Towards Achieving Universal Primary Education MDG2

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Towards Achieving Universal Primary
EducationMDG2
MDGs
G. Reza Samarbakhsh UNESCO Tehran Cluster
Office 24 July 2006
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Goal 2 Achieve universal primary education

• Ensure that, by 2015, children every where, boys
  and girls alike, will be able to complete a full
  course of primary schooling

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• Education gives people choices regarding the kind
  of lives they wish to lead.
• It enables them to express themselves with
  confidence in their personal relationships, in
  the community and at work.
• But for more than 115 million children of primary
  school age who are out of school, this human
  right is being denied.
• These are mostly children from poor households,
  whose mothers often have no formal education
  either.
• The loss of potential does not affect children
  alone.

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• Education, especially for girls, has social and
  economic benefits for society as a whole.
• Educated women have more economic opportunities
  and engage more fully in public life.
• As mothers, they tend to have fewer and healthier
  children who are more likely to attend school.
• All of these benefits are key to breaking the
  cycle of poverty.
• Elsewhere, increased enrolment needs to be
  accompanied by efforts to ensure that all
  children especially those hardest to reach
  remain in school and receive a high-quality
  education.

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• children with educated mothers are more than
  twice as likely to be in school as children of
  mothers with no formal education.
• The lowest levels of attendance are found among
  indigenous peoples and other minority groups.
• Addressing these disparities and reaching the
  most disadvantaged will be the greatest challenge
  in achieving universal primary education.

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• Once children are enrolled, it is important that
  they stay in school and receive an education that
  prepares them for life.
• Dropping out and repeating grades mean that many
  children never complete a full course of primary
  education.

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INDICATORS (MDG2)

• No. 6
• Net enrolment ratio in primary education
• No. 7
• Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach
  grade 5
• No. 8
• Literacy rate of 15-24 year-olds

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INDICATORS (MDG3)Promote gender equality and
empower women

• No. 9
• Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and
  tertiary education
• No. 10
• Ratio of literate women to men, 15-24 years old

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Education for Sustainable Development

• ESD is complementary to other frameworks of
  international action, notably Education for All
  (EFA), the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD)
  and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
  process. Within this overall context, EDS, is
  considered the only major initiative that focuses
  primarily on the issue of quality education .

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Education for Sustainable Development

• The concept of Education for Sustainable
  Development (ESD) has a three-pillar-structure
  (society, environment and economy) and one
  underlying dimension which cross-cuts the three
  pillars, Culture, for an overriding objective
  which is, QUALITY OF LIFE.

Environment
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Education for Sustainable Development

• Key Action Themes
• Overcoming Poverty
• Gender Equality
• Health Promotion
• HIV/AIDS
• Environment
• Water
• Rural Transformation

• Sustainable Consumption
• Sustainable Tourism
• Human Rights
• Intercultural Understanding
• Cultural Diversity
• Indigenous knowledge
• Media ICTs

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Domains of Education for Sustainable Development

• Basic Education
• Reorienting Existing Education Programs
• Developing Public Awareness and Understanding of
  Sustainability
• Training

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EDUCATINGFOR SUSTAINABILITY

• Quality Education
• Quality education is a prerequisite for ESD.
• Education Making the Abstract Real
• Achieving sustainable development requires
• o Recognition of the challenge
• o Collective responsibility and constructive
  partnership
• o Acting with determination
• o The indivisibility of human dignity
• Education provides the skills for
• o Learning to know
• o Learning to live together
• o Learning to do
• o Learning to be

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Partners

• National
• - national government departments of education
  and development sectors
• - universities and research institutes
• - EFA networks
• - national NGOs and NGO coalitions
• - branches of international NGOs
• - faith-based organisations
• - teachers associations and trade unions
• - private sector businesses
• - business associations.

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Partners

• International
• - Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD)
• - EFA High-Level and Working Groups
• - United Nations Development Group (UNDG) member
  agencies
• - Millennium Project Task Forces
• - official/semi-official watchdog bodies
• - sustainable development education networks
• - NGO UNESCO Liaison Committee
• - Collective Consultation of NGOs for EFA
  (CCNGO/EFA)
• - Global Campaign for Education
• - international environmental NGOs
• international associations of businesses
• Trans-National Corporations (TNCs)

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EDUCATINGFOR SUSTAINABILITY

• Key challenges
• Education has a central role to play if poverty
  eradication is to succeed.
• Education has the major role for promoting gender
  equity
• Promoting quality education as a high priority

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Educationconsidered as a priorityby G8

• On 17 July 2006, Koïchiro Matsuura,
  Director-General of UNESCO, participated in the
  G8 Summit in St. Petersburg. This was the first
  time that a Director-General of UNESCO had
  attended the Summit.

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Educationconsidered as a priorityby G8

• G8 leaders approved a document entitled
  Education for Innovative Societies in the 21st
  century. Acknowledging that education is at the
  heart of human progress, the document reaffirms
  the leaders commitment to the EFA agenda and
  welcomes UNESCOs efforts to finalize a Global
  Action Plan to achieve the EFA goals and provide
  a framework for coordination and complementary
  action by multilateral aid agencies in support of
  country-level implementation.

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• Thank you very much .