Statement by Dr Claudia Harvey, Director and Representative, UNESCO Windhoek Cluster Office

GLOBAL EDUCATION FOR ALL WEEK 2005

(24 – 30 April 2005)

National Launch in Opuwo

Director of Ceremonies

Government Officials

Diplomatic Corps

All protocol observed

Learners

Ladies and Gentlemen

May I join the previous speakers in welcoming you all to this very important occasion, the Launch of the EFA Week 2005, which is also known as EFA Action Week. This year’s Global Education for All Week’s slogan is “Education to end poverty”. During this week, millions of children and adults in over 100 countries will deliver an urgent message to world governments - education is the key to end poverty. They will also take part in the “Send my Friend to School” campaign by making a cut-out friend of cardboard boxes. Each one of these Friends will represent one of the 100 million out-of-school children and 860 million illiterate adults. z
Accompanied by these friends, campaigners will be taking to the streets and marching to their parliament buildings with banners and placards, holding face-to-face meetings with their Heads of State, and inviting their local politicians Back to School to meet with their friends. Letters and messages from learners written on behalf of their friends who are out-of-school are delivered to education policy makers.

I am pleased to be in Opuwo today to see many learners participating in this campaign – to highlight the importance of education and their request to send their “friends” to school.

Ladies and Gentlemen, education can be the road out of poverty. It is a catalyst for human development, providing people with the necessary skills and knowledge that enable them to fully participate in society. With relevant and quality education, one can also become efficient and productive, contributing to a higher income prospect at the individual level as well as at the national level.

The entire UN supports EFA. Indeed, even as I am with you in Opuwo, the UNFPA Representative is delivering the same massage in Khomas and the WHO Representative will allude to it in Oshakati. UNESCO programme staff will also go to other regions. UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEFF and the World Bank are the particular UN Partners in this endeavor. UNFPA has a special focus on youth and their development.

UNESCO is entrusted with the task to monitor the progress of Member States in achieving the EFA Goals. In light of this, I would like to bring to your attention the recently published EFA Global Monitoring Report. This report highlights the importance of quality of education and where the world currently stands in relation to the six EFA goals. Quality matters, the report argues, because “better education contributes to higher lifetime earning and more robust national economic growth, and helps individuals make more informed choices about fertility and other matters important to their welfare”. It goes on to say that “it reduces exposure to HIV and AIDS: research shows that cognitive gains from basic education are the most important factor in protecting teenagers from infection. Such benefits are closely linked to the education levels achieved”. Needless to say, HIV and AIDS is a, if not the, biggest health and social challenge that Africa has ever encountered. Quality education is a key to addressing this challenge. The EFA Status Report (April, 2005) of Namibia states that ‘the HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to decimate the teaching population leading to a situation where infected teachers are bedridden for very long periods while affected teachers are constantly on leave mourning and burying loved ones. This leads to a great loss of teaching time which is never compensated as the remaining teachers are too overloaded to take charge of the subjects of those absent.

The report presents each country’s status in the Education for All Development Index (EDI), which measures the extent to which countries are meeting four of the six EFA goals. EDI is calculated by averaging:

net enrolment ratio in primary education;
adult literacy;
survival rate to grade 5 of primary education; and
gender ratio of gross enrolment ratios in primary and secondary education as well as adult literacy rates.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Namibia is ranked at 78th out of 127 countries and is among the Medium EDI countries. The net enrolment ratio in primary education was at 78.2% in 2001. Adult literacy rate increased from 74.9% in 1990 to 83.3% in 2004. The survival rate to Grade 5 in 2000 was 94.2%. The survival rate to the last grade of primary education, which is Grade 7: 82.7% for male and 89.7% for female. As for Gender Index, it scored 0.952, which means the country is fairly close to achieving gender parity. Yet, there is a 7% difference between male and female survival rate. Boys are falling behind their female counterparts and actions must be taken to keep boys in school.

