MUNA 2015
Forum: Issue: Student Officer: Special Conference on Enlightenment Achieving universal primary and secondary education in less economically developed countries (LEDCs) Lars Vlaardingerbroek ‘’My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.’’ – Maya Angelou Introduction For the biggest part of the western world, education is part of life. You attend primary school, likely secondary school as well and after that you might even continue studying for some years. In many countries, most of the times in less economically developed countries (LEDCs), this is not the case. Secondary and sometimes even primary education is certainly a privilege and a luxury. As education supports children in reaching the full potential of life, it is important that all children have access to education. However, due to the circumstances in which many children in LEDCs grow up, those children cannot enjoy this human right. Definition of Key Terms UDHR The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (GA) on the tenth of December 1948. It consists of thirty articles, which have been elaborated in many treaties, that sets out fundamental human rights which should be universally protected. Especially article 26, which states that everyone has the right to education, should be kept in mind while solving the issue of achieving universal primary and secondary education in LEDCs. Education The definitions given by the Free Dictionary: ‘’Education is the act or process of acquiring knowledge, especially systematically during childhood and adolescence.’’ As well as: ‘’ The act or process of imparting knowledge, especially at a school, college, or university’’. MDGs The Millennium Development Goals are eight universal development goals set in 2000 by the United Nations. Especially the second goal should be taken into consideration, as it states that universal primary education should be achieved by 2015. Model United Nations Alfrink ·∙ Alfrink College Zoetermeer Werflaan 42, 2725 DE, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands [email protected] ·∙ [email protected] www.munalfrink.nl MUNA 2015
Opportunity cost The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action. LEDCs A country is considered a less economically developed country when it has a lower standard of living, underdeveloped industrial base and a low Human Development Index (HDI). HDI The Human Development Index is a composite statistic of for example life expectancy and level of education. LEDCs have a low HDI and therefore usually an underdeveloped educational system. ‘GGGR’ The Global Gender Gap Report has been published annually by the World Economic Forum (WEF) since 2006. It has been designed to measure gender (in)equality in countries all over the world. General Overview ‘’Between 2000 and 2012, the total number of out-­‐‑of-­‐‑school children worldwide declined from 100 million to 58 million, and the global primary completion rate increased from 81% to 92%. However, 58 million children are still out-­‐‑of-­‐‑school. Even when children complete school, they often do so without acquiring basic skills necessary for work and life. Education is a powerful driver of development and one of the strongest instruments for improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability.’’ – The World Bank As mentioned before, there are several factors and circumstances limiting child development. These range from far travelling distances to schools to civil wars, and they should all be taken into consideration. Several other factors are of important notice in order to solve this issue. Locations In some areas in our world it is hard for children to attend school because of the place where both the schools and the children are situated. In India, for instance, some places have such severe weather conditions that travelling to school by foot is impossible. But it is not always the weather which makes it hard to attend school. In many countries, education facilities are too far away from the children. Sometimes children have to walk for several hours to get to school. In a study done investigating the relation between location and school attendance in Mali, about half the villages reported that the school was too far away, causing students not to attend school. Model United Nations Alfrink ·∙ Alfrink College Zoetermeer Werflaan 42, 2725 DE, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands [email protected] ·∙ [email protected] www.munalfrink.nl MUNA 2015
Gender Gender contributes to a child’s lack of access and attendance to education. Although it may not be an obvious problem nowadays, gender (in)equality in education has been an issue for a longer period. Many countries in sub-­‐‑Saharan Africa as well as Asia still experience these ‘gender gaps’. This can be shown with the Gender Gap Report which is published annually. Towards the bottom of the ranking, many Asian and African countries can be found. This means that inequality in gender is still an issue in our world. This may have a big impact on child development. In some countries the gap between boys and girls (in for instance dropping out of school) is even more than 20%. This means being a girl, in these countries, is definitely a disadvantage. These children have fewer chances of getting a well-­‐‑paid job nor does it improve their chances of living a normal life. Costs Costs are also a limiting factor. Due to the high costs of education, many children have to drop out of school. It is not only the costs of the education in general, but especially the opportunity costs that families have to face. For example, many families have to choose between providing their children with education, or keeping them at home to work. