Innledning i Litteraturhuset 8. mai 2013
HOW CAN EDUCATION REDUCE INEQUALITY?
and
HOW TO ACHIEVE EQUAL RIGHT TO EDUCATION?
Social inequality, and unequal access to education, are clearly interlinked. It is hard to distinguish between cause and effect. So I will start by taking a look at what we already know:
(The positive return on investment in education)
In a review of developing countries enjoying high levels of growth over a period of 25 years or more, the “Commission on Growth and Development” (a World Bank/UN project) concluded that: “Every country that sustained growth for long periods, put substantial effort into schooling its citizens and deepening its human capital”. This states clearly the role of education in achieving sustainable economic development,
The long-term economic advantage of education has been measured quite precisely in affluent societies like ours – in OECD countries. The personal economic advantage of a university degree can be as much as USD 175000. The net return for society on supporting such a person through higher education is USD 91000. Although these figures cannot be directly transferred to the situation in poor countries, the economic benefit of education is unquestionable – all over the world. So, we know for sure how important education is as an investment, for the individual as well as for society.
(Policies matter!)
However, we also know that there is no clear link between per capita income and investments in education. A report published last month by UNICEF –Report Card 11: Child well-being in rich countries – argues that the link is weak between per capita GDP and overall child well-being, including children’s access to education. In that report, Portugal was ranked higher than the United States. Seven of the wealthiest countries in the world fall into the bottom third of the further education league table.
What is the lesson to be learned here? That wealth per se does not give social benefits, and that the GDP figure says little about a country’s capacity or willingness to provide services to its citizens. The report shows that child poverty is not preordained or inevitable, but rather is policy susceptible.
Only policies of redistribution determine the social outcomes of a country’s economic situation.
(Education as a right)
We all know also that education is a human right. So why some governments still ignoring their duties? Poverty is a valid excuse – I admit that – but only up to a point. We need to distinguish more clearly between those who are actually unable, and those who are unwilling, to take this responsibility seriously.
I believe that if you put the respect for human rights at the centre of public policies in any country, greater equality will more likely result. The respect for human rights tends to empower the disadvantaged, and the focus will be on the entitlements of people – for instance their right to education. The people – the ‘rights holders’ – will be empowered to claim their rights. This, in turn, will focus attention on the state’s obligations. Focusing on human rights therefore helps to improve the accountability of the state, as its responsibilities and obligations are clarified.
Development assistance interventions that are designed from a human rights perspective are also more likely to address the relationship between the ‘rights holders’ and the ‘duty bearers’. This approach addresses fundamental questions of inequality and access, and will contribute to a more sustainable development.
(Redistribution)
In other words, it is my profound belief that in order to answer the question ‘How to achieve an equal right to education’, we can start by using human rights as our means of exerting leverage. Many countries, even some of the poorest, are assigning a greater share of their public budgets to education, and they are paying a larger share by using the proceeds from their own economic growth.
This shows that aid does not displace national resource mobilisation. We as donors need to support this positive trend and encourage the countries that show that they are taking responsibility for the rights of their own people. We need economic distribution between countries, but we also need redistribution within countries.
(How does education contribute to reducing inequality?)
According to the UN Secretary-General’s Global Education First initiative, if all students in low income countries had gained basic reading skills, there would be 171 million fewer poor people in the world today. This relates to the second question in the title, namely, ‘How education can contribute to equality’.
Let’s look at the role education plays in other sectors of society. For example, education has a documented effect on women’s health. In Ethiopia, 74 per cent of women aged 15–49 have undergone some form of genital mutilation. Truly a disturbing figure. Although prevalence rates vary moderately by place of residence and wealth, significant differences are seen with respect to the level of education: only 5 per cent of women with secondary or higher education support genital mutilation, compared to 41 per cent of women with no formal education.
It is twice more likely that girls will suffer genital mutilation if their mothers lack formal education.We see the same pattern in infant mortality rates and children’s health: educated mothers are 50 per cent more likely to immunise their children than mothers with no schooling.
In short, children of educated parents are better off. Education weakens the effects of poverty – and inequality is reduced. Both between rich and poor, and between the sexes.
(Marginalised groups)
This may all sound easy on paper. However, those of us who are discussing these issues here today know how much remains to be done. UNICEF is one of the strongest advocates for children who are still not being granted their right to education, let alone their right to a voice in society.
How can we bridge the gap between human rights on paper and universal access to education in real life? I believe one fundamental key is to focus on fair distribution: more equitable distribution of wealth puts economic and political power into the hands of more people, who will then contribute both to the wealth of their country and to its governance. In turn, their needs are more likely to be addressed. As we all know, when any family in the world is asked to prioritise its wishes, education for its children is a top priority.
Another challenge lies in the demographic development in the poorest areas of the planet. Despite exceptionally strong figures for increased school enrolment over the last ten years in many African countries, the demographic explosion of young people exceeds the increased capacity in the school systems. In this case it is not the will of the national governments to prioritise education which is lacking.
Other important challenges for us as donors and agencies relate to the most vulnerable groups of children, who often live in societies that are not themselves capable of providing services for their people. We have a clear duty to support these children – the refugees, the handicapped, the excluded girls, the ethnic and religious minorities. The international agencies, first and foremost UNICEF, do a tremendous job in this field, and we need to continue to equip and fund the NGOs that are able to reach out to these most vulnerable children.
To conclude: investment in the education sector is profitable for society; rights-based public policies reach deeper into society; and if public policies are founded on principles of equitable distribution, investments in education can reach even the most marginalised groups.
Education does reduce inequality, and education for all is possible. More importantly, the more equitable the access to education, the greater the positive impact on society as a whole.
(Quality in education)
It is not enough to count children in school - we need to look at what they bring home from school. Having worked on the MDGs on accessto education, we have achieved quantity at the expense of quality.
As many as 250 million children cannot read or write when they start fifth grade (!). 94 percent of children in Mali in 2nd grade cannot read a single word.
Very large youth cohorts in many of the poorest regions of the world face a lack of high-school and other training programs, as well as a severe shortage of employment. Young people need a variety of educational programs, ranging from basic training in reading and writing, to secondary and higher secondary school, vocational training or further academic education.)
The challenges in education are individual in each country: some lack qualified teachers, some are in post-conflict situations and lack the infrastructure;many lack funding and struggle to bridge the gap between urban and rural communities. Nearly all, however, share a common lack of data. Without reliable statistics and baselines, it is hard to establish where efforts should be focused.
One very interesting initiative we have decided to support in order to develop method and statistics to support policy development, is the project the OECD calls “PISA for development”. Rich countries profit from the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) evaluations of our education systems. We hope that the OECD together with donors and partner countries will manage to redefine and adapt the PISA studies to become as useful for developing countries as it is for us. This would be a very useful tool for addressing not only ‘access’ issues, but clearly also quality and content issues.
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