With regard to the link between Education and Poverty, as indicated in this year’s EFA Week slogan, the EFA Global Monitoring Report suggests that countries with high EFA Development Index (EDI) generally have high GNP, or Gross National Product. This signifies the fact that education is both a cause and effect of a country’s economic status. One may wonder how we could then break the vicious cycle of low economic status and low education index. The UN and other development partners are committed to assisting the Member States to do just that. The interaction among poverty, HIV and AIDS and the capacity of countries to effectively manage themselves has been labelled the “triple threat” and the UN has committed itself to make this threat the focus of attention in Southern Africa. The reduction of Malaria and TB have also been included in MDGs: Goal. This is particularly relevant to the African continent. As we mark Malaria Day during EFA week, the role of education in fighting the disease and the role of health in facilitating education must be underscored. Attention to both education and health will contribute to the reduction of poverty, the major aim of the MDGs.

Education not only enriches people and nations in financial terms but also culturally. Through education, cultural values are shared and transmitted from one generation to the other. Furthermore, education helps to sustain the human values that contribute to both individual and collective well-being. It makes people more self-reliant and aware of opportunities and rights.

2005 is a landmark year for Education for All. It is the first milestone for UNESCO member states to reach gender parity in primary and secondary education. Whilst many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have made a major stride in achieving this particular goal, others still lag far behind. The EFA Global Monitoring Report suggests that disparities are far greater at secondary and tertiary levels than at the primary level – female participation is far limited at the higher level of education. It is important to note that educated women are likely to value education and thus to educate their children.

Gender parity in education is not an end in itself - education can further contribute to ensuring that both women and men equally participate in society where gender equality is valued.

Gender is also linked to poverty. As is often the case, a poor woman is more likely to be a victim of violence than her richer (or less poor) counterpart. The same goes with a less educated woman.

In support of EFA initiative, the Director General of UNESCO, Mr Koichiro Matsuura, identified three critical areas for UNESCO intervention for sub-Saharan Africa:

HIV and AIDS, which incidentally coincides with one of the triple threats;
Literacy Initiative for the Excluded (LIFE); and
Teacher Education.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in light of the above, I am pleased to mention UNESCO’s activities in Namibia. UNESCO supports the training of caregivers for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in the country, most of whom are affected by HIV and AIDS. Within the framework of UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust Programme for capacity building of education professionals, UNESCO has supported the National Institute for Educational Development (NIED) with the training of school inspectors and advisory teachers on HIV and AIDS, the production of awareness raising material and campaigns through an active involvement of school learners in a variety of arts activities. As for literacy, UNESCO has been an active supporter of the initiative to promote literacy under the United Nations Literacy Decade.

We should sit back and reflect on the Theme of the Week this year. Why is it focusing on ‘Send my Friend to School”? Today, in the world, we are still faced with over 100 million children out of school some of whom live on the streets, and Namibia is no exception. These children are our brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren who are denied quality basic education. They live in fear of abuse, rape, prostitution and being infected with HIV. It is our joint responsibility to ensure that al children and young people out of school are brought back to society and given the given the opportunity to benefit from an education that will prepare them to become future responsible citizens.

During this year’s Global EFA Week, a variety of activities will be carried out across Namibia. It is an opportunity for all of us involved in education, whether be government policy makers, school teacher, literacy promoter, learner, non-government organisations or community based organisations to rethink the importance of education and reflect on the achievements we made so far as well as challenges ahead. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate on the Government of the Republic of Namibia in bringing education to the fore of the political agenda. Only with the highest level of commitment from the Government, could EFA goals be achieved. I must also mention how imperative it is for the civil society to be fully involved in the quest for Education for All. In this matter, I would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions that the networking and collaboration amongst the civil society organisations are bringing to the attainment of EFA Goals. In this regard the formation and active participation of all key stakeholders in the EFA Forum and the Namibian Coalition for United Nations Literacy Decade are of particular interest.

Lastly I would like to reiterate the commitment of the UN to continued support for the Government of the Republic of Namibia in EFA activities throughout 2005 and beyond. I wish you all the best and enjoy the rest of the Week.