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that an estimated 121 million children of primary-­‐‑school age are being kept out of school. Besides these opportunity costs, there are, as mentioned earlier, the expensive school fees. LEDCs usually have many poor households, which makes the problem of expensive costs even bigger in these countries. But even in China, for example, some families dedicate about a third of their income to school fees. Even though the correlation between education costs and school attendance rates isn’t perfectly clear, it is imaginable that high costs are an important factor in school attendance rates. Quality Even though the quality of education does not perfectly fit the picture of finding a solution to achieving universal primary and secondary education in LEDCs, it is still an important factor. Why would we try to achieve universal education, if the education is of low quality? It is important that education becomes a part of life for everyone in our world and that it gives everyone skills and competences that help them participate effectively in the economy and in Model United Nations Alfrink ·∙ Alfrink College Zoetermeer Werflaan 42, 2725 DE, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands [email protected] ·∙ [email protected] www.munalfrink.nl MUNA 2015
society. Even though many schools have been started and education has been improved in the last decade in LEDCs, the quality of these schools can and must still be improved. Educated and good teachers, safe living and working conditions as well as good working materials must be realized and provided. The quality of the educational system in LEDCs can also be improved by expanding the system. Usually only primary schools are being attended for basic knowledge and education in general. However, especially secondary schools would ensure a stable pathway which children can follow in order to achieve something in life. Many children are influenced by their living conditions, especially in LEDCs, and drop out of school or do not have anything to continue with after primary education. Statistics •
One half of children of preschool age do not go to kindergarten or similar establishments; in sub-­‐‑Saharan countries, fewer than one in five children have the advantage of early education. •
Around the world, some 57 million children of primary school age do not attend school. More than half of these children live in sub-­‐‑Saharan Africa, and more than 20 percent in South and West Asia. •
In developing, low-­‐‑income countries, every additional year of education can increase a person’s future income by an average of 10%. •
Fifty-­‐‑four percent of the children who do not attend school are girls. •
Many boys and girls enrolled in school drop out early. In sub-­‐‑Saharan Africa, only 56 per cent of children complete a full primary school education. •
In 2010, 69 million young people of secondary school age (10 to 16 years) did not attend secondary school. •
Some 774 million young people (over 15 years of age) and adults cannot read or write, and almost two thirds of these are women. •
Children living in a rural environment are twice as likely to be out of school than urban children. Additionally, children from the wealthiest 20% of the population are 4 times more likely to be in school than the poorest 20%. •
Children who are born to educated mothers are less likely to be stunted or malnourished. Each additional year of maternal education also reduces the child mortality rate by 2%. Model United Nations Alfrink ·∙ Alfrink College Zoetermeer Werflaan 42, 2725 DE, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands [email protected] ·∙ [email protected] www.munalfrink.nl MUNA 2015
Timeline of Events December 10, 1948 The UN General Assembly adopts the UDHR 2000 The Millennium Development Goals are set 2000 100 million children are currently not attending school, worldwide 2006 The GGGR is first published 2012 The amount of children not attending school has been reduced to 58 million Major Parties Involved NGOs Non-­‐‑Governmental Organizations are, as the name implies, organizations set up for a certain purpose without the help of a government. Many NGOs are very helpful in solving worldwide issues (for instance: UNICEF fighting for children’s rights) and luckily there are many NGOs wishing to achieve universal primary and secondary education as well. Examples are big NGOs like The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), but also smaller NGOs like Pratham in India. World Bank The World Bank is a United Nations international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs. Not only do they provide loans, they also spread awareness and advise countries and groups about (for example) their educational system and programs. Their website is very broad and shows videos as well as articles and blogs about (for instance) child development. UNDP Since 1966, the United Nations Development Programme partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in