Alternative

I explored the UNESCO’s Early Childhood Care and Education webpage.  I read several articles, one article that I read was entitled Two out of three children in Africa are left out of secondary school.  This article speaks about the government struggle to meet the rising demand for secondary education, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where there is just enough schools for just 36% of children of age to enroll.  Girls face the greatest barriers as the gender gap widens across the region.  Girls’ exclusion from secondary education in many countries has enormous implications for the achievement of all the internationally agreed development goals.  Girls attendance in school is 39% compared to 48% for boys.  Girls are the first to suffer from the inequality of attendance of secondary school.  Girls are also less likely than boys to complete this level of schooling in a large majority of countries in the region reporting data.    Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in which the gender disparities against girls are getting worse at the upper secondary level with 8 million boys enrolled compared to only 6 million girls.  According to the Digest about one-third of the world’s children live in countries where lower secondary education is mandatory, but the laws are not respected. 

The second news release I read was UNESCO and Procter & Gamble launch partnership to promote education for young girls and young women.  Overcoming the gender gap is one of UNESCO’s major priorities.  There are still 793 million illiterate adults, with women accounting for two third of those who cannot read and write.  Girls account for 53% of the 67 million primary-age school children around the world who are not receiving the education they have a right to.  The project launched in Senegal in 2006.  Educational kits and digital resources were made available to train more than 1,200 teachers who will devote 600 hours teaching girls in Senegal.

The third news release I read Every child has the right to education!  This article focuses on the 20^th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  The convention on the rights of the child is a good example of the largest number of ratifications of any convention.  What is needed now is a sharper focus on the universal and effective application of the right to education particularly in respect to articles 28, 29 and 30 of the convention.  There exists a gap between ratification and implementation that is being seen in the lives of 69 million children, mostly girls who are still deprived of their right to basic education.  There are children who do have access to school but suffer from poor quality education and who leave school.  On its 20^th anniversary of the Convention the biggest challenge is to eliminate disparities in education and to ensure that the obligations of states regarding the right to education remain in the forefront.

References:

Desrus, B. (2011)  Two out of three children in Africa are left out of secondary school

UNESCOPRESS (2011) UNESCo and Proctor & Gamble launch partnership to promote education for young girls and young women

Mustafa, R. (n.d.)  Every child has the right to education