Unesco report an urgent wake-up call for education

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Published Sep 8, 2016

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Johannesburg - The education system across the world is in dire need of an overhaul, otherwise sustainable development goals adopted by the UN in September last year will not be met on time.

This is according to the Global Education Monitoring report released by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) this week.

Some of the goals include ending poverty and ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education. Others are to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all and achieve gender equality.

The plan is to have all youth and a substantial proportion of adults achieve literacy and numeracy by 2030.

But the report cautions that if changes are not made to the education system, the goals will not be achieved within the stipulated timeline.

“On current trends, universal primary completion will be achieved in 2042, universal lower secondary completion in 2059, and universal upper secondary completion in 2084.

“The poorest countries will achieve universal primary education over 100 years later than the richest. This is a wake-up call to all governments to demonstrate political will and commitment by investing in education and teachers.”

One of the ways countries can show political will, according to the report, is to improve access to education for poor children and access to basic services. The aspects of infrastructure that are important are water, sanitation and hygiene, structural safety and accessibility for people with disabilities.

“Improving water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in education institutions has significant positive effects on health and education.

“However, only 52 percent of primary schools in the least developed countries had adequate water supply in 2013.”

The report also notes that access to clean water and improved sanitation was also important in encouraging girls to go to school. Unesco data shows that three in every 10 primary schools in the world lack adequate water supply.

The worry about missing milestones is evident in South Africa. While the report lauds South Africa’s Department of Basic Education for issuing the legally binding norms and standards for school infrastructure, it laments problems with implementation.

“The presence of standards is not sufficient. While South Africa has a National Education Infrastructure Management System, it does not appear to monitor implementation of the standards.”

Monitoring and compliance is also an issue that worries lobby group Equal Education, which has been fighting with the department for years to better implement the norms and standards.

The first deadline for all provincial education departments to ensure that all schools have water, sanitation and proper infrastructure is November 29.

The department’s 2015 national statistics paint a bleak picture on the state of schools. The figures show that 452 schools are without electricity, 913 without water and 128 have no sanitation facilities.

There are also a further 4 773 schools with unreliable water supply and 2 854 with unreliable electricity supply, while 10 419 schools use pit latrines.

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