highlighting that what’s on paper doesn’t always translate into reality.
Let’s not do the same this time round. Let’s turn what’s on paper into reality for millions of girls wanting more for their lives — starting with 12 years of good quality education for free.