more than 170 countries and territories, they offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations. LEDCs A country is considered a less economically developed country when it has a lower standard of living, underdeveloped industrial base and a low Human Development Index (HDI). LEDCs are of course major parties in this discussion, as their educational systems are the ones to be altered. Previous Attempts to solve the issue The United Nations has made several resolutions already on improving education around the world. These can be found online (see useful documents) on the UN website. Additionally, many primary schools have been built and materials and people have been provided to help improving education in LEDCs. There is, however, still a lack of many things. Model United Nations Alfrink ·∙ Alfrink College Zoetermeer Werflaan 42, 2725 DE, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands [email protected] ·∙ [email protected] www.munalfrink.nl MUNA 2015
Possible Solutions All factors limiting child development can be tackled with a resolution on this issue. First of all, the locations of schools should be reconsidered. There are not enough schools in many countries and sometimes these schools are not reachable for children, resulting in students dropping out. Infrastructure is an important factor here, as well as the exact location of the schools. Secondly, gender inequality sometimes results in advantages for boys. This limits the chances of the girls later in life. Many gender equality campaigns have already taken place, but there might still be something that can be done to tackle this sometimes small but significant problem. The costs and quality of the schools are in many cases a real issue. Costs are a main factor of lower school attendance rates, and therefore a solution to high school fees must be found. These costs are added up to the costs of travelling to the distanced schools and the combination of these factors results in school drop outs. If then the children finally attend school, several ways of improving the quality of the schools can be useful. More educated teachers and better working conditions are main factors in improving the quality. Simple things like chairs and tables and chalkboards would make a difference already. Parents also play an important role in the development of their children, as they are in some cases keeping their children at home for work. Informing these parents about the effects of having their children attend school could be helpful for achieving universal education. The educational systems in many countries also need expanding. Secondary schools and universities would increase the skills, competences and knowledge of the children and develop them in such a way, that it would definitely increase their lives. Model United Nations Alfrink ·∙ Alfrink College Zoetermeer Werflaan 42, 2725 DE, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands [email protected] ·∙ [email protected] www.munalfrink.nl MUNA 2015
Finally, all major parties should of course be taken into consideration. Delegates should be aware of how their educational system has developed over the past and take this as guidance for finding solutions to the issue. Useful documents
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GGGR14/GGGR_CompleteReport_2014.pdf -­‐‑ The Gender Gap Report of 2014. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/education-­‐‑building-­‐‑blocks/literacy/un-­‐‑literacy-­‐‑
decade/un-­‐‑resolutions-­‐‑and-­‐‑other-­‐‑related-­‐‑documents/ -­‐‑ Resolutions and documents about the United Nations Literacy Decade and improving education in general. Other useful United Nations resolutions: A/RES/66/137
A/RES/65/183
A/RES/65/163
A/RES/64/290
A/RES/63/198
All adopted United Nations General Assembly resolutions can be found online: http://www.un.org/documents/resga.htm
Appendix/Appendices http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/education http://www.ohchr.org/en/udhr/pages/introduction.aspx http://www.worldbank.org/mdgs/education.html http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/education-­‐‑building-­‐‑blocks/literacy/un-­‐‑literacy-­‐‑
decade/un-­‐‑resolutions-­‐‑and-­‐‑other-­‐‑related-­‐‑documents/ http://en.unesco.org/ https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-­‐‑facts-­‐‑about-­‐‑education-­‐‑around-­‐‑world http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/education/ http://www.bmz.de/en/what_we_do/issues/Education/hintergrund/bildungsituation/ http://reports.weforum.org/global-­‐‑gender-­‐‑gap-­‐‑report-­‐‑2014/rankings/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Primary_Education#Location_.28climate.29 http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2013/05/31/empowering-­‐‑
women-­‐‑and-­‐‑closing-­‐‑gender-­‐‑gaps-­‐‑in-­‐‑africa-­‐‑under-­‐‑spotlight-­‐‑at-­‐‑tokyo-­‐‑conference.html http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-­‐‑gender-­‐‑gap Model United Nations Alfrink ·∙ Alfrink College Zoetermeer Werflaan 42, 2725 DE, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands [email protected] ·∙ [email protected] www.munalfrink.nl MUNA 2015
Model United Nations Alfrink ·∙ Alfrink College Zoetermeer Werflaan 42, 2725 DE, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands [email protected] ·∙ [email protected] www.munalfrink.nl